In my 34 years, I can only remember twice when we were going through what was called a recession. Maybe I was too insulated from the unforgiving inner spokes and cogs of the economic machine then, but I don't remember it being as far reaching and cruel as this current economic malaise. It seems like every time I turn around I'm hearing of someone who lost their job, or is afraid that they're about to, or experienced a significant pay cut.
It seems like an odd time to talk about generosity and money. Isn't that something you'd bring up when people aren't cutting back and just trying to make ends meet? Sure, seems logical, but isn't this just the time to think about our often contentious relationship with money? Right now, when the scarcity mentality is kicking in, right now when our residual ancestral hunter-gatherer instincts are telling us to hoard?
Every once in a while when I allow myself to step out of the fray and get a little perspective, this amazing sense of peace comes over me. We're stardust with the breath of life in us, and we've come far enough to be able to ponder the universe . . . a pretty amazing and incredible thought in itself. A universe with a God at its center that always provides for our needs if we adapt to change. So why am I worrying? Why do I give so much of my energy to just getting through life that I can't appreciate the wonder, provision, beauty and constantly evolving nature of life?
David posed a very simple question last Sunday: Is money your servant or master? I hope that I'm not letting the stuff of life get in the way of experiencing the wonder of life itself. I believe that if we share...we can all have enough. I want the stuff of life to help me experience life and I want to share it with as many other fellow travelers on this path of adventure as possible. So even more so in this crap economy, we can re-learn a lot about why this adventure so amazing, and what's worth stressing about, and what's not. And maybe if we just open our hands, we'll find out there's enough for all of us.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
Living Generously
We're right in the middle of our series that re-explores seven rhythms that have become the foundation of Untitled, and last Sunday landed us on the first of a two week look at generosity. I'd love to say that generosity is always second nature for me, but like so many of us right now, the fickle winds of an uncertain future are testing what we really believe. I think most of us, myself included, would like to believe we're generous especially when we can be generous without having to give up too much.
My wife and I are learning how to live generously even while we are both adapting to to a simpler and more tightly budgeted lifestyle than we did in our single days. Add to that our different cultural baggage: she comes from a Hong Kong Chinese, honor-based culture that equates status and money with face, whereas I come from a quality-over-quantity, build-it-to-last for 400 years, un-flashy Swiss culture. Add to that the arduously slow red-tape associated with immigration which has kept Anita from working for the past two years, and things are tighter than either of us would like.
What we're both learning together is that sometimes we do have to adjust what we define as enough, but generosity isn't about how much you have to give. It's about what we believe about the nature of God. It's about what we value. It's about understanding that we're all connected, we share one planet, and humanity rises and falls together. Generosity isn't limited to money, it's our time, my willingness to listen, my creativity...it's an attitude.
We are taught to live in a scarcity mentality that says, there's only one pie out there, so you'd better get as much of it as you can, because there isn't enough to go around. We live with a low level anxiety of subconsciously trying to protect ourselves from the uncertainties of the future. Fear teaches us to hold on tightly to what we have, because you might need it tomorrow. It's a competitive win/lose mentality: your success may come at the expense of mine.
God shows us another way. Living in the scarcity mentality leads to fear and worry, which is why Jesus (Matthew 6) invites his followers to opt out of the win/lose game of accumulating as much wealth in this short life as we can. Instead we can participate in God's economy where when we seek justice and equity, not only do we not waste our lives scrambling with worry and stress, but we actually have energy to focus on the things that really matter. Win/win.
As I prepared for our talk on generosity last Sunday, I kept seeing this counter-intuitive abundance mentality in the Bible. This idea that despite our perpetual fear of not having enough (an understandable disposition at times where our ancestor's survival depended on the weather and crop gods), that there is enough for everyone. Like the sower in Matthew 13 who carelessly lets his seed fall on hard, rocky and weedy soil and not only on fertile soil like a prudent steward of limited resources, a story of generosity to a people familiar with scarcity. Like Jesus who fed a crowd of at least 4000 - 8000 people with a few loaves of bread and fishes in Matthew 15. There seems to be this assault on our sense of logic: when you're faced with an impossibly huge need, and have impossibly small resources, resist the urge to hold on to what you have, and release what little you do have in faith and see what happens. In faith that when we share what we have, that little gets multiplied. Our generosity can unlock resources that are tied up and that right now there really is enough for everyone - including me.
I don't know how it works exactly. Call it karma, call it building goodwill, call it pay-it-forward, I just know it works.
My wife and I are learning how to live generously even while we are both adapting to to a simpler and more tightly budgeted lifestyle than we did in our single days. Add to that our different cultural baggage: she comes from a Hong Kong Chinese, honor-based culture that equates status and money with face, whereas I come from a quality-over-quantity, build-it-to-last for 400 years, un-flashy Swiss culture. Add to that the arduously slow red-tape associated with immigration which has kept Anita from working for the past two years, and things are tighter than either of us would like.
What we're both learning together is that sometimes we do have to adjust what we define as enough, but generosity isn't about how much you have to give. It's about what we believe about the nature of God. It's about what we value. It's about understanding that we're all connected, we share one planet, and humanity rises and falls together. Generosity isn't limited to money, it's our time, my willingness to listen, my creativity...it's an attitude.
We are taught to live in a scarcity mentality that says, there's only one pie out there, so you'd better get as much of it as you can, because there isn't enough to go around. We live with a low level anxiety of subconsciously trying to protect ourselves from the uncertainties of the future. Fear teaches us to hold on tightly to what we have, because you might need it tomorrow. It's a competitive win/lose mentality: your success may come at the expense of mine.
God shows us another way. Living in the scarcity mentality leads to fear and worry, which is why Jesus (Matthew 6) invites his followers to opt out of the win/lose game of accumulating as much wealth in this short life as we can. Instead we can participate in God's economy where when we seek justice and equity, not only do we not waste our lives scrambling with worry and stress, but we actually have energy to focus on the things that really matter. Win/win.
As I prepared for our talk on generosity last Sunday, I kept seeing this counter-intuitive abundance mentality in the Bible. This idea that despite our perpetual fear of not having enough (an understandable disposition at times where our ancestor's survival depended on the weather and crop gods), that there is enough for everyone. Like the sower in Matthew 13 who carelessly lets his seed fall on hard, rocky and weedy soil and not only on fertile soil like a prudent steward of limited resources, a story of generosity to a people familiar with scarcity. Like Jesus who fed a crowd of at least 4000 - 8000 people with a few loaves of bread and fishes in Matthew 15. There seems to be this assault on our sense of logic: when you're faced with an impossibly huge need, and have impossibly small resources, resist the urge to hold on to what you have, and release what little you do have in faith and see what happens. In faith that when we share what we have, that little gets multiplied. Our generosity can unlock resources that are tied up and that right now there really is enough for everyone - including me.
I don't know how it works exactly. Call it karma, call it building goodwill, call it pay-it-forward, I just know it works.
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