Scriptures:
Proverbs 11:24
The world of the generous gets larger and larger; the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller.
2 Corinthians 9
6 The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.
Sermon: “The Paradox of Generosity”
Several years ago I read a book that blew the doors off my understanding of generosity. It’s called 29 Gifts: How a month of Giving Can Change your Life by Cami Walker. Some of you may have read it too. The book is a testimony to the healing power of generosity, and I want to share the gist of it with you because Cami’s story beautifully illustrates the truth of what our Scripture readings for today proclaim.
Cami Walker--a young woman in her mid-thirties-- starts her book by describing the lowest point in her life so far—when she was diagnosed with MS (Multiple Sclerosis) at age 32, just a month after her wedding day!
In a short period of time, Cami Walker goes from being a happy, active newly-married woman with a professional career to being a discouraged, unemployed, homebound person who can’t drive, walk, or even make a meal for herself. She leaves her apartment only for doctor’s appointments.
When she is feeling really bad one day, Cami picks up the phone and calls a friend named Mbali, who is originally from South Africa. Mbali is a spiritual healer, but Cami calls her not for healing advice, but rather just to complain about her situation. After she goes on for a while, Mbali stops her. “Cami,” she says gently, “I think you need to stop thinking about yourself.” “Thinking about myself!?” Cami yells, protesting that because of her disease, she has no energy to think about anything else but herself.
To Mbali’s credit, she doesn’t let this defensive reaction put her off. Mbali persists in challenging her friend Cami, suggesting that by focusing all of her time and energy on herself and her disease, Cami is in effect falling deeper and deeper into a black hole. Finally, Mbali says, “I have a prescription for you. I want you to give away 29 gifts in 29 days.”
I want you to give away 29 gifts in 29 days-- what an odd prescription to give someone who can barely function! Even though the gifts recommended are just little, ordinary things— a phone call, a letter, a smile, a word of thanks— even those things can seem like way too much to someone in Cami’s situation. As I’ve reflected on this story, it occurs to me that Mbali is making the same point that today’s Scriptures are making: the paradox of generosity is that when we give, we are not depleting our resources. In fact, just the opposite—we increase the abundance in our lives.
Our reading from Proverbs says: “The world of the generous gets larger and larger; the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller.” When we give, we deepen and expand the connections we have with God and other people—and everyone benefits in ways that defy explanation—the giver as well as the recipient.
Now, let me stop here for a moment with a disclaimer. This is not a stewardship sermon-- at least not in the classic sense. This sermon is not primarily about material giving—it’s about intentionally cultivating an attitude of generosity in our daily interactions with other people. By so doing, I believe we expand our world to include the abundance that God intends us all to experience.
What struck me about the beginning of Cami Walker’s testimony, is that her world, through no fault of her own, had gotten smaller and smaller. A debilitating disease put severe limits on her and cut her off from activities and friendships she had previously enjoyed—and had even taken for granted—in the past. And more than that, the disease had limited Cami’s vision, depleted her imagination, and like a malevolent vacuum cleaner, had sucked all of the hope right out of her. Her friend Mbali named it well—Cami was falling deeper and deeper into a black hole—physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
To make a long story short, Cami Walker decides to try her friend’s prescription—giving away 29 gifts in 29 days—not because she is convinced that generosity will change her life or help her heal, but because, well, what the heck, she’s tried everything else and maybe this could help-- at least it couldn’t hurt. J
The rest of the book describes the amazing change that takes place in Cami Walker’s life as she begins, intentionally every day, to give little gifts to other people. In the book, Cami describes how she would go to bed at night thinking of what gift she might give the next day, and how she would wake up in the morning and pray about the gift. Some examples of what she decided to give include: a phone call to a friend, a thank-you note to her mother, a love-letter to her husband, a taco to a homeless man, and a used book to a neighbor— all just simple little things, but they have a profound effect. As she begins to give her little gifts, Cami discovers that the focus of her life starts to shift from the limits of her disease to the abundance of what she still has left to give.
I found this book incredibly inspirational. But, unlike some of the inspirational biographies of great people that we read and come away thinking, “Wow, that person is incredible-- I could never do anything like that!” with this book, I thought, “Wow, such a simple gift can have such a profound effect—I can do that! I want to try it!”
When I first read the book, I actually adopted the challenge of giving 29 gifts in 29 consecutive days, and I became very intentional about giving little gifts to people. For instance, during that time period, I went to a car wash, something I do once a year whether my car needs it or not. (Yeah, I know it needs it…but I digress.) The car wash I went to was one of those where you drive your vehicle into a garage-like building, where a couple of guys direct you onto a track, hook your car up to it, and flip a switch that starts machines that do the washing for you as you move along. After I had gone through the wash, with the 29 gifts challenge in mind, I took a moment to drive back to the entrance and thanked the young men who had run the machines. “Car looks great!” I said, “Thank you!” The young men beamed in response, and one asked, like a little kid who needed some positive feedback on his homework, “Did we do a good job?!” “Yes!” I said, “Thanks again. The car looks as good as the day I bought it, but, of course, now I have to clean the inside…” And they both laughed. J
Seeing those young men smile and laugh like little kids really made my day, and it made me think how a simple gift, like an unexpected word of thanks, can benefit both the giver and the one who receives the gift. That said, let me shift gears for a moment and say a few words about receiving. I once attended a workshop called “Spiritual Finance,” and the workshop leader, Kerry Cudmore*, made the comment that being an intentional giver wasn’t nearly as difficult for some people as being an intentional receiver. In my experience, those of us who are part of faith communities easily get enthusiastic about adopting giving challenges like the one described by Cami Walker, but we may have more difficulty being on the receiving end of gifts. For instance, how many of us, when we’ve been given a gift, has ever said, “Oh, no, you shouldn’t have!” or “Thanks, but really, I’m fine, I don’t need anything. I’m sure there is someone else who needs this more…” J Sound familiar?
Kerry, the Spiritual Finance workshop leader told us about her experience of going over to friends’ houses on several different occasions for dinner. And, each time, she (Kerry) would carefully choose a hostess gift to present to the friend who had prepared the dinner, and each time, when she presented the gift, the person looked at it awkwardly - like “What am I supposed to do with this?”, mumbled a quick “thank you,” and then whisked the gift off into the kitchen where it was never seen again. Kerry said that each time she was left feeling “thwarted and befuddled” and, to put it more strongly, even “robbed” of the opportunity to connect with the other person and feel good about knowing her gift was enjoyed.
So, brothers and sisters, as part of our stewardship reflections this fall, I invite you to think about giving and receiving. Which one is easier for you? Which one is harder? Is there one would you rather not do? Can you see giving and receiving as two sides of the same coin? Can you imagine how being intentionally gracious in both giving and receiving can help you expand your world and deepen your connections with God and each other?
For each of us, the opportunities to practice intentional giving and receiving are endless! On the giving side: a phone call to a friend, a note to a someone who has been especially helpful, a box of instant mashed potatoes for the Thanksgiving Baskets. On the receiving side, an answer of “yes”--without any words of protest-- when someone offers to help you, even if it’s something you feel you should be able to do yourself OR, to take it a step further, actually asking for help when there is something that you need--and enjoying the help you get.
I know you already do such things, so I am simply suggesting that you do them more intentionally, asking for God’s guidance and blessing as you give and receive. You may even want to follow Cami Walker’s giving prescription and give 29 gifts in 29 consecutive days. Or, if that’s too overwhelming to think about, do it for a week, starting today: 7 gifts in 7 days--keeping in mind the gift can be as small as a thank you note or a smile to the checkout clerk at the grocery store. I plan to do it. And let me know after worship if you accept this challenge as well. I’d love to hear about your experiences.
However you decide to practice giving and receiving, may we all discover, as our Scriptures remind us, that our world gets larger, as God provides us with “every blessing in abundance.”
Let us pray: Loving God, our Scriptures remind us of your generosity in creating the world and giving us the gift of life itself. We see this deep generosity reflected in Jesus, who poured out his life and love, forgiveness and wisdom on all people, showing no partiality. Help us, O God, to mirror that generosity in ways big and small as part of our daily living. Guide us in both our giving and receiving that we may live abundantly and share that abundance with others.
Hear now our prayers for our community and our world…
- Vaccine roll out… vaccinating children…
PHONE
SLIPS
- Moment of silence…lifting up in prayer those we hold in our hearts.. others in this room and in our livestream… [PAUSE]
- O God, bless the sick… those who are struggling… those who are grieving…caregivers… Give them strength and healing…. In Jesus name, Amen
PLEASE JOIN ME IN THE LORD’S PRAYER
- Our Father, who art in heaven
Hallowed be Thy Name
Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven
- Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our debts
As we forgive our debtors`
- And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. AMEN
Rev. Dr. Marlayna Schmidt
Franklin Federated Church
*Kerry Cudmore leads the Spiritual Finance Initiative. Website: www.Kerrycudmore.com
Note: original version of this sermon was written and preached by Marlayna at Brooksby Village Chapel in Peabody, MA 1/24/10; an edit version was preached by Marlayna at Trinity in Gloucester on Feb 7, 2010.