“A-w-e-s-o-m-e Generosity”
November 10, 2024
2 Corinthians 8:1-7
Heart of the Rockies Christian Church (DoC)
David A. Shirey
I was asked on this Celebration Sunday to look at stewardship through the lens of wonder. I will, but first, a short book report. Dacher Keltner is professor of psychology at Cal Berkeley. He wrote the book on the subject of wonder. Literally. It’s titled Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life. He and his team researched 26 cultures worldwide and found there are eight things that evoke awe and wonder in people. Eight Wonders of the World. They are: mystical (religious) experience, big ideas (epiphanies/insights), nature, music, the circle of life: especially being a witness to birth and death, moral beauty (courage, resilience, selflessness, compassion, justice, generosity), visual design (art and architecture), and collective effervescence (the exhilarating esprit de corps experienced in the midst of concerts, dances, choirs, marches, sporting events).
Now think about it: all these wonders of the world are present in vital congregations.
Mystical (religious) experience is obvious. The Christian faith as lived out in vital congregations isn’t a rigid regimen of doctrine and dogma but rather a joyous journey seasoned with heartfelt doxology and delight. In a word: wonder-full.
Big ideas (epiphanies/insights) Christians celebrate a season called Epiphany. It’s a word that means Aha! I’d never thought of that. Now I see! Such moments are to be had in Bible and book studies, communion meditations, in the Children’s Message, and in conversation over coffee. Maybe even in a sermon every once in a while?
Nature How many of you have been to the Grand Canyon? Jennie and I took our three kids for the first time twenty years ago. We parked at Mather’s Point and walked to the rim. I found myself amid a veritable United Nations praise choir, people from every race and nation making the same involuntary deep-throated guttural sounds – Ooh, Ahh, and Mmm. I thought to myself, millions of people come here every year for a grande cup of Vitamin A&W. Not root beer. A&W as in Awe and Wonder. The test came when our 18-year-old son Will and his friend Brandon, two calloused, not-exactly-emotionally-expressive teenage males, walked toward the rim for their first look. The first thing that came out of their mouths? A-w-e-s-o-m-e. Need I tell a church at the foothills of the Rockies how God’s creation evokes awe and wonder?
Music Is music not a source of awe and wonder in a vital congregation? Ruth, Praise Band, Choir, Morning and Evening Bells: you’re my heroes. We preachers know that music takes us places words can’t. A wise mentor once told me: “There are some things that can’t be said. They can only be sung.”
The circle of life: birth and death How many places can you think of where the circle of life is attended to with the reverence the church does? Baby dedications. Baptisms. Weddings. Funerals and Memorial Services. When we’re present at birth and death, “we are standing on holy ground and we know that there are angels all around.”
As for moral beauty as a source of awe and wonder, let me say that regardless of how you voted, this nation and world need people who will commit to live their lives in ways that radiate moral beauty. Be truthful, kind, compassionate, just. In the Jewish tradition there’s a wonderful phrase tikkun olam that means, “the repairing of the world.” That’s the life’s work we children of Abraham and Sarah, brothers and sisters in Christ, are to be about. “You are the light of the world.” “Let your light so shine that others may see your good work and give glory to God on high.” May your lives individually and as a congregation be an enduring vote for moral beauty. Those of us who attended the Combatants for Peace presentation yesterday witnessed MORAL BEAUTY in all caps.
Visual design (art and architecture) Just as music takes us places words can’t, so does art. A picture – a work of art – is worth a thousand words. In your practice of the Christian faith, do you turn to the arts and artists as windows into God’s glory?
And collective effervescence. The word church in Greek, ecclesia, means “gathered together for a purpose.” The wonderful gift of community: human beings coming together to do together that which enhances life for all. Communion. Worship. Choir. A chili supper. A community under construction on a hillside in south Fort Collins. All examples of collective effervescence.
Do you see how the Eight Wonders of the World that Dacher Keltner and his team discovered worldwide are part and parcel of life in Christ at Heart of the Rockies? Which leads me to say on this Celebration Stewardship Sunday: When church is at its best, it’s a-w-e-s-o-m-e, and eminently worth supporting with our estimates of giving.
Speaking of which – our Scripture this morning witnesses to what only can be called awe-inspiring giving. Paul wrote of the stewardship campaign at Heart of Macedonia Christian Church, “They begged us earnestly for the privilege of sharing” (2 Cor. 8:4) Now, as someone who has undertaken his share of stewardship campaigns over 42 years of ministry, that beats anything I’ve ever heard of. People begging to make a pledge? Pu-leeeze! Richard Austin. You’re our Financial Secretary. Treasurer Gordon Thayer. Have your cell phones been blowing up in recent weeks due to people begging you for an Estimate of Giving card? I don’t think so.
I know what really happened in Macedonia. Word got out that Paul was leading a stewardship campaign, inviting the members of Heart of Macedonia Christian Church to give of the fruits of their labors to extend the ministry of Christ’s Church far and wide and folks were saying, “If your phone rings and the caller ID says Paul, don’t answer it! Let it go to voicemail.” People were saying, “If you get a letter in the mail on church stationery sent out from Pastor Paul’s administrator, Sarah Ballard-Ramirez, don’t open it! It’s got an Estimate of Giving card in it. Drop it in the recycling unopened. Say you never saw it.”
My point is this: people don’t beg for the favor of taking part in stewardship campaigns! They beg to be spared from them. Not so, however, for the folks at Heart of Macedonia. Paul wrote, “During a severe ordeal of affliction, their extreme poverty … overflowed in a wealth of generosity” and “They gave according to their means… and even beyond their means” and they did so with an “abundance of joy.” In sum: They begged to give and did so generously, sacrificially, and joyfully. That’s as a-w-e-s-o-m-e as it gets.
I tell you, wonderful things happen when people of faith don’t just say and sing their faith, but generously live it and give it.
I’ll never forget the story a colleague told me years ago about a church in western Kansas where everyone raised wheat. One day the church treasurer resigned her position and everyone wondered what was going to happen. She had been the treasurer for years. Who was going to do that work now? One person after another declined. Finally, the nominating committee asked the manager of the local grain elevator if he’d be willing to serve as treasurer. He agreed, but on two conditions. First, the congregation had to agree that no treasurer’s report be given during the first year he served. Second, no questions would be asked about church finances during that year. Though they were a bit taken aback by his request, no one else was willing to serve and since most of them did business with him at his grain elevator and trusted him, they agreed to his conditions.
That year, everything at the church seemed to be going well. At the end of the year, it was time for the annual congregational meeting. The treasurer stood up and gave the year-end financial report:
Outreach giving has been paid over 200% more than last year.
Our programs of faith formation for children, youth, and adults are fully underwritten and all the Christian Education rooms, including the Nursery, have been renovated.
We have such a surplus in our operating budget we’re able to underwrite an additional mission trip this summer.
There are no outstanding bills.
Our cash balance is 20% higher than it’s ever been.
Our mortgage has been paid in full.
“Wait a minute,” someone said. “How’s that possible? Where’d that money come from? What did you do? Rob a bank?”
The treasurer then said, “All of you bring your grain to my grain elevator. Throughout the year, I simply withheld 10% on your behalf and gave it to the church in your name. You didn’t even miss it. Do you see what happens when we give the first fruits of our fields to God who owns it all but entrusts it to us to use in ways that honor God and bless others?”
After Paul told the folks at First Christian, Corinth what happened at Heart of Macedonia, he challenged them, writing, “Just as you excel in everything – in faith, in speech, in knowledge – see that you also excel in this grace of giving” (2 Corinthians 8:7).
The way I look at it: If the Red Sea can part, if water can be turned into wine, if dry bones can live and the dead be raised, if wonderful giving can arise in Heart of Macedonia and western Kansas, why not at Heart of the Rockies? I picked up the estimate of giving card Jennie and I were given and noticed something I’d never noticed before: it smells wonderful!
May God help us excel in this grace of giving.
Let all God’s generous people say, AMEN.
