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Thanksgiving Sunday

2 Corinthians 9
6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9 As it is written:
“They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor;
their righteousness endures forever.”[a]
10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
12 This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. 13 Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. 14 And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. 15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!


“Would you like to give two dollars to the I’m Embarrassing You at the Check-out fund?”

I think you know what I’m talking about. And I think my recollection is fairly accurate, since I have a hard time hearing everything after “would you like to give two dollars...”

I should say I’m not opposed to charitable giving. People in my position tend to encourage it, for obvious reasons. I guess what bothers me about the check-out ask is the way in which the check-out person is putting me on the spot. Maybe I worry there will be more.

“Would you like to give two dollars to save the children?”
“No, thank you.”
“What, you don’t like children? You don’t like my children? How do you feel about your children?”

Maybe I just have an over-active imagination, or a heightened sense of guilt. Either way, I’m unhappy about this new trend in charitable giving. And, of course, the last person I should be annoyed with is the person asking the question, since they are simply doing as they are told.

At first I wondered if companies like Shoppers and Loblaws were doing this to improve their own bottom-line, getting a break on corporate taxes by gathering all these small donations and getting a really big charitable receipt. I did some initial checking, and apparently this is not the case—the money is directly forwarded to the cause.

Still, even if these corporations have no ulterior motive, the practice has an element of public shaming. The person generally asks for the donation with a hopeful smile on their face, a smile which quickly disappears when I politely say ‘no.’ Again, maybe I’m reading too much, but the entire exchange is an unhelpful addition to the thing I am there to do—buy stuff and be in my way.

Now that you’re becoming convinced that I’m a miser or worse, I will tell you what I tell the people who come to the door asking for money, or the people who stop me in the street. I tell them that I give generously to my church’s mission fund, then I smile, and begin to close the door. Sometimes the person at the door will challenge me (“I doubt your church’s fund helps my cause”), but most often people accept my reason and move on.

The world of charities is fraught with peril. Some are too aggressive, some are outside my areas of concern, and some have a reputation for sharing too little of the money they collect. And through it all I have discovered that the best response to ‘the ask’ is to be well acquainted with the charities you do support. In this way, you will be more secure in saying ‘no’ to the ones you don’t want to give to.

And if you think we have charity issues, you should talk to St. Paul. It seems that the church in Jerusalem was struggling, and even at this early moment in the life of the Christian church there was a practice of sharing between churches for the good of all. Paul describes the practice (almost a policy) in the previous chapter to the one Kathy read:

Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. 14 At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality, 15 as it is written: “The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.”

Clever Paul, he outlines the basis of the policy—equality—and suggests that what goes around comes around. Then he adds the kicker, an reference to the miracle of the omer we talked about a few weeks ago: “The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.” Since God redistributed the manna in the desert, so too should the wealthy Corinthians support the poor Judeans.

But Paul doesn’t stop there. Being more-or-less continuously annoyed with the Corinthians, Paul applied additional layers to his appeal for equality. First, he says Titus is coming to get your collection. In what sounds more like a visit from Tony Soprano, Titus is coming (along with some backup) to ensure that a generous gift is received.

But Paul doesn’t stop there. He describes the generosity of the churches in Macedonia, how they were experiencing a famine but they still surpassed all of Paul’s expectations. He describes how they practically begged Paul to allow them to give more, and when they did, their joy was complete. This is no ordinary appeal for funds.

But Paul doesn’t stop there. Paul thanked the Macedonians and told them that the Corinthians would be deeply inspired by all this giving, and give even more! And then my favourite line in the passage: “For if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we—not to say anything about you—would be ashamed of having been so confident.” In other words, if you’re not as generous as I said you would be, I’ll be embarrassed, but not as embarrassed as you’ll be!

But Paul doesn’t stop there. He stops with a homily about generosity, an inspirational sermon about giving:

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

I imagine the person who tore open the envelop and began to read this sermonette gave a loud guffaw and a “yah, right Paul.” We’re not going to give reluctantly or under compulsion when Paul has set out the principle of equality, set it in the context of God’s liberation, sent the Titus Collection Agency, told an inspiring story about the poor but wildly generous Macedonians, reminded them that have only themselves to embarrass, and then says “but God loves a cheerful giver.”

What Paul might have done, if he wasn’t already so annoyed with the Corinthians, is simply quote Psalm 112, and maybe add a line to his quote. He does give a snippet of the psalm in his little homily on giving, but the passage is overshadowed by the overall context of the letter. Extracted, maybe we can allow it to speak more clearly:

They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor,
their righteousness endures forever;
their horn[c] will be lifted high in honor.

The ‘they’ in the psalm are those who follow the Lord, those who delight in the Lord’s commands. They FREELY scattered their gifts to the poor, and their righteousness endures forever. The horn lifted high is meant to symbolize their dignity, although it isn’t clear if it’s the dignity of the giver or the dignity of the one receiving the gift. I hope it’s both.

Giving is its own reward, and by blessing others you will be blessed. This, of course, is what Paul meant to say all along, and he says it well after he has finished being annoyed with this friends in Corinth. So Paul says, “This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.”

And at all times the gift must be freely given, not coerced, not the result of putting people on the spot or making them feel guilty. It should be an expression of thanks to God for God’s generosity, and then it will certainly generate more expressions of generosity.

May we be further prompted to give thanks to God, and may the gifts we freely give be an expression of the many gifts we have already received. In Jesus’ name, amen.

posted by michael jacob kooiman @ 6:08 AM