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.