God is Still Speaking . . . .
October 28, 2007
The Rev. Carol DiBiasio-Snyder

Joel 2:21-32

Introduction to the scripture:

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I stand here today a bit befuddled, more nervous than usual and strangely hopeful all at once. I'm preaching a sermon about generosity, abundance and stewardship, but it may be too late. Some of you have followed directions well. You've already prayerfully considered your giving and you've brought your estimate of giving card all filled out and ready to turn in. Do I think I can preach such a sermon after which you will cross out that figure and add more to it?! OR . . . . Do I dare risk preaching a sermon after which you might cross out that figure and subtract some from it?!

Now some of you didn't get the mailing from the Stewardship Committee, or some of you forgot your card at home, or perhaps the letter is still unopened in a pile on your kitchen table. Not to worry, we have blank estimate of giving cards ready for you. So perhaps with that group I have still have a chance!

So here we go. Our scripture today brims over with what we might call "abundance thinking." The barns will be full, and God's spirit will speak through sons and daughters, the old and the young, even slaves. God is alive. God is still speaking. God's generosity is greater than we imagine.

Abundance and generosity. They walk hand in hand. Living a life, believing there is not only enough but more than enough spills over in generosity. There has been a lot of talk in popular culture these days about "abundance thinking" and "abundance living." This is in contrast to scarcity thinking and living. That is, thinking there isn't enough, you've got to take care of your own, hold on to what you've got, protect and live carefully . . . sometimes even resort to violence.

Fairly often, our children, during the Time with the Children, speak from the heart, a word from God that is clearer, wiser and closer to God than all the paragraphs in our sermons. This happened again last Sunday, but I was the only one who got to hear the message.

As Ralph mentioned, last week he had an offering plate with quarters and dimes in it and passed it around, letting the kids take a coin as a gift from God. I passed the plate to one young man sitting near me. He looked up, and I swear I saw both wonder and compassion in his eyes as he held open his hand his own money in the palm and said, "I already have a lot of money." I was stunned. Here was a six-year-old, living from a place of abundance! (I coaxed him to accept God's gift anyway.)

"Abundance thinking" means living with hands and heart open. It means letting goods and love and justice and joy flow, not just to you, but through you. It means living like there is enough, more than enough. "Abundance thinking" is a great antidote to fear and worry.

One morning this week I was watching the sparrows at our bird feeder. One bird got my attention. It was kicking all the other birds off the perch. If a bird tried to land, the first bird aggressively pecked at the new bird, went back to frantically eating and continuing to scare away every bird, even if they came in pairs or threes.

This was a bird living with a scarcity mind set. That bird didn't know that inside that feeder and the one next to it there was more food than it could ever consume. That fearful, mean, aggressive bird didn't know that in the garage there was a 40-pound bag of bird seed. That little "get-yours-before-anyone-else-gets-there's" bird didn't realize that there is an endless supply of those bags at Kitz and Pfeil.

That bird had a lot, it just didn't know it. Bill Gates knows he has a lot. The richest man in the world, along with Melinda his wife has given of their wealth generously through their Foundation which addresses global health problems. In an interview with Bill Moyers, Gates recounted a litany of reasons why some people think addressing global health problems is a good idea. Some use economic arguments. Some use arguments about stability and security. Others worry that somebody could get on a plane from one of these places and you might get sick.

None of these arguments, Gates said, is the right one. "The right argument," he said, "is this mother's child is sick. And that child's life is no less valuable than the life of anyone else. And the world has plenty of resources to go solve these problems." www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript_gates.html

Every life has value and the world has plenty of resources. In an essay on generosity reflecting on these comments, Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat wrote, The [second] thought that came to mind . . . is that generosity is for everyone. If this is how we honor and express human value, then any act of kindness counts in the bigger picture. We can all be kind. We can all be generous. This is one of the key teachings of all the world's religions. www.spiritualityandpractice.com/practices/features.php?id=15783

I learned about some interesting concepts about generosity in some other cultures this week. I learned about the African idea called ubuntu. I'll let Desmond Tutu explain it to you. He writes

Like humility, generosity comes from seeing that everything we have and everything we accomplish comes from God's grace and God's love for us. In the African understanding of ubuntu, our humility and generosity also come from realizing that we could not be alive, nor could we accomplish anything, without the support, love, and generosity of all the people who have helped us to become the people we are today. Certainly it is from experiencing this generosity of God and the generosity of those in our life that we learn gratitude and to be generous to others.

Then I learned about the Jewish concept of tzedakah. (tze-DA-ka)

It's sometimes translated "charity." But the root of the word - and its practice - holds more meaning than just someone with more giving to someone with less, as charity would imply. The root of the work tzedakah (tze-DA-ka) means justice and fairness. Giving is an act of justice. Everyone is to practice this way of making the world more just by sharing whatever you have, whether you have a little or a lot.

And then, my favorite and I think most intriguing . . . the Native American practice of the potlatch. These ceremonies include a sort of "fighting, using wealth." In potlatch, those with much compete to outdo each other by giving away more and more wealth and prized possessions. You earn prestige and power by how much you give not by how much you've got. How totally opposite our consumer culture where how much you make, and get and keep is what brings you power and prestige. As the gap continues to widen between the rich and the poor in our nation, seems that a potlatch might help fund health care for all, a living wage for all, more money for our schools.

Maybe I'll recommend a potlatch for the stewardship drive next year. Can't you picture it? One year from now, we gather here. Remember the more you give the greater the admiration, the more prestige is yours, the more honor you will receive. The potlatch begins with someone bringing a fist full of cash forward. A little shy at first, but encouraged by this new way of thinking, another person stands up in the back and says she is right now, writing a check for $2,000 dollars. Swept into the action, a man sitting behind the pillar over there jumps to his feet and offers his 401K. Before he finishes, a woman near the front rushes forward with the title to her car . . . Okay, okay, I am getting a little carried away with my little fantasy FCC potlatch, aren't I?!

Still, we all, deep down, know that generosity is liberating. Giving makes life sweeter. Generosity is really a kind of spiritual exercise. In it we practice "abundance thinking." In yet another paradox of our faith, we learn that in giving we receive. In letting go we find what we were searching for all along, inner peace.

I love the clever title of a book on generosity by Linda Harper. Her word play holds truth. The title is Give to Your Heart's Content. Hmmmm, need to hear that again? Give to Your Heart's Content.

So, friends, whatever you put as your estimate of giving on your yellow card, may you live each day, more and more from a mind set of abundance. May you have your own sense of potlatch about your generosity to others, through your giving to and through this church and in all areas of your life. When we combine our individual gifts we more than multiply all that we can do through the ministries of this church.

Let's go ahead and let a little of the potlatch start this year. Let's all give to our heart's content. Truly, there is enough, enough and then some. God's very nature is abundance. May we honor that through freely giving our money and our lives away.

God is still speaking . . . what is God saying to you? Amen.