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Tuesday, October 31, 2023

 

                                                GIVING WITH FEELING

 

            It’s that time of the year for many churches where stewardship is the focus of our worship services. I know, I know; stewardship should be a year-round occurrence. For many of us, it isn’t. But that’s not the point I want to make this week. I was listening to a stewardship sermon this past Sunday[1], and there were three statements made that I want to share:


1.    The amount of the gift made doesn’t matter, what matters is the cost to the giver.  In other words, giving does not begin to be real giving until it hurts. This statement is ascribed to William Barclay. The first time I heard these words during the sermon, I questioned it. I wrote it down and considered it some more, and it started to make sense to me. The story of the widow’s mite resonated. As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” (Luke 21:1-4) It wasn’t that the value of the coins was really worth anything at all (pennies at most), but the value to her was everything. It was the total that she had to support herself, and she gave it all to the Lord. That’s the point of that statement, not that we don’t want generous gifts, but generosity isn’t defined by the size of the gift, but, instead, by the giver and their sacrifice.

 


2.    Give until you feel it. The story was this: two people were talking together about giving. One of them says, “I could give $1,000 to the building fund and I wouldn’t even feel it.” The response of their friend? “Well, maybe you should give $2,000 or $3,000 and feel it.” I loved this. Just giving because we ought to, because it’s the law, or because people expect it isn’t the point. The point is to want to give because we are a disciple of Jesus Christ, because we follow God.


3.    Generosity flows out of a person’s dedication to the Lord. This is what generosity flows from, not from the law, but from our dedication to the Lord. When we become disciples, we can’t help but want to give to God through our giving to the church.

            I was go delighted by these statements, that I wrote them down right away, and wanted to share them in the blog this week.

            We need to give from our heart; we need to give WITH feeling.

 

            If you wish more information on anything you’ve been reading about, please feel free to contact me at (315) 427-3668 or sranousacctg@twcny.rr.com or susanranous@unyumc.org.  I’d be happy to help.



[1] Rev. Jefferson Niles (Cicero United Methodist Church, October 29, 2023)

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