Paying it Forward

It has been said that religion and politics are the two major topics that one should stay away from in polite dinner conversation. Given that historical politics and religion are the subject of both of my degrees, I often find myself wondering if I should say anything at all. Part of the so-called injunction comes from the experience that those who know the least will often say the most. Religion and politics can often lead to heated discussions that may make polite discussions, well… not so polite.

But there is another topic that really should be added to the list… we always seem to get a bit uncomfortable when it comes to talking about money. Sure… we can talk about how businesses spend money without too much trouble… there are financial reports every half-hour on 680 News! Yet when was the last time you had a conversation around the same dinner table about your own T4 slip? I’m thinking it probably doesn’t come up. It’s a private matter… really…and even tackling something like this from the pulpit makes us really uncomfortable… including your own minister. It’s a topic I’ve personally shied away from. It’s why I was a little worried when the Board of Managers volunteered to lead today’s service… because it meant that I’d have to stop dodging the issue.

Yet really when we sit down and really look at these texts, it’s not about the money. It’s about what it means to be the church. I’m not talking about the building, but what it is to be a community of faith in Jesus Christ? What are we doing to invest in the life of this congregation? These are not new questions by any stretch of the imagination. Paul was already dealing with it in the early church… not the least of which from the crisis-of-the-week that was the Church in Corinth!

2nd Corinthians is actually a collection of several smaller letters of Paul to the church in southern Greece. That’s the reason that the book seems to jump around from topic to topic, without really coming to the same kind of focus that the first letter does. The part that Bruce read this morning is part of a smaller letter than encompasses chapter 8 and 9. The subject is a special offering or collection for the poor in Jerusalem. While Paul does not go into detail in describing the situation on the ground there, this happens in the decade leading up to the outbreak of the First Jewish-Roman war. The situation on the ground was pretty bleak… corrupt Roman rulers, infighting within the religious community, and all the while, the most vulnerable people were left to their own devices. Christians in Jerusalem were attempting to tend to their needs, and even if need be spiriting them away to the city of Pella to the northwest, where they could take refuge.

The collection was to help this situation. The letter presumes that the listeners already know what’s going on… there’s no need to emphasize the reason for this gift. The churches in Greece had become increasingly aware of the unrest, and they began to offer their own resources to help those caught in the crossfire. Initially, they start doing so on their own, and as more churches start joining in, then Paul and Titus begin coordinating the effort. The Corinthians want to get in on the action, and send word to Paul about their own contribution to this aid effort.

The only thing going against the Corinthian church is their track record. They don’t have the greatest follow-through in the world. Paul was reminding them that they shouldn’t promise big, and then have nothing to show for it. Their outward enthusiasm needs to match their genuine commitment. Say what you’re going to do, and then do it! Paul says… from what we know of the Corinthians is that they tended to be very outwardly gung-ho about causes and projects, but their follow-through often left a lot to be desired. One of Paul’s biggest concerns with the Corinthian church is that they were big on flash and style, but weak on substance. So Paul is reminding them that it’s the substance of their faith that really matters here.

Paul’s memo to them was a bit of a reminder about the reasons why they give, not why they should give, but why people do. It’s the theological foundation for why it is appropriate. In fact, he goes out of his way to say that they should not be giving out of a sense of guilt, or compulsion. Giving is entirely voluntary, as each of us is able to and chooses.

The Christian understanding of giving and generosity is a bit different. There’s certainly some overlap with the wider culture, but the foundation springs out of how we understand what God has given to us. Our generosity isn’t even about the needs of others… it springs out of our response to God’s grace, in what God has given to us. it is about sharing that grace with others. It’s not about meeting budgets or line items, but passing along in a tangible way the grace that God already gives us. It’s all about paying it forward…

Yet before we get hung up on material wealth, paying it forward transcends money. It’s in how we treat one another, and how we extend our support to one another. God has shown us grace in our lives, and so we in turn show grace to others. That gift of grace that we pass along is given in the gift of time, and involvement. I know of many congregations that have people who cannot put a dime on the collection plate, and yet they show more of God’s grace through their commitment to the life and work of the congregation. Why? Because they pay it forward by literally giving what they are able to give: themselves. Our congregation’s recent trip to Evangel Hall was a huge lesson in that… many people who volunteer and help out were once themselves clients… sometimes they still are… yet their enthusiasm and support that they show was and is really quite overwhelming for those of us who come from more privileged backgrounds.

The early church fundamentally understood this. The involvement of their people was far more important than how much money they were able to raise. Often, they thrived on the material generosity of a handful of very wealthy patrons, who were able to invest in the life and work of the congregation. Yet the real growth came from the enthusiasm of the rank-and-file members who had nothing to give except their enthusiasm and their time. What made it all work is everybody as a whole took ownership, got involved, and paid it forward. As others found their own financial circumstances change for the better, then they helped out… but what mattered is that they were involved!

It’s one of the reasons why an organization like Habitat for Humanity has thrived and grown in a environment where churches are in widespread decline. From the get-go founder Millard Fuller knew that the best way to get people to contribute to this charity financially was to let them get their hands on it directly. Habitat for Humanity was founded in Christian principles, and it models it well. I know from my own involvement from when I was in Cornwall. Get involved, get your hands dirty… This wasn’t about handing over money to a small group of people to do the work for us. Their attitude is “your money is nice, but your hands are better.” If people got involved, they have a sense of ownership… and you know what, they discovered that as people got involved, they also gave as they were able… freely, and without any kind of pressure.

I think they learned the lesson from the early church. It’s a lesson that those of us in 21st Century churches have forgotten… that the most important thing in living out our faith within the church is not how much money we put on the plate, but in our involvement in the community… When we invest our time and ourselves, we begin to discover more about God’s grace, and how powerful and transformative it can be. How do we take this wonderful gift of God’s grace, and pay it forward?

Amen.

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