Bandits No More

December 24, 2009

Getting Christmas

Filed under: Uncategorized — rheyduck @ 10:39 pm

Our local school has kids write letters to Santa each year. Most of them end up submitted for inclusion in the local paper. One written by one of our church kids didn’t make the cut. Here it is:

Dear Santa
I like to help people on Christmas . It is fun and I think it is nice to do stuff for people who don’t have anything. I want two presents for Christmas a American girl and a puppy will you bring the rest of my presents to someone who doesn’t  get anything.
Love Gracie
Gracie’s mother leads our church’s mission outreach. Her desire to “do stuff for people who don’t have anything” is what her parents have taught her, not just by word, but by example. She’s already learned that “it’s more blessed to give than to receive.”
Gracie’s not from a rich family, one of those that has piles of stuff and an infinite supply of money. Her dad’s currently unemployed and looking for a job. But because she loves Jesus, she loves people, regardless of her own need.
Way to go, Gracie!

December 14, 2009

Only Rabbis?

Filed under: Uncategorized — rheyduck @ 9:45 pm

In her most recent online letter, Bishop Huie has this:

Dr. Bill Carter, a Presbyterian pastor, tells a story about a rabbi who was approached by one of his students. The student said, “Rabbi, I love you.” The rabbi said, “Oh, really? Well, do you know what troubles me most?” The student said, “No, I don’t know what troubles you the most.” The rabbi said, “How can you say that you love me if you don’t know what troubles me most?”

Is it my imagination or do we tend to only tell this kind of story about Rabbis? If so, is it because other “religious leaders,” i.e., Christian pastor, are always supposed to be nice, and this kind of response has a little too much bite to be nice?

What do you think?

More on Generosity

Filed under: Economics,Generosity,Immanuel Kant,Seth Godin — rheyduck @ 8:45 pm

Ran across this from Seth Godin’s new (free, online) book:

When the economy tanks, it’s natural to think of yourself first. You have a family to feed a mortgage to pay. Getting more appears to be the order of business.

It turns out that the connected economy doesn’t respect this natural instinct. Instead, we’re rewarded for being generous. Generous with our time and money but most important
generous with our art.

I believe this is true not only for individuals and families, but for most levels of organization (churches, businesses, countries, etc.). When the economy gets tough, we need to look out for #1. Inasmuch as I am responsible for myself, my family, my business, my church, this makes perfect sense. After I get myself taken care of, then I will be in a place of strength and plenty and actually able to do something for other people.

We even have a little saying we can fit with this notion: “You can’t give what you don’t have.” There are some organizations out there that are really doing great work for people. I wish I could give them a million dollars. But I don’t have a million dollars. So, going by this way of thinking, if I want to give them a million dollars, I first need to get myself a million dollars.

Obviously we’ve moved beyond the appearance of economic distress now. But then that’s the difficulty for many of us. We know there is distress out there. We know people who have lost jobs. We’ve even had to change some of out plans, maybe even cut back on our spending. But most of us here in the USA are still ok. We still have a place to live, clothes to wear, and food to eat. By world standards we’re still pretty wealthy. By whose standards do we judge ourselves wealthy enough before we start being generous?

When we wait until we first secure ourselves (too often by a very high standard), we also tend to become less inclined to be generous. We worked hard to get where we are. The folks out there who might benefit from our largesse – how hard have they worked? How deserving are they?

It is sometimes the case that we become successful because we are generous rather than in spite of it. As a leader of an organization that seeks to influence people toward Jesus, I like this part of what Godin says:

If you make a difference, people will gravitate to you. They want to engage, to interact and to get you more involved.

Give to get. A variant of the Prosperity “gospel.” Let’s make it happen! Toot, toot, here I am! I’m being generous, flock to me! Things certainly work that way sometimes. I know I’m more attracted to the generous than to the stingy. Giving is good. Giving “works.”

But when this is my way of thinking, I’ve again lapsed into taking care of myself first, I just happen to be applying a different strategy. Jesus knew something of this, and said that those who profited from their acts of righteousness here and now (i.e., did them to be “seen by others”) have received their reward fully. Jesus advised doing works of mercy and generosity in secret, not even letting your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Surely this is not the first evidence you’ve had that Jesus is a trouble maker?

So why be generous – and why be generous even when you maybe cannot afford to be generous? If we were mere Kantians, we might say to do it just because it’s the right thing to do. As legislators of universal law, we can happily pass the maxim that all ought always to be generous. Often as not then, we might find ourselves recipients of generosity.

But I try hard not to be a Kantian. Instead, I find myself in a story where I am a recipient of mind-blowing generosity. God has given a gift well beyond any surplus. Jesus – who came for a broken damaged sinner like me – was generous far beyond what I deserved. Since that’s not the end of the story – either for Jesus (raised from the dead, now ruling over creation) or for me (I’m still walking, talking and typing) – I am a player in that same story. As a recipient of a free gift, I am taught by that very gift to extend it to others. I give grace out of gratitude (you may note those two ‘g’ words are etymologically related), I give love because I am loved. As part of the health Jesus gives me (consider the context of what Peter is talking about when he speaks of “salvation in Acts 4:12), I am healthy to the extent I share with others.

So, being generous is good for me. But that’s the smaller thing. Being generous is good for others – and good for God’s kingdom I claim to inhabit and for the story in which I live.

How about your story? Is generosity a logical move in your storyline?

December 11, 2009

Generosity

Filed under: Economics,Local church — rheyduck @ 6:52 pm

Our congregation has faced more financial challenges this year than we have in several years. While finishing our apportionments (the money United Methodist churches send to the general church for ministry beyond our own locale) was fairly easy for a couple of years, it’s not been easy this year. We’ve had to pray more about our finances. Some have had to increase their giving.

What made the change this year? I see a few factors.

First, some of the members who have been the biggest givers over the years have died. Billy Paul and Annie Ruth, though never wealthy in the eyes of the world, were always generous with their resources. Billy Paul died 2 years ago, and Annie Ruth last year. We’re still waiting for someone to take their place.

Second, the economy is down, not just nationally (and globally) but locally. Our major local employer has been going through bankruptcy. Many in the community have lost their jobs. The county is small enough, and remote enough from other employment centers, that jobs are tough to find.

Third, people perceive the economy to be down, so they act like it is down. Makes sense, doesn’t it? When we don’t know about our future income we become more conservative. We save more and spend less. And sometime give less.

But only sometimes. In this time of economic decline and uncertainty, our food and clothing ministry has expanded. People generously give food and clothing – and money to buy what is needed.

As we face the payment of our apportionments (with only 3 Sundays left in the year), it seems logical to maximize the opportunities for income so we can pay them off. After all, as a UM church we’re expected to pay in full every year.

We have three Sundays left. But those aren’t the only opportunities. We also have a Christmas Eve service, which is traditionally one of the best attended of the year. Surely it makes sense to take that offering and use it for apportionments. But in addition to having a tradition of paying apportionments, we also have a tradition (albeit of more recent vintage) of dedicating the Christmas Eve offering for other ministries (like the Methodist Children’s Home in Waco).

At our Finance committee meeting the other night, we talked about what to do. Do we take that offering and use it where we desperately need it (apportionments)? Do we send it to the Methodist Home? We concluded that we are best off being generous. That when we’re generous beyond our needs (paying apportionments) and give beyond what is expected, we’re more closely following in the way of Jesus. Even when we have a need, generosity with others is still a good thing to do.

December 1, 2009

Learning to Risk in Church

Filed under: Leadership,Local church — rheyduck @ 3:58 pm

As a church we do a fairly decent job of keeping the older generation employed and busy. We do a fairly poor job of drawing the younger generations into leadership, however, unless they are willing to plug in and do what the older generations have done and in the way that those older generations have been doing it. We have a bias in favor of experience. I understand that bias. I feel it myself. But I think it’s killing us for the long term.

Check  Ben Arment’s article, The Future is the New. Here’s his argument in a nutshell:

We miss out on the most important season of a vision’s lifecycle because we have an undying love for proven ideas and a blatant disregard for new ones. We don’t want to tolerate the hardships or the impossible odds that come with new ideas. We don’t want to take a risk on something untested. We want to gather where others are gathering, celebrate what others are celebrating, and affirm what others are affirming.

What do you think about it? What are some ways we could open up to innovation by the younger generations?

I think one of our biggest fears concerns how we keep things going as change happens. We’re prone to think that the younger leaders need to step into what we’re already doing (maintaining it), establish (we really mean prove) themselves in the old roles, and only then (and slowly) move into the new and different.

The current foundation of our discipleship ministry is Sunday School. We do Sunday School for all ages. If you’ve worked with Sunday School ministry in the past couple of decades, you may have experienced a difficulty in getting people to do the work. It’s tough to find teachers.  Then the ones we find may only do it for the short term. Or, without warning, they might not show up some Sunday. We want people to step into these old traditional roles now. If they have new ideas, let them try them later.

But perhaps you’ve noticed something. Children’s Sunday School still seems to be drawing some kids. Of course, the problem with children’s Sunday School is getting the parents to bring their kids. Why on earth wouldn’t parents bring their kids to Sunday School? Free child care, isn’t it? But if the parents either (a) lack a vision of discipleship to Jesus or (b) have no compelling participation in a discipleship setting themselves, then after a while even the promise of free child care becomes outweighed by the busyness of life and bother of just another activity to haul the kids to.

Are there other ways to disciple people (children and adults)? Since Sunday School as we know it is a fairly recent invention, there must be. Are we willing to allow other people to pioneer new ways of discipling?

But I use Sunday School only as an illustration, chosen because its express objective, making disciples, is so close to the core of what we’re about. Any other area of church life could be mentioned as well.

I don’t see the younger generations flocking in to do what we’ve been doing the way we’ve been doing it. Working that way either assimilates people to the System, losing any innovative edge they might have had, or it dulls them into apathy and runs them off.

If we’re going to make progress, we need to identify some things:
- Why are we here? What is our purpose? We need to be able to answer this kind of question clearly enough that it results in clear consequences both for action – what we ought to be doing – and inaction – what we ought to not do, or stop doing.
- Are there any risks we’re not willing to take?
- How can we become more open to risk taking?

When I see (a) the many people around who need Jesus and (b) the large percentage of our active and committed people who are over age 70 (and who most likely will not be as active and committed 10 years from now), we need to start taking these risks now, before it is too late.

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