The culture we live in tells us that we don’t have enough and need
more (capitalism). Our culture creates in people an attitude and the
behaviours of scarcity and fear and greed, rather than an attitude
and the behaviours of abundance and generosity.
In his ground-breaking book, Holy Currencies, Eric Law equates
all forms of currency to water. (see p.9) He speaks of the currencies
of money, time and place, relationship, truth, wellness, and gracious
leadership. When water ceases to flow and move it becomes stagnant
and diseased. It is only healthy and life giving when it flows. So
too for the holy currencies. Greed and hording results in division
and death. Generosity and sharing bring life and peace.
Video clip of TV commercial “Stick It!”
A few years ago, an internet domain company called Go Daddy aired a
commercial that made a big impression. In it, a woman who had
started her own business, using Go Daddy, went around to all the
people in her life who had expected her to fail and told them to,
“Stick it!”
I think that we as a church need to get better at saying, “Stick
It!”
Practise saying it. [repeat after me and say it a few times, getting
louder and more emphatic]
As followers of Jesus, we need to say “Stick it!” to the culture
around us.
Maybe you’ve heard the phrase “you are to be in the
world, but not of the world”? People say it and
claim to be quoting from the Bible. I can’t find that exact quote,
but I did find the idea.
1 John 2:15-17 (The Mesage -alt)
“Don't love the world's ways. Don't love the world's goods. Love
of the world squeezes out love for God. Practically everything that
goes on in the world––wanting your own way, wanting everything
for yourself, wanting to appear important––has nothing to do with
God. It just isolates you from God. The world and all its wanting,
wanting, wanting is on the way out––but whoever does what God
wants is set for eternity.”
So on this Thanksgiving Sunday, let me tell you, fellow followers of
Jesus, about one of the best ways to be subversive and
counter-cultural and say “Stick it!” to the culture around us.
Generosity is a way to tell the culture to “Stick it!”
Generosity is a powerful way to show that we belong to a different
culture: the culture of Jesus. The culture of God’s Kingdom.
The culture claims that many people have no value:
-
no value because they are poor and cannot contribute to the economy,
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no value because they are old and past their working prime and a drain on the health care system.
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no value because they have physical or mental health issues and they scare us or confuse us and we’d rather that they just were out of sight,
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no value because they are always told that their suffering is their own fault, and if they just worked harder everything would be fine, and therefore that they actually deserve their lot in life,
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no value because they are different from the way the people around them look or speak or think or behave,
Telling and showing those people that they do in fact have value in
and of themselves, because they too are created in God’s image and
out of God’s love. Caring about them as well as for
them. Practicing generosity with our material goods and with our
lives, our attitudes, our spirit.
That’s telling the culture of scarcity and fear and greed to “Stick
it!! We don’t believe in you. We won’t live your way. We won’t
put our faith and hope and trust in your Way. Your way only leads to
death.”
And if we want to be intentional about telling the culture to “Stick
It!!” here’s something we can do all the time, all year, not just
at Thanksgiving, when even the culture is talking about generosity.
The concept of Tithing.
In the Bible reading from Deuteronomy today we heard the beginnings
of the idea of the tithe.
“You are to take some of all the firstfruits of what you grow in
the land that God, your God, is giving you, put them in a basket and
go to the place God, your God, sets apart for you to worship God.”
(Deuteronomy 26:2 –The Message)
You are to do this as a reminder of who you are, and what God has
done for you. You are to do this as a way to help those who do not
have, just as God has done for you. You are to do this to be more
like God; to be generous. You are to do this as a sign that you are
different from the cultures around you. (To tell those cultures to
“Stick it!”)
Traditionally, the tithe has been 10%.
I like to think in terms of giving away a specific proportion on a
consistent schedule. And although I’m going to use money as an
example, this will work with anything.
Consistent Proportional Giving:
1) Pick a proportion.
10%, 5%, 3%. It doesn’t matter. It’s a starting point.
Then, maybe annually, you increase your percentage amount, until you
get to 10%.
2) Give it away regularly.
Most people give at the same rate they earn. If you get paid
monthly, you give monthly. Like PAR for the church, a monthly way to
be regular in your donating.
What’s great is, this also works for all the other kinds of
generosity we practice in addition to giving away money.
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Generosity of time. On average, 16.8 hours a week is 10%. (24 hours/day X 7 days/week /10 percent) 11.2 hours, if you take out an 8 hour night from each 24 hour day.
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Generosity of possessions. Imagine taking an inventory of your clothing and then giving away 10% of it to the local thrift shop or other social service agency. Or 10% of your furniture. We know it’s coming. What about 10% of your Christmas decorations!
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Generosity of food. Go home and count the cans in the cupboard. Do the math and give 10% to the food-bank. Or calculate 10% of your grocery bills for a month and donate that to the food-bank.
You get the point.
And the point to all of this is not to make you feel guilty or drive
you into that place of work harder, but to invite you and encourage
you to make real what you believe. To live more fully in the Kingdom
of God that Jesus came to proclaim. To trust God, and to do the
things that Jesus does
To tell the culture around us to “Stick It!!” and then to
“celebrate with all the bounty that the Lord your God has given to
you and to your house.” (Deut. 26:11b – NRSV)
Happy Thanksgiving!
AMEN.
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