The Practice of Generosity

The following video transcript has been lightly edited

   I recently shared how I have this tendency in a conversation to mouth someone else's words if I'm feeling really in sync with them, and that's in fact something that happens. Our mirror neurons connect with one another. Scientists have done studies in which when a great conversation is happening that people's, brainwaves actually line up together and disconnection people's brains will be all over the place. But those moments, you've had that moment maybe where you're out with some friends at dinner and there's just the, something about the conversation that feels wonderful, you feel in sync. Everything feels aligned while we've been in this series on spiritual practice and the concept behind spiritual practices as we take up these different practices that it aligns us. It puts us in sync with God's reality. And so today what I want to talk about is the practice of generosity.

And I think that generosity aligns us or gives us an experience or connects us to God because generosity is ultimately the reality of God's kingdom. God is the ultimate giver he gives us life, gives us rescue, gives us restoration in the beauty of creation, in the wonder of existence in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, in which we see God come to be with us. That God is the giver of grace and goodness. And so as we take up this practice of generosity and we're generous with our money, with our time, with our talents, with our personhood, that we are actually putting ourselves in sync with God's reality. We are being givers and receivers of grace, and so in those moments, we get to experience and connect with God.

Paul, in 2nd Corinthians 9 is reminding the Corinthians that they have promised to give this large gift. And order to prep them, he tells them three things. He says, Hey, don't give out a sense of rule or requirement. Give because that's your identity in God.

Two, what we see is that grace and generosity transform existence, that it grabs a hold of it and makes it something bigger.

And then lastly, as we are generous, it leads to gratitude and giving thanks. So I just wanna highlight each of those a little bit more to give us a greater sense of it.

Paul says that, God gives to all of us and multiplies what we have and that God desires a cheerful giver. You know, when we are giving and being generous with our personhood and our time and our talent, we are actually living our identity. So God has freed us in the life, death and resurrection of Christ.

We've been set free, but set free to love, to serve, to engage, to care. The ultimate reality of life is to share in God and share in one another. And so when we are choosing to be generous, then we're participating in that reality. That's not something that we have to do. It's actually something we get to do.

And when we think about the practice of generosity, we put it into this framework of really wanting to do it out of a sense of this is who we are, that we get to, it transforms its experience.

I recently was at a funeral for a friend and I've both officiated at and been a part of many funerals in my time as a pastor.

And one of the things that I notice over and over again is those who are generous with their spirit, with their time, with their talent their funerals are filled with stories of that generosity. Nobody ever talks about how successful someone was. Nobody ever talks about the sports they played. Nobody talks about the grades they got, the deals they closed. Nobody cares about that stuff. What they care about is whether we have generously shared and shared in God and one another. And so it's this reminder to us that the true reality operates in this place of generosity. And so you and I want to pick that habit up and choose to be generous in our lives in such a way that it creates connection and being and wonder.

So the second thing Paul does is he actually quotes from Isaiah 55. And in Isaiah 55, that whole chapter is a picture of the resurrected world where it says that God is going to come and restore the world, and that wine and milk will be free, and that we will go out with a sense of joy that heavens and earth will celebrate.

And so here Paul is reminding us that as we take up this practice of generosity, we're mirroring the future of that resurrection and what we're participating is, is it transforms this flat existence, this bleak existence at times, and it brings it life. So again, back to the funeral, you think of the sad reality in this world that we die, that disease and sickness and age take our lives, and then we have a sense of loss.

But as you participate in memorial service in a calling hours, what you see is you see the generosity of spirit, which people are sharing food, and they're sharing stories, and they're sharing tears. And in that, sharing, that flat existence becomes something more. And so for you and I, whenever we pick up generosity, we're transforming existence into God's kingdom.

Whether that's partnering with the Samaritan Center in which our generosity there with time and money creates a community for those who are lost and feeling the bleakness of poverty and hunger. They're invited in and given a community. Here at the church is people offer with generosity their time and their talent and their money. It allows us to create a community that. Gives people space. Even when we think about being generous with our time and energy. You know, after dinner perhaps there's this draw towards everybody going off to their individual devices and that disconnection setting in, but someone says, Hey, even though I'm tired, how about we play a game?

And in the midst of that game, there's a sharing of laughter and joy and personhood that goes on. And so that Spirit of generosity transforms the world. So one of my challenges to you this week would be thinking about how could you grab a hold of that generosity to transform your work or your school or your home or your neighborhood.

And it can be something as a big financial generous gift or it could be something little like, Hey, why don't you come over for a beer and watch the game and we'll talk about life together. Or like I said earlier a family game. All of these things are a practice of generosity, and as we enter into them, we experience the grace of God and we share it with others.

The final thing that Paul talks about is he says that, hey, as you give, what it will do is it'll multiply, it'll ripple out, and people will give thanks because of this gift that you have given. And that's always what happens. My own experience of generosity always produces a sense of gratitude. You and I have something called a negativity bias in which things that go wrong or things that are bad basically impact us more than things that are good.

And so you and I have a tendency to complain and grumble and to feel the brokenness of things more than we feel the good and joy of things. But as we choose to be generous, and as we watch that generosity yield, gratitude and as we experience generosity and it yields gratitude, it helps us fight that negativity, we get to see the world in a different place because generosity always yields gratitude because gratitude and grace go together like peanut butter and jelly.

And so this week, as you think about it, think about how you might be generous and practice generosity so that it could lead to a sense of gratitude for you and for others. When we practice generosity with our time, with our spirit, with our personhood, with our talent, with our money and resources, we are putting ourselves in sync with the God who is a giver.

With God, who is generous with a God, who has given life, has given rescue, he has promised restoration. And so as we practice generosity, we get to experience God in the midst of the every day. Hey, I hope you have a good week and I'll talk to you soon