A Generous People¹
Proverbs 11.24-25a
Rev. Matthew M. Fry

As we continue to experience the Word of the Lord together, Let us Pray. Lord, open our hearts and minds by the power of your Holy Spirit, that as the scriptures are read and your Word is proclaimed, we may hear with joy what you say to us today. Prepare our hearts, O God, to accept your Word. Silence in us any voice but your own, that, hearing, we may also obey your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Hear now The Word of the Lord as it comes to us in Proverbs. Listen. Proverbs 11.24-25a.

“Some give freely, yet grow all the richer; others withhold what is due, and only suffer want. A generous person will be enriched…”

The Grass withers, the Flower falls, but the Word of the Lord endures forever…Thanks be to God.

One of Ann Landers’ advice columns contained this letter: “Dear Ann Landers, I believe my boyfriend should pay half the cost of my birth control pills. How can I say this to him, because we don’t know each other well enough to talk about money.” You go, girl. I don’t know what was in Ann Landers’ reply, but I feel your pain. We as humans don’t talk about money either. Not easily, anyway. When I see friends or folks in the neighborhood, or even family, we talk about the weather, about work and church, about how other friends and family are doing, how we are doing with doctor’s visits, raising children or other anxieties, but never about money. It’s kind of a general societal understanding that we don’t talk about money. Similar to politics or religion, there are just things that we as humans don’t talk about. Money is set apart on that short list of what we won’t talk about.

That we don’t talk about money doesn’t mean we don’t worry about it. In fact, most of us worry about it constantly. Are we saving enough? Will Social Security be there for us when we are old? Will our aging parents in nursing homes clean us out just in time to prevent us from sending our kids to college? Can I afford a new car? Can I afford repairs to the old car? Where will next month’s mortgage payment come from? Money is huge; but we just don’t talk about it.

One of the biggest things we can do in church is talk about it. We may not provide answers to all your money worries, but we can talk about money openly and honestly.

The first thing you need to hear, (and I need to say this quick, before you turn the “off” switch) is that Norcross Presbyterian Church is not in a financial crisis. In fact, right now this church is quite healthy. Your contributions are at about 95% of what we hope to take in by this time of year. We figure that by taking our total dollar amount of what we hope to take in and dividing by 52. If we were really prophetic with our projections, we would note that the weeks from the Sunday after Mother’s Day until school starts up again in August are not only the hot months, but they are historically the dry months for giving. To be 5 weeks into that 12 week time and still be at 95% instead of 83%, where we were two years ago with a negative of over $17,000, is a great thing. This is not a rose-colored glasses look, 95% is still not 100%, we are still behind and have 7 more weeks to go in the summer giving lull, but I am trying to say to you, NPC is not in a financial crisis; this is not a “please-give-to-the-church” sermon.

I am saying to you that you are a generous people. Over the years you have always contributed enough to meet this church’s needs. In addition, “off the record” so to speak, individually you provide generous gifts to members who have had an unexpected loss; we support mission trips of several of our members; you are among the largest supporters of Presbyterian Village, our retirement facility for older people. Listen to me (because you don’t expect to hear a preacher say this): you are already a generous people.

You as faithful people of God know something other people don’t. You know your worth comes from God and not from money. Your life-that’s-worth-living comes from God, not from what you own. Would you rather be known as the richest person around, or as the most generous person around? Week after week, you show that you’ve already answered that question.

It may not seem that way to you. You may think that maybe others in NPC are generous, but you individually are not so much. Generous people are often aware of their imperfections. We know that we could in fact give more; we could provide for even more ministry that meets more needs. So that’s why I am telling you the truth about yourselves — generous people are not perfect, even in their generosity. But you become the person you see yourself being and I am telling you that you are a generous people. You know that generosity connects us with each other and connects us with what is noble in our own lives and in each others’ lives.

That’s important for us to know, because money itself is important. That isn’t a bad thing or a good thing; it’s just a realistic, honest thing. Pretending that we don’t care about money is like pretending we don’t care about our body. Stop eating and drinking; soon food and water become the overwhelming need. Try being dirt-poor, and soon getting enough money gains primary urgency. Being financially faithful includes recognizing the importance of money and material things in our lives. In the Sermon on the Mount, when talking about what we will eat and what we wear, Jesus said, “Your heavenly father knows that you need them…” He did not say “You should rise above all that; you don’t really need it.” The Bible knows money is important. The original conflict between Cain and Abel started with what they gave in the offering. Abraham and Lot split over property. Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery because Joseph wore a nicer coat.

Money is important because it is an outward sign of what is going on inside you. How we make our money, how we use it, what it means to us, reveals a lot about who we are and what’s really going on inside. For most of us, money-related worry is just the tip of the iceberg. Underneath the concern about Social Security is the bigger worry about getting old. Behind the issue of how to pay for college is the greater concern about our children as they leave our nest. Alongside the issue of who spent how much for what is the issue of power and control. Worry about money often comes from feelings of insecurity, feelings of being at risk. Conversely, being generous comes not from having plenty of money left over, but from the sense of trust.

People already know deep down that having a lot of money won’t make them happy, but they don’t know any other way to be happy, or any other way to measure our living. You, however, do know another way. People of God know the power of generosity. Being generous is the most powerful way to connect money with joy. Generosity builds up trust, it cultivates a confident sense of well-being. It unites you with community, so you don’t feel so isolated; it connects you with God’s generosity, so you know your future is in good care. Money is important; its influence on you is going to be huge. Being generous connects your money with your joy.

All we do every Sunday at Norcross Presbyterian Church, is try to move 18 inches. We come here in order to take a short, 18-inch journey from our head to our heart. I live so much of my life “head-first”. Figure things out; think about it; analyze, examine, study. Here, in God’s presence, among people I trust, we move towards a “heart-felt” experience. We aim for that quarter of a second that takes our breath away, that lightning flash that reveals sacred truth.

It happened recently for one of you. Sitting here watching the photos of our graduates about a month ago, you stated to me that there was a calm sense, and the message that God takes care of us through the community came out loud and clear. You had to go listen to the sermon online, because you had been so moved, you couldn’t hear it live.

You didn’t invest half a day of your valuable weekend just to come learn about sacred truth or think about it; we came here hoping, if only briefly, to experience it.

Half the journey is moving the 18 inches from your head to your heart. The other half of the journey is the 18 inches from your heart to your hands. The decision to be generous is the first opportunity to move from heart to hands, from a fleeting emotion to a practice that is part of who you are. When we move our faith from head to heart to hands, all kinds of things open up.