{"id":598,"date":"2012-10-14T11:00:55","date_gmt":"2012-10-14T16:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/?p=598"},"modified":"2022-03-20T11:34:56","modified_gmt":"2022-03-20T15:34:56","slug":"divinegenerosity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/2012\/10\/14\/divinegenerosity\/","title":{"rendered":"Divine Generosity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark 10: 17-31<\/a><\/p>\n

Click here to hear the full service.<\/a><\/p>\n

Click here to hear the sermon only.<\/a><\/p>\n

Introduction<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

None is good but God.\u00a0 With God all things are possible.<\/em><\/p>\n

We savor, today, what another Scripture (Gal. 5:22) names as the Spirit\u2019s fruit\u2014goodness, or, perhaps better rendered, \u201cgenerosity\u201d, goodness that does some good, generative goodness, AGATHOSUNE<\/em>, generosity.<\/p>\n

This is the day, either literally or figuratively, in which the material world is invaded, assaulted, attacked, by Another Reality.<\/p>\n

Into the teeth of congenital selfishness, cultural stinginess, communal exclusiveness, and congregational sanctimoniousness, divine Generosity marches on.<\/p>\n

Several Octobers ago I did have a Sunday off\u2014what a luxury.\u00a0\u00a0 We were in Pheonix, with sunshine and 100 degrees.\u00a0 I got up late, skipped breakfast, went to a church service someone else had prepared, ate lunch, and then headed out to see if I could get into a major league football game\u2014Cardinals and Giants. Scalpers had some–$100 dollars. \u00a0No thank you.\u00a0 At last, the ticket booth, with a little crowd gathered.\u00a0 I stood and waited in line.<\/p>\n

Suddenly a Pheonix fan appeared, dressed in\u00a0Cardinals hat, Cardinals shirt, Cardinals socks, Cardinals buttons.\u00a0 He was a burly bloke, and not overly tidy in his\u00a0attire.\u00a0 He also was quite a large person.\u00a0 He wore a beverage container on his back that had a tube running to his mouth.\u00a0His Cardinal hat was shaped like a bird, and had wings that moved up and down \u201cin flight\u201d as he walked.\u00a0\u00a0 He wore size 13 Converse sneakers.\u00a0 He stood in the ticket area and said, \u201cI have two $50 tickets that I want to give away.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want them sold, I want to give them away.\u201d<\/p>\n

No one moved.\u00a0 No one spoke.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have free tickets here.\u00a0 Two of them.\u00a0 They\u2019re\u00a0on the 30 yard line, 18 rows up.\u00a0 I want to give them away.\u201d<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know why, exactly, but no one moved or spoke.\u00a0 We couldn\u2019t believe it.\u00a0 \u201cThere must be something\u00a0wrong\u2014a catch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally, exasperated, Mr. Cardinal slammed his tickets on the counter,\u00a0 and said to the taker\u2014you give them away, at which point yours truly, not born yesterday, said,\u00a0\u201cWell, I appreciate your generosity\u2014thanks for the tickets.\u00a0May the best team win.\u201d<\/p>\n

But we don\u2019t really appreciate generosity.\u00a0 We don\u2019t expect it so we don\u2019t see it.\u00a0 It stomps up to us and bites us and we still don\u2019t see it.<\/p>\n

I was given a place at the table, a seat at the banquet, a ticket to the game\u2014space, entrance, inclusion.<\/p>\n

So armed, I walked to the turnstile and realized I had two tickets but only needed one.\u00a0 So, I walked over to a group nearby and said, \u201cListen, I have a free ticket here.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want it scalped.\u00a0 Who would like it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Guess what?<\/p>\n

Dead silence.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey.\u00a0 This is legitimate.\u00a0 This was given to me\u2014it\u2019s yours for free.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nothing.<\/p>\n

I turned to leave, when an older man said \u201cOK,\u00a0OK,\u00a0 I don\u2019t know what your angle is, buddy, but\u2014hand it\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 over.\u201d\u00a0 Which I did.<\/p>\n

So on a 100 degree Sunday off in the southwest I was given a free ticket, and also, as the game progressed, and my mind wandered, an apocalyptic insight into the nature of the fruit of the spirit known as goodness, generosity, in three particulars.<\/p>\n

Divine Generosity surprises us.<\/p>\n

Divine Generosity makes space for others, especially for the stranger, the outsider, the other.<\/p>\n

Divine Generosity seduces us, at last, into offering our own generous gifts.<\/p>\n

Our text has been variously interpreted since Clement of Alexandria in the first century.\u00a0 A figurative teaching?\u00a0 A word for one man only?\u00a0 A command for the few not the many?<\/p>\n

A. Divine Generosity Surprises Us<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

An elderly couple who met at Depauw University in 1926, but who never graduated, some years ago decided to leave that school their whole life savings, $128 million dollars.\u00a0 75 students a year will attend that school with full scholarships.\u00a0 Surprising generosity.<\/p>\n

A person visits my office and late that week mails in a check for $3000, to be used \u201cas you see fit\u201d.\u00a0 Surprising generosity.<\/p>\n

A woman who does not attend our church is inspired by the work of the Chapel and leaves that ministry a quarter of a million dollars.\u00a0 Surprising generosity.\u00a0 May her tribe increase.<\/p>\n

A family needs a place to stay for a summer trip and, hearing the need, a brother in Christ provides a home for the visit.\u00a0 Surprising generosity.<\/p>\n

Someone is saved from psychic hell through the pastoral care of their church, and chooses to endow the expense of pastoral ministry.\u00a0 Surprising future generosity.<\/p>\n

BU is raising $1B:\u00a0 as the preacher said, \u2018this would be my pressure\u2014I mean my pleasure\u2019.<\/p>\n

It is in the nature of the spirit to take us somewhat by surprise, and nourish us generously.\u00a0 So the Scripture teaches us.<\/p>\n

Psalm 33:\u00a0 The earth is full of the HESED (generous goodness) of the Lord<\/p>\n

Romans 15:\u00a0 You also are full of generosity<\/p>\n

Galatians 6:10:\u00a0 Let us be generous to all, especially to those of the household of faith<\/p>\n

2 Cor 9:\u00a0 \u201cThe Lord loves a cheerful giver\u201d<\/p>\n

Romans 12:\u00a0 \u201cLet love be genuine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matthew 6:\u00a0 \u201cIf anyone asks for your coat, give him your cloak as well.\u00a0 If he asks you to go one mile, go a second too.<\/p>\n

Galatians 6:\u00a0 \u201cBear one another\u2019s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n

Think of Jesus\u2019 parables\u2014of sowing and reaping, of mustard seeds exploding from tiny to great, of talents used and underused, of dishonest but generous stewards and of that haunting and joyous refrain\u2014may it reach our ears at heaven\u2019s door!—\u201cWell done though generous and faithful servant, you have been faithful over a little, we will set you over much.\u00a0 Enter into the joy of the master.\u201d\u00a0 How frightful, daunting, awesome, profound is our charge in this life to minister to one another so that we are ready to hear such a sentence pronounced:\u00a0 \u201c\u2026well done, thou generous and faithful servant..\u201d<\/p>\n

If we have savored generous surprise, then we may also sense that this form of the Spirit\u2019s fruit makes space for others.<\/p>\n

B. Divine Generosity Makes Space for Others<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Look at Marsh Chapel, flourishing because of the surprising generosity of hundreds of faithful people, who want the world to be a better place, who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who understand that as the seedbed for wonder, morality, and future generosity, the church has a prior claim on our giving.<\/p>\n

Let me push you a little here.\u00a0 I know it is appealing to give to many particular causes and special projects.\u00a0\u00a0 But it is Another Reality, the fruit of God\u2019s own spirit known as goodness, which ultimately feeds all giving, and to which the church alone bears full witness.\u00a0 I think we run the risk of taking our Chapel for granted.\u00a0 It will prevail into the new millenium only to the degree that another generation of young adults learns and chooses to reflect divine generosity with some of the human variety.<\/p>\n

Five students one week reminded me so: a poet, a community worker, a preacher, an economist and a groom to be.<\/p>\n

One day a veteran faithful member of the chapel commented to me about our ministry.\u00a0 In conclusion she said, and the words carried a depth of meaning perhaps even beyond her intention, \u201cwe don\u2019t want anyone left behind.\u201d<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s it!\u00a0 No one is to be left behind, left out, left off the list, left outside.\u00a0\u00a0 Not at least for those of us who worship the Jesus Christ of the manger, the wilderness, the borrowed upper room, the cross, and the empty tomb!\u00a0 Jesus lived and died \u201coutside\u201d, to remind us on the religious inside of those still outside.\u00a0 So that all might have space, have a seat, have a place at the table.\u00a0 You and I have had seven courses of faith, when others lack even the appetizer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want anyone left behind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marsh Chapel\u2019s current growth and future health are fed by Generosity, goodness that does good.\u00a0 Generosity makes space, in this chapel, for those who are not yet inside.\u00a0 Why? Why more?\u00a0 Why grow?\u00a0 Because God is generous, and we believe in God.\u00a0 Because the need of the world is great, and we care about that need.\u00a0 Because the future health of this chapel depends on our becoming, over a decade, welcoming, inviting and generous, and we love this church.\u00a0 Because when our own generosity is quickened, faith is less a dull habit and more an acute fever.<\/p>\n

For we learn over time.\u00a0\u00a0 Sometimes the best gift you can give somebody is the opportunity for them to give themselves.\u00a0 That is what this sermon is about.\u00a0\u00a0 We are trying today, in this season of spiritual harvest, to feast upon the fruit of the spirit known as Generosity.\u00a0 And the best gift you can receive is the chance to give of yourself.<\/p>\n

A while ago friends were going a trip and needed someone to watch their children.\u00a0 I heard the request and did what you would have done\u2014I referred the idea to the spiritual leader of our home.\u00a0 Jan said sure.\u00a0 I wondered a little about it, but the day came and all of a sudden, we had again multiple teenage voices in our home.\u00a0\u00a0 And what a treat they were, what a joyful presence, what a gift!\u00a0 One is this term now completing a PhD across the river at Harvard.<\/p>\n

But if our friends had not had the courage and taken the risk of asking, of giving us the real gift of a chance to give, we would have missed a little bit of<\/p>\n

Amid surprise and extra space, the Spirit can seduce you, even on an autumn Sunday.<\/p>\n

Across religious lines:\u00a0 some weeks the Hindus are the most Christian people I deal with!<\/p>\n

C. Divine Generosity Seduces Us<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

So in that vein I am going to ask you to risk some generosity this fall.\u00a0 This chapel can prosper if you will generously support it.\u00a0 It\u2019s entirely up to you.\u00a0\u00a0 I invite you to give, to pledge, to pledge strongly and to tithe.\u00a0\u00a0 I am aware that this is a very personal decision.\u00a0 You only have what you give away.\u00a0 You only truly possess what you have the power and freedom to give to someone else.<\/p>\n

But the world is not going to be healed by token pledges and convenient giving.<\/p>\n

This is a giving community.\u00a0 It needs to become a generous one.\u00a0 That is your opportunity this fall.<\/p>\n

Remember your forebears.\u00a0 These are the people of whom Diognetus wrote in the year 130ad:<\/p>\n

They dwell in their own countries, but merely as sojourners.<\/em><\/p>\n

Every foreign land is to them their native country.<\/em><\/p>\n

And yet their land of birth is a land of strangers.<\/em><\/p>\n

They marry and beget children, but they do not destroy<\/em><\/p>\n

Their offspring.<\/em><\/p>\n

They have a common table, but not a common bed.<\/em><\/p>\n

They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh.<\/em><\/p>\n

They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven.<\/em><\/p>\n

When reviled, they bless.<\/em><\/p>\n

When insulted, they show honor.<\/em><\/p>\n

When punished, they rejoice.<\/em><\/p>\n

What the soul is to the body, they are to the world.<\/em><\/p>\n

What salt is to earth and light is to world, are you to this country, to this region.<\/em><\/p>\n

The churches stay open for people on whom almost all other doors have closed.\u00a0 For the poor.\u00a0 For the irascible.\u00a0 For the loony.\u00a0 For the difficult.\u00a0 You are sitting in the most open, and generously vulnerable public space in this county.<\/p>\n

As Lorraine Hansberry wrote,<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen do think is the time to love somebody most?\u00a0 When they done good and made things easy for everybody? \u00a0Well then, you ain\u2019t through learning, because that ain\u2019t the time at all.\u00a0 It\u2019s when he\u2019s at his lowest and can\u2019t believe in himself \u2018cause the world done whipped him so\u201d.<\/p>\n

The mission may be the bit and bridle, but the great steed, the real horseflesh of life is found in vision, a vision of a healed and loving world, where there is space, real quality space, for all.\u00a0 We dare not let the moon of mission eclipse the sun of vision.<\/p>\n

Now we sing: Take my life and let it be, Consecrated Lord to thee. We might better sing: Take my life and let it be, Shaped by Generosity.<\/p>\n

Our gospel today celebrates divine generosity, the goodness and possibility of God.\u00a0 None is good but God.\u00a0 With God all things are possible.<\/em><\/p>\n

Jane Addams knew this.\u00a0 Maybe we need to remember the young woman from Rockford Illinois, Jane Addams.\u00a0 She grew up 140 years ago, in a time and place unfriendly, even hostile, to the leadership that women might provide.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But somehow she discovered her mission in life.\u00a0 And with determination she traveled to the windy city and set up Hull House, the most far reaching experiment in social reform that American cities had ever seen.\u00a0 Hull House was born out of a social vision, and nurtured through the generosity of one determined woman.\u00a0 Addams believed fervently that we are responsible for what happens in the world.\u00a0 So Hull House, a place of feminine community and exciting spiritual energy, was born.\u00a0 Addams organized female labor unions.\u00a0 She lobbied for a state office to inspect factories for safety.\u00a0 She built public playgrounds and staged concerts and cared for immigrants.\u00a0 She became politically active and gained a national following on the lecture circuit.\u00a0 She is perhaps the most passionate and most effective advocate for the poor that our country has ever seen.<\/p>\n

Addams wrote:\u00a0 \u201cThe blessings which we associate with a life of refinement and cultivation must be made universal if they are to be permanent\u2026The good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain, is floating in midair, until it is secured for all of us and incorporated into our common life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Can we apply this to our own very space and time?<\/p>\n

Yet it was an historian who, for me, explained once the puzzle of Jane Addams\u2019 fruitful generosity.\u00a0 This was the historian Christopher Lasch.\u00a0 Several times in the 1980\u2019s I thought of driving over here to visit him.\u00a0 But I never took the time, and as you know, he died seven years ago.\u00a0 Lasch said of Addams, \u201cLike so many reformers before her, she had discovered some part of herself which, released, freed the rest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is there a part of your soul ready today to be released, that then will free the rest of you?<\/p>\n

I wonder, frankly, whether for some of us that part is our stewardship life, our financial generosity.<\/p>\n

Is that part of you, the wallet area part, ready to be released today, and in so doing, to free up the rest?<\/p>\n

I think with real happiness over the years of men and women who have, just for example, taken up the practice of tithing, and in so releasing themselves, have found the rest of their lives unleashed for God.<\/p>\n

Is there, as there was for Jane Addams, some small part of your soul ready to be released today, which then will free up the rest of you?<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Deep, real life change comes from apocalyptic insight and cataclysmic experience.\u00a0 \u201cAll who enter the kingdom of heaven enter it violently\u201d.<\/p>\n

Is there a part of your soul which, once released, would free up the rest?\u00a0 A catalytic experience or moment?\u00a0 Is it possible, that such an experience is waiting for you, metaphorically speaking, in the lobby outside your bank?\u00a0 Not in sex, or religion or nation or peril, but in\u2026generosity?<\/p>\n

Maybe we can know, in the surprise of Divine Generosity, in the space provided by Divine Generosity, in the seductive attraction of Divine Generosity, what made a man of God out of John Wesley, and helped him to live on a mere 60lbs sterling year by year for his whole adult life, and in the process build a cross continental movement for good, of which we are heirs and debtors.\u00a0 Go, tithers and future tithers, and live his motto:<\/p>\n

Do all the good you can<\/em><\/p>\n

At all the times you can<\/em><\/p>\n

In all the ways you can<\/em><\/p>\n

In all the places you can<\/em><\/p>\n

To all the people you can<\/em><\/p>\n

As long as ever you can<\/em><\/p>\n

~The Rev. Dr. Robert Allan Hill, Dean of Marsh Chapel<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mark 10: 17-31 Click here to hear the full service. Click here to hear the sermon only. Introduction None is good but God.\u00a0 With God all things are possible. We savor, today, what another Scripture (Gal. 5:22) names as the Spirit\u2019s fruit\u2014goodness, or, perhaps better rendered, \u201cgenerosity\u201d, goodness that does some good, generative goodness, AGATHOSUNE, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2679,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2679"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=598"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3324,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598\/revisions\/3324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}