DEUTERONOMY 15:7-11

PSALM 112

2 CORINTHIANS 8:1-9,13-15

MARK 5:22-24,35b-43

Sermon – June 29, 2003

God’s Generosity – and Ours

The Bible has been teaching counter-cultural values for a long time. The culture – by which I mean human culture – is represented by the attitude of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (a story which is about all human beings). Adam and Eve’s motto was “My will be done”, not God’s will, and so Eden’s primeval peace, innocence and abundance were shattered. Ever since, “original sin” has meant people seeking their own wills in rebellion to God’s will, and living life “me first, me second, me third and anyone else if and when I feel like it.”

In our first Bible reading this morning we hear Moses passing on God’s commandment to the people to be radically different from their instincts and sinful conditioning, and to be generous – not only with money and goods towards those in need but also being generous with the right attitude: Moses says “Do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor”, “Give liberally and ungrudgingly.” Breaking free from sinful, me-first-all-the-time habits requires both concrete behavior changes and attitude changes.

This is one of the foundational passages which has led to thousands of years of charity by Jews and Christians, and of giving to help others not as an optional extra for people of faith but as a basic essential part of the package. Anybody can give lip service to the idea of charity; people of faith are supposed to “walk the walk as well as talk the talk.”

Of course, it’s also human nature to take a commandment like that and try and figure out what is the least one could do and still be considered to be obeying it. So many people over the years focussed on the same question the religious lawyer asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus responded with the story of the Good Samaritan, with the clear implication that a “neighbor” is anyone in need, whether or not the person was of the same race, religion, class or whatever.

The need for bursting through our self-created cocoons of limitations on giving was illustrated vividly in a Junior High Sunday school class I taught many years ago. We had the class of a dozen or so kids sit around tables set up like a horseshoe, and then distributed doughnut balls to them in about the way that food and wealth are distributed in the real world: a couple of kids got several doughnut balls, some got one or a half each and some got crumbs or nothing at all. Then we told them to do whatever they wanted.

The kids with several doughnut balls first tried to cover up their abundance, but soon realized they weren’t hiding it, only expressing their embarrassment or perhaps nervousness. Then, the kids with the most doughnut balls gave one each to the kids with crumbs or nothing who were sitting closest to them, ignoring those more than two students away. This could be called “defensive giving”, trying to buy off those close enough to be a potential threat.

With this approach, the charitable ministries of St. Barnabas, for example, would be restricted only to efforts to help those in need in, say, South Brunswick, North Brunswick and Franklin, with some help for New Brunswick. Of course we do reach out locally with ministries like the Food Banks, the Women’s Shelter, Elijah’s Promise Soup Kitchen and Habitat.

But our horizons are far wider than that, made easier by the ease of transportation and sending help compared to Moses’ or Jesus’ day. Last year, for example, we also sent help to the Diocese of El Salvador to support its drive to build affordable homes which could be actually owned by ordinary people without wealth or connections, and we helped an A.I.D.S. orphanage in Kenya, and our parish’s pledge to the diocese helps ministries from Elizabeth to Camden to Vineland, as well as national and worldwide ministries.

The genesis for Christians of this attitude and involvement in giving well beyond the immediate neighborhood is seen in today’s Epistle, from St. Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians, in which he invites and encourages the Corinthians to contribute to the collection for the Church in Jerusalem. It was in Jerusalem that the church at that time faced the most persecution and had the most highly developed social programs for people in need – both good reasons to respond with generosity.

Paul also writes to inspire the Corinthians with the attitude of the churches of Macedonia – in Thessalonica, Philippi and Beroea – which, though poor financially “overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.” Corinth was a more prosperous town, but Paul knew that prosperity itself does not guarantee generosity: it’s all about attitude, and people who want to be generous will find a way no matter what their circumstances.

Yes, we can see this revealed today as well. New Jersey has the highest per capita income of any state in the United States; yet in the Episcopal Church, the average pledge given to churches in our diocese as a whole is eclipsed by the average pledge given in every Southern diocese. The average pledge in Arkansas, West Virginia and Mississippi is higher than the average pledge in New Jersey; indeed, the top dioceses in the country in terms of average pledge have regularly included Alabama and West Tennessee – not rich areas but generous areas. This should goad and inspire us, because as much as we are doing, there is far more work that can be done. The financially poorest member of St. Barnabas experiences a lifestyle unimaginable to much of the world. For example, 1.1 billion people in the world have no pure drinking water! This is a shocking scandal.

We give in response to needs and opportunities, we give as the Macedonians did to bind ourselves together with people near and far who are fellow children of God; but we also give in joyful thanksgiving to God.

This is where today’s Gospel comes in. We hear the moving and inspiring story of Jesus raising the daughter of Jairus to life. We have stories of God’s healing power within our own congregation which are nearly as dramatic, and which also inspire awe and joy. The miracles described in the New Testament are not over; even now, we’re just in “the appetizer course” of a great banquet.

The reality is that each of our lives is a miracle. Each and every one of us has been given life by God – and given the offer of divine forgiveness, guidance and companionship here and now and indescribably wonderful new life in the life to come. How can we possibly neglect to be filled with thanksgiving?

God has been so generous to us, let us respond with generosity and care for those in need, near and far, and praise God with all we do, and with who we are.

(The Rev.) Francis A. Hubbard

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church