Stewardship
I recently ran across this inscription in a book:
Make Extravagant Generosity
your Greatest Vice
and Become God-Like
and I began to think of people who have practiced Extravagant Generosity.
The first person I thought of was Mother Teresa of Calcutta. This tiny, frail-looking woman was a powerhouse of energy. Her love for the poorest of the poor, the outcasts of society, and her joy in living and working among them inspired people of many faiths. She also traveled the world, inspiring people to give of themselves for others. People often asked her, “How do you do it?” Her answer: “My secret is simple. I pray.”
From time to time, there is a story in the news, usually buried where you feel lucky to have even seen it, of an elderly person who lived alone and lived simply – no extravagances. Everyone thought they were poor. Only after their death is it learned that, by carefully putting away money all their lives, they have been able to leave to a church or a college or an organization a huge amount of money for the benefit of others in need.
Another person I think of is Pope John Paul. Suffering from Parkinson’s, he continues to travel the world, speaking before crowds, leading worship, greeting people with a smile. Most of us would have taken a well-deserved retirement long ago, but he continues to give of himself because, he says, God still wants me to do it. In recent interviews of various Catholics at the celebration of his 25th anniversary as Pope, it was said that many disagree with his teachings and wonder whether he is still able to lead the Church, but they flock to see him because they are inspired by his apparent holiness and admire his giving of himself.
A little book about Mother Teresa that someone gave me years ago has so many stories of generosity, that I must tell you some of them. One is of a young well-to-do Hindu couple who gave Mother Teresa a large amount of money. When she asked how they got so much money, they explained that they had gotten married two days before. They had decided together that they would not have a big wedding feast and would not buy wedding clothes. This was the money they didn’t spend, and they wanted her to use it to feed the people.
Once Mother Teresa took some rice to a family with eight children who had not eaten for a long time. Their eyes were shining with hunger, she said. The mother divided the rice and went out with half of it. When she came back, Mother Teresa asked where she had gone. “The neighbors, they are hungry also,” she said.
Mother Teresa once wrote: “I wonder what the world would be like if there were not these great people who continually suffer with such dignity and love. A dying man said to one of our sisters, ‘I am going home to God.’ He did not curse anybody. He did not say anything about his difficulties, only, ‘I am going home to God.’ Then he closed his eyes and went home. Just as simple and beautiful as that…. We don’t realize the greatness of the poor and how much they give us.” Have you ever thought of what the poor give to us?
Clearly, it is not only the rich who Give Extravagantly. Some of the most generous people I have known did not have much, but they gave eagerly and joyfully of what they had -- from the inner city children I taught in St. Louis who gave part of their lunch money to help poor children in the foreign missions to families of moderate means who were among the largest pledgers and givers in their parish. Some would consider such giving foolish. I myself have been put to shame by people who have given so generously of their time, their talent, their meager treasure – and of their very selves. Extravagant Generosity was their Greatest Vice.
Edward Hays, in his book“Prayer Notes to a Friend,” writes of the practice of self-denial as a way to reach God. It is emptying ourselves in order to be filled with God. “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every person and it can never be filled by any created thing,” said Blaise Pascal. Too many try to fill the empty space with money or things, success or pleasure or popularity. While these can satisfy us for a time, we soon find ourselves desiring more. St. Augustine of Hippo learned from his experience, “Our hearts are restless till they rest in thee.”
But Hays suggests another approach -- a Vow of Plenty, he calls it – in which one pursues an extravagantly bountiful life. One look around us at creation, Hayes says, reveals how this is God’s way because God is profusely lavish to an excess. People who follow this way strive daily for love of life, of God, of self, of family and friend and neighbor, in an Extravagantly Generous way; they can never get enough of God and God’s gifts of love, life, beauty, prayer, and intimacy. Hays concludes that, because they enjoy God’s abundant life, such people become like God in the abundance of their generosity. They are not givers who limit their gifts to God to a meager ten percent, he says. Rather, they give with Extravagant Generosity and there is no limit to the love, patience, and forgiveness they are willing extend to others. Such giving flows from Gratefulness for God’s gifts.
Gratefulness and generosity go together.
So, let us pray during this season of Giving and Thanksgiving:
You have given us so much, O Lord.
Won’t you Give us Two Things More?
1) Give us Grateful Hearts for All Your Mercies.
2) Help us to be Extravagantly Generous, Like You.
The Rev. Jane F. Flaherty (a former Rector)