I have to tell you of a disturbing phenomenon amongst the staff here at Aldersgate. I’m not going to blame the new guy, but ... Well, OK, Chris brought with him a funny little ritual that they used to practice at his seminary (Duke - enough said) where when it was time to pray - for a meal or a meeting or whatever, everyone around the table would sit with their thumbs pointed up, and the last one to get his or her thumbs in the right position would have to pray.
Have to pray. That is what disturbed me. OK, there are lots of ways to identify someone to pray and that one is as much fun as any of them. Don’t want to be accused of being a party pooper, by any means. But it was the underlying assumption that prayer is somehow a bad thing and you need to be quick on your feet, or thumbs in this case, to avoid it, that made me sound like a curmudgeon. (Yeah, Ok, there’s the age thing too, adding to the curmudgeon-ness, thanks for bringing that up!)
Prayer is the center of our faith. It should be the starting point for all of our action, not the last resort. Partially because it is act of communication with God, and partly because it is our participation in grace.
Wait. What? Grace. That’s what I really wanted to talk about here. Experiencing, living, praying and giving grace. It is said that C.S. Lewis walked in on an academic discussion about the distinctiveness of Christianity one day. They were about to decide that there was nothing that set Christianity apart from any of the other world religions, because they were unable to come up with anything that truly marked our faith and set it apart from the rest. So, they put the question to Lewis. He paused only a moment and said, “That’s easy, it’s grace.”
It is what makes us who we are as followers of Jesus Christ. Grace. It is what motivates us to respond with love and joy and hope. Grace is what equips us for living in this world and what it is that allows us to help create a sense of community as we seek out other recipients of God’s grace. It is what we have to offer the world, nothing of our own, but the gifts that come from grace.
Which is exactly what Paul says in a rather convoluted way in our reading for this weekend. It is Paul’s Stewardship Campaign sermon. And like all of us, he talks around it in such a way that you just might miss what it is that he is saying. Take a look:
2 Corinthians 8:7-14, 24 Now as you excel in everything-- in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in utmost eagerness, and in our love for you-- so we want you to excel also in this generous undertaking. 8 I do not say this as a command, but I am testing the genuineness of your love against the earnestness of others. 9 For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich. 10 And in this matter I am giving my advice: it is appropriate for you who began last year not only to do something but even to desire to do something-- 11 now finish doing it, so that your eagerness may be matched by completing it according to your means. 12 For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has-- not according to what one does not have. 13 I do not mean that there should be relief for others and pressure on you, but it is a question of a fair balance between 14 your present abundance and their need, so that their abundance may be for your need, in order that there may be a fair balance. ... 24 Therefore openly before the churches, show them the proof of your love and of our reason for boasting about you.
Got it? OK, here’s the back story. Paul is taking a collection for the church in Jerusalem. The growth was out in the suburbs and the downtown church was suffering. (OK, not exactly, but sort of.) And so he went from church to church asking for mission giving. And the churches responded. Read the first part of Chapter eight and you’ll note that Paul is proud of them for giving and some of them gave even thought they also had struggles.
And now he comes back to Corinth. A church he has struggled with, to be fair. A church with a few problems and some dissension. But he still invites them to give. Which I guess is a precedent for the practice of taking money donated by less than perfect people!
This is how he invites them to participate: Now as you excel in everything-- in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in utmost eagerness, and in our love for you-- so we want you to excel also in this generous undertaking. Verse 7, sounds like the classic buttering them up before you make the ask. Flattering them before you stick them with the bill.
But that isn’t what he does. The last two words of verse seven are here translated as “generous undertaking.” He wants them to excel, to participate, to enjoy this generous undertaking. But the Greek words are “charis perusseo” which probably translate better, or more directly as this “abounding grace.” The invitation is not to give, but to participate in grace, abounding grace. Which, he then goes on to describe, is what Jesus did for us, by emptying himself, giving up and giving away that we might know glory, that we might know hope and salvation. That we might be able to give grace away, because we have received it.
Paul is trying to tell the Corinthians that he is doing them a favor by letting them give. He knows that they, like we want to know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says I know that grace and not only can you know it but you can live it. Not only can you receive it like a gift, but you can activate it by giving it away, by participating in the ripples of grace that go from person to person, community to community and bring transformation, bring an experience of the Kingdom.
He concludes the invitation by reminding us that love needs proof from time to time, love needs action in order to really be love. At least the love that Christ calls us to. The love that God expresses. Which the most famous verse of all reminds us: John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
Which sounds suspiciously like a prayer.
Shalom,
Derek
Have to pray. That is what disturbed me. OK, there are lots of ways to identify someone to pray and that one is as much fun as any of them. Don’t want to be accused of being a party pooper, by any means. But it was the underlying assumption that prayer is somehow a bad thing and you need to be quick on your feet, or thumbs in this case, to avoid it, that made me sound like a curmudgeon. (Yeah, Ok, there’s the age thing too, adding to the curmudgeon-ness, thanks for bringing that up!)
Prayer is the center of our faith. It should be the starting point for all of our action, not the last resort. Partially because it is act of communication with God, and partly because it is our participation in grace.
Wait. What? Grace. That’s what I really wanted to talk about here. Experiencing, living, praying and giving grace. It is said that C.S. Lewis walked in on an academic discussion about the distinctiveness of Christianity one day. They were about to decide that there was nothing that set Christianity apart from any of the other world religions, because they were unable to come up with anything that truly marked our faith and set it apart from the rest. So, they put the question to Lewis. He paused only a moment and said, “That’s easy, it’s grace.”
It is what makes us who we are as followers of Jesus Christ. Grace. It is what motivates us to respond with love and joy and hope. Grace is what equips us for living in this world and what it is that allows us to help create a sense of community as we seek out other recipients of God’s grace. It is what we have to offer the world, nothing of our own, but the gifts that come from grace.
Which is exactly what Paul says in a rather convoluted way in our reading for this weekend. It is Paul’s Stewardship Campaign sermon. And like all of us, he talks around it in such a way that you just might miss what it is that he is saying. Take a look:
2 Corinthians 8:7-14, 24 Now as you excel in everything-- in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in utmost eagerness, and in our love for you-- so we want you to excel also in this generous undertaking. 8 I do not say this as a command, but I am testing the genuineness of your love against the earnestness of others. 9 For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich. 10 And in this matter I am giving my advice: it is appropriate for you who began last year not only to do something but even to desire to do something-- 11 now finish doing it, so that your eagerness may be matched by completing it according to your means. 12 For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has-- not according to what one does not have. 13 I do not mean that there should be relief for others and pressure on you, but it is a question of a fair balance between 14 your present abundance and their need, so that their abundance may be for your need, in order that there may be a fair balance. ... 24 Therefore openly before the churches, show them the proof of your love and of our reason for boasting about you.
Got it? OK, here’s the back story. Paul is taking a collection for the church in Jerusalem. The growth was out in the suburbs and the downtown church was suffering. (OK, not exactly, but sort of.) And so he went from church to church asking for mission giving. And the churches responded. Read the first part of Chapter eight and you’ll note that Paul is proud of them for giving and some of them gave even thought they also had struggles.
And now he comes back to Corinth. A church he has struggled with, to be fair. A church with a few problems and some dissension. But he still invites them to give. Which I guess is a precedent for the practice of taking money donated by less than perfect people!
This is how he invites them to participate: Now as you excel in everything-- in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in utmost eagerness, and in our love for you-- so we want you to excel also in this generous undertaking. Verse 7, sounds like the classic buttering them up before you make the ask. Flattering them before you stick them with the bill.
But that isn’t what he does. The last two words of verse seven are here translated as “generous undertaking.” He wants them to excel, to participate, to enjoy this generous undertaking. But the Greek words are “charis perusseo” which probably translate better, or more directly as this “abounding grace.” The invitation is not to give, but to participate in grace, abounding grace. Which, he then goes on to describe, is what Jesus did for us, by emptying himself, giving up and giving away that we might know glory, that we might know hope and salvation. That we might be able to give grace away, because we have received it.
Paul is trying to tell the Corinthians that he is doing them a favor by letting them give. He knows that they, like we want to know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says I know that grace and not only can you know it but you can live it. Not only can you receive it like a gift, but you can activate it by giving it away, by participating in the ripples of grace that go from person to person, community to community and bring transformation, bring an experience of the Kingdom.
He concludes the invitation by reminding us that love needs proof from time to time, love needs action in order to really be love. At least the love that Christ calls us to. The love that God expresses. Which the most famous verse of all reminds us: John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
Which sounds suspiciously like a prayer.
Shalom,
Derek
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