Generous Perspectives
I have to say that since preaching about the gift of service, I keep coming back to the fact that the difference between the fruit of the spirit and the gifts of the spirit is that fruits are equally available to everyone – I believe we all have the same capacity for love, joy, peace, etc., and gifts are uniquely given. Some of us have a specific gift and some of us just don’t. That doesn’t mean we cannot develop a life view or orientation by practice and discipline. The things named as spiritual gifts in scripture are ideal behaviors or dispositions that we can (and probably should) seek to develop and model to the best of our ability. And some people just have them – as gift.
I guess I think about it this way, perhaps an example that folks over 40 can relate to pretty universally – some folks have the gift of beautiful handwriting. But all of us have a need to use handwriting. Some of us need to exercise the ability just to improve the legibility of our handwriting. Others of us may not have the gift, but maybe we appreciate the artistic nature of calligraphy and so we spend even more time developing our abilities.
All of this seems true of generosity as I’ve pondered these past few weeks. For some people, generosity comes naturally – some are divinely inspired and joyful in their generosity – with time, with physical resources, with money, with talents.
And others of us have to work to develop even a base level inclination to share in meaningful ways from what resources we have.
There’s a whole range.
I did my doctoral work on generosity after a 25 year career in fundraising. So as I looked at this series, I assumed that I would find myself riffing on work I’d already done, probably looking at the woman lavishing nard on Jesus’ feet. But as I pondered scripture to choose a story that really gets at the heart of this as a spiritual gift, I was called in a new way to the story of the good Samaritan that you heard today.
It’s a familiar story for most folks who have spent some time in church. In the story, Jesus is responding to the vexing question of who, exactly, is the neighbor we are commanded to love as we love ourselves. There is a tension in Jesus’ response because the relationship between Jews and Samaritans in his day was especially complicated. They were two groups of people with differing worldviews who were not generally co-existing in harmony. So the big point of Jesus’ telling the story is that our neighbor is likely someone we are not naturally inclined to love.
But what has really stuck with me about this story in relationship to generosity is the way the Samaritan gives generously exactly what is NEEDED. The man by the side of the road is injured and so the Samaritan bandages the man’s wounds, treating them with oil and wine. The Samaritan takes the wounded man to an inn where he continues to tend to his needs. This is an overnight vigil – and probably included continued wound care, food, water, safety and rest. And when the next morning arrives, the Samaritan leaves instructions for care of the wounded man and money with the innkeeper, promising to return and repay any more that is needed.
The Samaritan is giving generously to meet the man’s specific needs.
The Samaritan gives what is needed.
He doesn’t just lavish resources on the man.
The Samaritan might have purchased him a horse to get to wherever he was going. He might have invested in thugs to go after the robbers. He might have purchased him an amazing meal to cheer him up. But he addresses exactly what the man needs – life-giving physical care, a warm and safe place to stay, time to rest and recover – and he provides for those needs.
Generously.
Generosity might be about giving in abundant ways from what we have. Many of us can develop that ability or that discipline. I think the spiritual gift of generosity has much to do with the ability to understand what is truly needed and the inclination to do what must be done in order to fulfill that need without complication, fanfare and recognition.
Maybe you know someone who is incredibly gifted this way.
· They have the right words of comfort and affirmation when needed.
· They know how to respond to a moment of crisis, not just with money but with directed energy and resources.
· They offer tangible help, sometimes before the person in need of that help is even able to articulate their needs.
This feels like a gift to me.
I spent the past week in the idyllic 1000+ year old walled city of Assisi, located in the region of Umbria in central Italy. You’re likely familiar with Assisi as the home of St. Francis – the saint often pictured in his brown robe, belted with a rope, surrounded by birds or other animals. As protestants, many of us have a very limited knowledge about the saints and mystics and lay orders of the Catholic church – but St. Francis has a universal appeal as a peace-loving man who chose obedience, chastity and poverty over the power and money of his family which was part of a burgeoning merchant class in the 13th century.
Pilgrims visit Francis’ tomb, set below the altar at the Basilica de San Francesco – a church adorned from top to bottom in eye – popping frescoes by Giotto and others. In the same chapel space as his tomb are buried his four closest friends, brothers in his order of lay men. But there is another person too, a noble woman from Rome named Jacopa who was a generous patron, supporting Francis’ work throughout his lifetime of ministry.
Based on the way patronage works and worked in the Catholic church over centuries, we can assume that Jacopa was financially generous. But I think it is more than that.
There is a traditional story told that as Francis lay dying, he longed for a sweet bread his dear friend Jacopa had made for him. And just as he was telling his caregivers of his longing, Jacopa arrived, all the way from Rome, the bread in hand. To this day, locals make this pane de San Francesco as a generous gift.
In this story, Jacopa, in addition to practicing generosity with her philanthropy, also manifested the gift of generosity. She knew what was needed most in the moment - in this case a beloved comfort food that was familiar and full of love as Francis lay diying - and Jacopa was willing to do what needed to be done to meet the need.
I also spent time in so many churches in Italy that now sit empty but are adorned with famous artwork, gold altarware, marble chapels dedicated to deceased donors who poured resources into building massive buildings full of beauty. At the time they were built, they were visual representations of God’s mystery and power. But today the structures themselves aren’t suitable for meeting the changing needs of the people seeking God in this day and age. They can’t feed the hungry. They don’t have space for childcare or for ESOL classes for immigrants. They don’t have working kitchens. The buildings stand as a memorial to something that once was and therefore can’t be changed. There best function is as a museum of sorts.
I really wrestled with this. I don’t know the full story behind the patrons that are memorialized in those places, but I do see how the churches are no longer able to meet the needs of the community that surrounds them.
As a church, as the body of Christ made up of many people with many diverse gifts, we need people in our midst who have the gift of generosity to tell us what they see as need in our community and our world. We need them to help those of us trying to develop the disciplineof generosity to see what is vitally needed and possible.
I think about the work of our Outreach Team, who has over the past few years has kept part of it’s budget “discretionary” in order to respond prayerfully to emerging needs in our community – responding to natural and manmade disasters. Responding to pandemic. Responding to needs right here in our church family.
What I know is true is that we want our church to be a fully alive place, and that we have many generous people here at Faith. My prayer is that we thoughtfully discern our individual and corporate spiritual gifts and celebrate all of the gifts among us. And I pray that those with the gift of generosity will be a compass that helps us to see how we steward all that we have from God in order to meet the needs of the world – not for our own recognition, not to meet our need for comfort and not to solidify what we need for the church to be. My prayer is that our generosity is always guided by what God is doing and how we are called to respond.
May it be so.
Amen.
Prompt:
God loves a cheerful giver. Remembering that even as we may or may not be gifted with generosity, we can develop the skill or discipline of acting in generous ways. On your beautiful garden flower or butterfly, would you please record one thing or act you can give to others this week as you practice generosity?
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