"extravagant generosity"

Anna Blaedel
First UMC, Osage
March 29, 2009
“Extravagant Generosity”
Psalm 51:1-12
Jeremiah 31:31-34

This past week I ran across a quote from Willa Cather, one of my favorite authors. Hear her wise, prophetic words: “Where there is great love, there are always miracles.” Where there is great love, there are always miracles. Let us pray…

Recall the story from 1 Kings 17, the widow from Zarepheth, her response to Elijah. Elijah rolls into town in the middle of a draught—a foreigner, unknown in this community. Hungry and thirsty, he calls out for water to an unnamed widow gathering sticks for a fire. As she is collecting the water, Elijah calls out again and asks for a morsel of bread. The widow responds, “As your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug.” In her need and desperation, she is gathering sticks for a final fire, planning to go home, prepare these scraps of oil, meal, and water for herself and her son, and die. This is not a rich woman. She knows nothing of stock options and 401k plans, either sky rocketing or tanking. But she knows scarcity. And the fear of “not enough.” And that nagging failure of not being able to provide for her family. And Elijah, this prophet of God, says to her, “Do not be afraid…The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail.” And trusting there will be enough, or perhaps even doubting this promise but still knowing what she needs to do, she shares what she has with Elijah. Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. And somehow, the last drops of oil and final morsels of meal sustain her. And her son. And Elijah. And we are invited to glimpse God’s extravagant generosity. Where there is great love, there are always miracles.

It is not without fear and trembling that I preach about extravagant generosity today, now, in our current economic context. I do not want to ignore the real pain and fear and loss people are feeling. That sense of “not-enough” is pervasive—in news headlines and congressional speeches, in household budgets and company bottomlines. It is precisely into such times as these, however, that Elijah speaks. Do not be afraid. If you share what you have, your cup cannot not be emptied. If you keep on loving God and God’s people, the miraculous will be made real.

Our worship and scripture readings during the season of Lent have opened us to many stories and encounters of covenant—from Noah and the rainbow through Abraham and Sarah and their many descendants (including us) to Moses. In this week’s reading, the prophet Jeremiah speaks of a covenant written not in rainbow or stone, not external to us, but one written deep inside, on our very hearts.

Jeremiah is speaking of God’s promise to a people still in captivity, still in exile, still steeped in loss and grief. The peoples’ hearts are broken. They have lost so much, they wonder if there is anything left to lose. Jerusalem has been destroyed, and their leaders have been taken by the Babylonians. The people are frantic, pushed to the point of hopelessness. Their homes are gone. Their sense of safety and security, cracked open. Perhaps our current economic crisis opens new ways for this story to interact with our own. Jobs, lost. Even more layoffs, warned around the corner. Salary decreases and benefit downgrades announced, sometimes even through the dehumanizing format of email. Foreclosure and for sale signs springing up. A long treasured downtown store, forced to close its doors. A senior center beloved for its community activities and delivered meals and hospitality, wondering how and if it can continue. Churches struggling to pay apportionments, and vital ministries and missions and programs forced to narrow their focus without apportionment support. Things are falling apart, fast, it seems.
By the 31st chapter in this book, Jeremiah is no longer scolding people for their sin, no longer belittling their lack of faith. Deeper despair will do little to improve the state of things. So, in his prophetic wisdom, Jeremiah brings the people a new message from God, good news, a word of comfort and hope. God is a God of compassion. God’s own heart is moved by the people’s suffering. God forgives them. And invites them to start again. Once again, God is promising to be in relationship with the people. I will be your God, and you will be my people. Even now. Especially now. Where there is great love, there are always miracles.

Hear these words I came across while preparing this week’s sermon: “Our system failed in fundamental ways. To address this will require comprehensive reform. Not modest repairs at the margin, but new rules of the game.” This is the message of the psalmist. The message of Jeremiah. The words, however, came from Timothy Geithner, our nation’s Treasurer Secretary. To make amends for our failings we new rules of the game. Like placing the poor at the center of economic policy. Like providing affordable, accessible healthcare and housing to all the citizens and sojourners in this, still the world’s wealthiest nation. Like caring for the least and the lost. Like changing our tax codes to help those who have the most help those who have the least. Like sharing your last bit of meal and oil when a stranger is hungry and in need. Like hearing and receiving the good news of an unbreakable covenant of everlasting love, written on each of our hearts. New rules of the game. Or, as Willa Cather continues: “The miracles of the church seem to me to rest not so much upon faces or voices or healing power coming suddenly near to us from afar, but upon our perceptions being made finer, so that for a moment our eyes can see and our ears can hear what is there about us always.”

The psalmist cries out: Have mercy on us, O God! We long for joy! We long for gladness. Even our very bones, crushed, long to rejoice. Create in us clean hearts, O God. Put a new spirit within us, a spirit more in tune with yours. Don’t distance yourself from us, God, not now, not when we need you the most! Restore us. Not just until we feel semi-ok with our lives. Restore us to joy! You in your saving, amazing grace! Sustain in us a willing spirit, so we won’t turn away from this joy-filled life, so we won’t guard ourselves against grace!

And Jeremiah replies, speaking the good news of an extravagantly generous God: The time is almost here! A new covenant is coming! Prepare to be amazed! Already, it is being birthed among you. Remember the last covenant we made? I promised your ancestors that I would bring them out of slavery, out of bondage. I did my part, but the people broke our covenant. They enslaved others. As soon as they had something, they wanted more. They turned away from relationship. They chose the injustice of the world, when I called them to seek justice. They worried only about their own, when I commanded concern for the poor, the outsider, the outcast. They cheated others and hoarded what they had and were surprised to come up short, when I had promised to provide, if only they shared what they had. But enough. You know the pain all of this has caused. Let’s start again. This time, I will write my law of love of your hearts. No longer just in rainbow, or stone. I will be your God, and you will be my people. No longer will you have to look hard to find me. I have already found you. From the least to the greatest, from the last to the first. Your sins are forgiven, to be remembered no more. Did you hear me? I am your God. You are my people! Beloved. Forgiven. Restored. The covenant between us, born again!

“Where there is great love, there are always miracles.”

I believe you know something of this good news, don’t you? I see this community striving to respond to God’s extravagant generosity with our own. So, perhaps these few glimpses might help our eyes to see and ears to hear the extravagant generosity that is here, about us already:

Last September, you all were paying 44% of your apportioned giving. Steadily, now, you have increased your giving to 53%. For the past two months, this community has paid your apportionments in full! I lifted up this good news while in DC, and bishops and pastors and lay people from United Methodist churches around the world celebrated you, this community in Osage, Iowa, and this sign of vibrant, faithful, extravagant giving and living! Where there is great love, there are always miracles.

And, as you paid 100% of your apportionments, you raised over $400 for a new nursery, so that this faith community can better welcome and care for young parents, and the next generation of faithful and faith-filled leaders. Great love, being drawn out. Miracles emerging.

You have donated the first $100 for an elevator fund, identifying a vision and providing the first downpayment so that one day everyone can join us in worship, everyone can be welcomed into fellowship hall, everyone can share the bittersweet reminiscing at funeral lunches, everyone can share in nourishing their bodies and souls at Lenten Lunches, Roast Beef Dinners, or after church on Sunday. Great love will carry us on…

You, teaching Sunday School week after week—nurturing the faith of children in this community, welcoming them into God’s never ending love. Great love (and patience!) and the miracle of planting seeds of faith.

You, dedicating time and energy to tech work, even when work hours leave you sleep deprived and exhausted. You, cooking in quantities many of us can hardly fathom, and you, showing up, week after week, to serve coffee, share bars, wash dishes, peel potatoes.

You, asking person after person what is needed in the nursery, so you can make a donation. You, planting bulbs and seeds around the parsonage in the fall, and now calling my attention to the fresh green bulb buds, and the promise of spring. You, bringing me a bag full of organic apples and avocados, the very day I found myself longing for the year round organic farmers’ markets that fed my soul in San Francisco. You who deliver Share packages of food, and send cards and provide rides so people can gather and deliver meals for the Senior Center and change lightbulbs and make time for immigration prayer vigils and bring soul stirring concerts to the community and cook pancake dinners and…

Great love. Miracles. Extravagant generosity. Listening deep, through the chaos of economic crash, to the law of love written on our hearts.

The wisdom and promise and miracle of God’s covenant with us: Do not be afraid. Share what you have. Trust in God. Remember God’s promise: I will be your God, and you will be my people. The covenant is everlasting. God’s work of restoration is without end. God’s abundance, to be shared, extravagantly, with all. These days are surely coming, says the Holy One…Where there is great love, there are always miracles.

May it be so. Amen.