October 24, 2021
Hope Lutheran Church
Rev. Mary Erickson
Stewardship Series: Abundant Joy Overflowing Generosity
2 Corinthians 8:1-8; Luke 6:37-38
Depth of Field
Friends, may grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord.
This Sunday we conclude our stewardship emphasis “Abundant Joy, Overflowing Generosity.” The theme comes from the passage we heard this morning from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. Paul wrote this letter while he was on his third missionary journey. Along his route he visited the congregations he’d established during his previous travels. He planned to visit the Corinthians at the tail end of his journey.
While on this third journey, Paul was collecting an offering for the church in Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the location of the very first church. So the congregation there was essentially Mother Jerusalem. All successive churches could trace their origins to this congregation.
During the reign of the Roman emperor Claudius, there had been a widespread famine across the empire. And although the congregations in Asia Minor and Europe would have experienced the famine as well, they were aware that the members of Mother Jerusalem were especially hard hit by the famine. Hostilities there between Jews and the Christians of Jewish origins had escalated. The schism meant that the Christians couldn’t benefit from the extensive Jewish charity programs in place. The small Christian community was basically on its own.
As a show of their solidarity and genuine concern, the Gentile faith communities Paul had founded earnestly wanted to help out their brethren at Mother Jerusalem.
Paul had recently visited the congregations in Macedonia – Philippi and Thessalonica. From there he was fixing to visit the Corinthians. He sent a letter to let them know he was coming. And in it, he’s just bursting to share with them the phenomenal outpouring of generosity he witnessed among the Macedonians.
The faith communities in Macedonia were largely comprised of poor people. However, even though they themselves have endured a severe ordeal of affliction, when they hear about the gift to Mother Jerusalem, they are filled with ABUNDANT JOY and OVERFLOWING GENEROSITY. Paul is amazed by their gifts. What they gave was way beyond what he had anticipated. He tells the Corinthians, “They were begging us earnestly for the privilege of sharing in this ministry.”
The Macedonian’s witness continues to inspire faith communities to this day. How eagerly they gave to help! Perhaps their own poverty helped them empathize with the plight of the Jerusalem community. They knew the misery of poverty.
Studies on American philanthropy consistently reveal that the poorest among us are more generous than the richest. They give away a much greater proportion of their income than do the wealthiest. How is it that those with the least assets can be the most generous among us?
Maybe it’s connected with our perspective. There’s a thing in photography called depth of field. Our camera experts in the balcony could speak about this better than I can. In most any picture, there will be a difference in distance between the object closest to the camera and the one furthest away. It’s not always possible to keep everything in focus, and so you focus in at the depth of field corresponding with the object you want to capture. While the object of interest will be crisp and sharp, other parts of the photo can be very blurry and out of focus.
What is it we’re focusing on in our giving? I read that there are three types of giving*. There’s grudge giving, duty giving, and thanksgiving. Each type of giving sees the world from a different depth of field.
Grudge giving says, “I have to.” Duty giving says, “I ought to.” Thanksgiving says, “I want to.”
Each type of giving evokes different emotions within us.
• In grudge giving, we give because we have no choice. It’s like paying your taxes. grudge giving evokes anger and resentment.
• Duty giving comes from a sense of obligation. In duty giving we feel the weight of “should” and “ought.” There is no joy in duty giving. But it’s connected with shame and embarrassment.
• Thanksgiving is centered with a full heart. Giving becomes the heart’s desire. This kind of giving is grounded in love and ends in joy.
We see thanksgiving in the Macedonians. Their hearts were full of compassion for the Christians in Jerusalem. Love directed their hearts to give. And when they did, they themselves were filled with abundant joy in the giving.
Where is your depth of field set? Friends, there is more joy and more abundance in thanksgiving!
What we focus on affects our generosity in giving. I’ve come to understand that giving is an essential spiritual practice. First and foremost, I NEED to give! When I give, my hand moves from being an inward, clutching fist into an open offering. Giving hedges my miserliness and materialism. It breaks me open and frees me from greed’s captivity.
And even more importantly, when I let go of my assets, I lean in on God. Giving requires me to abandon my reliance on income and money in the bank. Which do I rely on more for my welfare: my wealth or God? In giving of my riches I release my reliance on wealth and trust more in God to provide. In having less for me, my trust in God grows. And ironically, in having less, I am opened to abundance. My glass goes from being half empty to being half full. I go from meager living under a framework of scarcity to living freely in a realm of abundance.
Jesus assures us that God is a faithful provider. “Give and it will be given to you,” he says. God’s providence is overflowing. “A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put in your lap. The measure you give will be the measure you get back.”
Depth of field. What is our focal point when we consider our giving? A traditional consideration is giving to a budget. What does the church need in order to get by? But when we give to a budget, our focus becomes dollars and cents. The focus becomes “How much do I NEED to give?” There isn’t really any abundant joy in this form of giving.
But there are other possible focal points. And they do increase our joy. Here’s one: we give in order to honor God. When we focus our giving on God, we increase in love and gratitude. Giving to God focuses our hearts in the knowledge that all we have was first given to us from God. Life itself, family, this beautiful earth, divine love, eternal belonging and unquenchable grace, everything we have. All things come from God and all things shall end in God. There is joy, abundant joy in the Lord who provides us our all.
We can also focus our giving on mission. When we focus on mission, we become centered on accomplishing something for Christ. Mission focus is centered in kingdom living. What can we accomplish together in Christ’s name? There’s excitement in that! There’s great joy in participating in the mission of Christ’s church.
Abundant joy and overflowing generosity. There’s a connection between the two. Generosity increases joy. And at the same time, joy increases generosity. There is abundance in the Lord.
*Anonymous
