This morning we are continuing our Lent series exploring different ways in which we can put our Christian faith into practice, in which we can follow Jesus in our day to day lives. This week we are celebrating generous giving, as you might have picked up from our time with the youngsters earlier.
In our first Bible reading we heard some great examples of generosity. From Luke’s historical account of the life of the early church, the first Christians living in Jerusalem in the months after Jesus’ resurrection and return to heaven, we read something that is amazing.
“no one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had”
As a result of this, “there was no needy person among them, for from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales … and it was distributed”
This truly is generosity to be celebrated. Those who had seen Jesus first hand, who had witnessed his death and resurrection, and had had their lives changed by this, were so moved by God’s generosity to them that they were freed to be wildly generous to each other.
Now, I’m not going to pretend that it was all sweetness and light. If you read on to chapter 5, you’ll discover that in contrast to Barnabas there was a couple in the church who sold some land and then pretended to bring all the proceeds to be distributed, but kept some back. They died. Not because they had kept some of the money, but because they had lied about it, trying to look good.
Reading onto chapter 6, we read that there was a falling out because some of the widows of Greek heritage were being overlooked in the sharing out of the food.
The early church wasn’t perfect – it was made up of human beings like us, so it couldn’t be, but for all that, there was undeniably also an uncommon generosity that we can celebrate, and think about how we can follow their example. We might be able to think of all kinds of reasons why they were a special case, this kind of practice didn’t last long, it wouldn’t be practical for us. But before we do that, let’s just take a moment and feel the weight of their example.
When I was reading bits from the Acts passage I missed a verse out, v33 “With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them.”
This sounds quite spiritual, doesn’t it, words like “power”, “grace”, “testify”, “resurrection”. And it’s bang in the middle of things that don’t sound very spiritual at all – money and land and houses. The reality is that as far as God is concerned, what we do with our money and land and houses as as spiritual as anything else. The power or effectiveness with which we can bear witness to the grace that we’ve found in Jesus seems to be linked to how strongly we hold on to our stuff.
This link seems to work like this. As we get closer to Jesus, as we grow in our understanding of his grace at work in our lives, the less our stuff matters to us, and other people can see this, so they believe us when we tell them about the difference Jesus makes in our lives because they can see it working out in our attitude to our stuff.
As we respond with generosity to the generosity we have been shown by God, so other people see and are drawn to it.
This is at the heart of what we heard Jesus teaching in part one of Luke’s history of Jesus’ time on earth.
This reading began “But to you who are listening I say….”
Which left me wondering – “who was listening”?
If we look back at v 17 we discover that it was a large crowd of Jesus’ disciples, along with a great number of people from all over the country – people who had travelled to be healed by him and had stayed to hear his teaching.
They had received grace and generosity from God, and now Jesus is going to help them understand how they are to live in the light of that generosity, and it is all about showing generosity to others, even those who don’t deserve it. In fact, especially to those who don’t deserve it. Those who abuse you, cheat you, attack you, curse you, steal from you. Your enemies. Be generous to them: love them, lend to them, be merciful to them. This goes far beyond generosity with money and stuff.
It seems to me that this is a bit like the Acts reading. We read these things in the Bible, and they are so far off what we think that we can do, that we discount them. We start coming up with all the reasons that it’s not practical, that it’s exaggeration for effect, that he can’t really have meant it. But, as we did with the Acts reading, let’s take a moment to feel the weight of this – to ask the Holy Spirit to actually do it.
Why?
Because this is the generosity that we have received from God. Jesus bore all these things on his road to the cross, and it is Jesus we follow. Jesus gave himself for his enemies.
Pressed down and running over.
Not just his belongings, or his stuff, but his very self, his life, for us, who were his enemies. In Paul’s letter to the Christians in Rome, in chapter 5v10
“For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!”
This is the generosity, the grace, the mercy that God has shown to us, that we have received, that we celebrate every week in communion, that we will celebrate at Easter. One of things that it is good for us to reflect on in Lent is the fact that we were God’s enemies, and that Jesus did this for us so that we could be reconciled to God. A deeper appreciation of this fact can help to change our attitude towards our enemies, to allow that attitude to be reshaped into one of mercy, grace and generosity.
I also want to take some time this morning to celebrate the generosity that we have experienced in our church life. God has given us so much, and as we have shared what God has given us so we have seen that generosity multiplied in people’s lives.
Many of you will have received the impact of giving leaflet by email this week – if you didn’t there are some hard copies. It’s such a magnificent celebration of a generous God at work through a generous church. Generous in time, in energy, in prayer, in money, generous in so many ways.
From the blessing to our community that Toddler groups both here and at the Orbit are, to the growth in Toddler Praise, young church and youth groups. From the new Toy Library to Explore, to the baptisms and confirmations that we have celebrated. From Oasis to Ecochurch, to our Dementia Friendly resources. The increasing use of this space for community events and musical concerts which reach out to people we wouldn’t normally connect with.
I don’t have time to cover it all this morning, which is why you need to read the booklet. Take time to sit down with it this week, either on your computer or tablet or hard copy, and go through it, thanking God on every page. Or perhaps take a page a day in your time with God and thank God for what is detailed on each page.
One piece of information that is hot of the press, didn’t make it into the leaflet before it was printed was the response to the recent giving campaigns. I am delighted to be able to let you know that annual giving has increased by just over £7,000 and there have been one off gifts of just over £2,000. We are so grateful for this, as it will allow us to continue the good work that we have been doing, and even to grow it. If this is the first you’re hearing about a giving campaign, or haven’t yet had opportunity to respond, then it’s not too late – you can still get involved.
You’ll also see from the leaflet the numbers of people who are involved in all these ministries – and I know that many of us exercise our generosity outside church organised projects as well – as hospice volunteers, school governors, uniformed organisation leaders – so many examples. If you would like to find out more about how you can get involved, please do talk to me and I’ll point you in the right direction.
One particular project that I’d like to invite you to consider giving towards is the project to put solar panels on the parish centre. In the long run this will reduce our costs, and also is part of our mission to look after God’s creation. We have received grants towards it, including from the diocese and from the Benefact Trust, and have set aside some PCC funds for the project, but there is still about £3,500 to find. If we receive more than this then we can release the PCC funds for projects. You can find out more about this from our church warden Fiona, or our treasurer Liz.
We have been given so much by our generous God, pressed down and running over. How are we going to respond?
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