Lectionary
texts: Exodus 16.2-15 and Matthew 20.1-16
There’s
a moment in the Common Worship liturgy for Holy Communion where the gathered-up
financial gifts brought by the people are brought to the altar, and the priest takes
the plate and holds it up and leads the whole people in a prayer, saying,
Yours,
Lord, is the greatness, the power,
the glory, the splendour, and the majesty;
for everything is heaven and on earth is yours.
All All things come from you,
and of your own do we give you.
This
prayer [Supplementary Texts: Prayers at Preparation of Table] is an
acknowledgement of God’s generosity—that God’s glory is revealed not in lavish possessing
but in lavish generosity. And it is a response that acknowledges that the
people of a generous God are set free to be a generous people.
Today
is the start of Generosity Week, which runs from 24 September to 1 October. It
is a week in which we are invited to reflect on our giving in support of the
church, as well as other charities or voluntary organisations that strengthen
our community, and to think about our own response to the needs we hear about.
Today,
our journey through the book of Exodus finds us in the wilderness, about two
months after leaving Egypt. Then, the people had cried out to God on account of
the harsh treatment they experienced at the hands of their Egyptian masters.
But now, only two months later, the people are expressing resentment at their
freedom. ‘Those who lead us are incompetent, and so we are going to starve to
death. If only God had killed us back in Egypt—at least then we would have died
with our stomachs full! There, we ate our fill of bread.’
It
is amazing how quickly nostalgia sets in, the past viewed through rose-tinted
spectacles. Remember the good old days? Here’s the thing: these people
are shepherds, and they have left Egypt taking their large flocks with them.
But they are not willing to eat into their reserves. They are saving those for
a rainy day. Meanwhile, they are resentful of the circumstances they find
themselves in.
God’s
response to their murmurs of complaint is to pour down generosity. To open the
flood gates of heaven, so that their resentment might drown and their truest
identity as God’s people might be rescued. Like the Flood in the days of Noah,
like the drowning of the Egyptian army in the sea of reeds, this is imagery
depicting our need to die to self-sufficiency in order to walk in the freedom
God desires for us. This is baptism stuff, being joined to God’s people.
And
God says, I shall provide your daily bread. God sends quail in the evenings and
manna in the mornings—a ‘bread’ they have never known before. Day after day, enough
for all, whether you are a family of two or of twelve. But just as God gave our
first parents every fruit bearing tree for food and instructed them not to eat
from one tree alone, so, again, God holds out gift and restriction. If we are
to be generous, as God is generous, we must discover the goodness of gift and
the goodness of restraint. So, if anyone sought to hoard more than they needed
for that day, the manna turned rotten, full of maggots. But God also wanted to
teach the people gift and restraint in relation to work—for they were no longer
slaves. So, on the sixth day, God provided double, and the people were to
gather double; for on the sabbath, God and the people would rest together: no
miracle, no gathering-up food. Those who didn’t trust God, who didn’t gather
double that first sabbath-eve, went hungry.
One-and-a-half
millennia later, Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven’
(see John 6). This whole episode looks forward, finds its fulfilment in him.
The one who taught his disciples to pray, Give us today our daily bread. To
look to our Father in heaven as generous provider, the one who gives us his
Son, and with Jesus, everything we need. Lord, give us Jesus. Give us your
presence, today. ‘As we eat and drink these holy things in your presence, form
us in the likeness of Christ’ [from Eucharistic Prayer G].
In
our Gospel reading, Jesus describes the kingdom of heaven—that is, God’s rule
on God’s earth, which God chooses to exercise through human beings—as a way of
being where everyone is given what they need in order to live. God’s vision is deeply
offensive to our opinion that some people (including us) are deserving of more
than other people. But we are called to be generous. To trust that God will
give us our daily wage, and to rejoice that God gives the same daily wage to
others.
One
of the ways we seek to live this out, as the Church of England, is through the Parish
Pledge. The Parish Pledge is the framework by which we consider God’s generosity
towards us, and the needs of others, and decide what we will give in response,
so that God’s gifts are redistributed according to means and need. The Parish
Pledge is the mechanism by which parishes that have gathered more than they
need are able to support parishes that have not been able to gather as much as
they need, without any of God’s provision turning rotten. And for a while now,
we at St Nicholas have been net receivers of the generosity of other parishes. While
I’m thankful for their generosity towards us, I’m praying for the day when we
might be able to reciprocate. Join me.
If
you give of your finances to St Nicholas,’ thank you. If you give of your time,
thank you. If you give of your skills, thank you. If you haven’t taken the
opportunity to reflect on what you give for a while, can I encourage you to do
so? Blessing our community, in Jesus’ name, is a commitment to generosity; it
doesn’t happen by accident or as an afterthought, but through prayerful
observation of need, reflection on how we might best respond, by planning,
putting those plans into action, and assessing the outcomes. What are we doing well?
And what could we do better?
We
need to make it easier for people to give, including occasional visitors and those
moving from being a regular visitor to a committed member of our congregation. Earlier
this year, we signed up to the Parish Giving Scheme, which offers an
alternative (and, indeed, several advantages) to giving by Standing Order.
Information packs are available at the main door. We can already make online donations
at our services, using a smart phone, as well as cash in the collection plates,
and from November, we’ll also be equipped with a CollecTin® More, a Contactless
Point of Donation. This is not about disenfranchising existing and older
givers, but about extending franchise to others. Not consigning the past to the
rubbish heap but securing a future that will continue to honour the generosity
of our older members.
I
am very aware that many of us have (or will have) increasing personal care
costs. As part of a regular review of our giving, we may need to reduce
our donations. Generosity is about giving what we can with a glad heart;
there should be no guilt over what we cannot give. If you need to reduce what
you give, thank you for continuing to give. Please pray that God would continue
to meet our needs, to give us our daily bread. And lastly, on giving, can I
encourage you to consider including the church in your will? It helps if legacies
are made without restriction, allowing the PCC to determine how best to use
these gifts.
We
need to tell stories of the impact of our giving and celebrate the ways in
which generosity is expressed among us. Our regular Afternoon Teas and Soup
Lunches add ‘thickness’ to a stretched-thin community, enabling those who may live
predominantly alone to meet with their neighbours. Our Care & Share lunches
do the same for those who are vulnerably housed, while our support of Basis and
of the food bank run by Elim, provide a lifeline for individuals and families
in crisis. Thank you, all who give of your time to make this possible.
These
regular activities provide opportunity for church members to give of their
time, and in other ways, such as baking for others. We celebrate that practical
expression of loving our neighbour. Many of us have been brought up to keep
quiet about our volunteering in the community—it feels like bragging—but
telling the stories of our experience is how we invite others to join in. As
you may have already discovered, volunteering is good for mental and emotional
health. So, let’s invite others to join us!
There
are other opportunities that we are not at present able to engage with. Since
being licensed here on a full-time basis, I have been able to connect with Richard
Avenue Primary School, in addition to Barbara Priestman Academy. Both are
looking to establish strong connections with us, with pupils visiting here and
a team from the church going into the schools. I’d love to build a team of
people who might be trained to help me tell Bible stories in engaging ways. I’d
love to have a schools’ budget stream in our church accounts. I’d love to have
people commit to pray week-by-week for our schools. If that could be you, come
and speak to me.
When
I agreed to give St Nicholas’ part of my time, back in 2019, that is what I
gave, as best as I was able. My financial giving remained at the Minster,
supporting their ministry, not least among asylum seekers who are not permitted
to work, not permitted to contribute to society through their work, who have to
find other ways to express generosity. When I was licenced here in July, Jo and
I transferred our committed giving to St Nicholas.’ We’re also prayerfully
thinking through how we best give our time, which will probably be in new areas
that stimulate new growth rather than existing ones. This Generosity Week, may
I invite you to take the opportunity to make your own review?
Finally,
thank you, for all that you have so generously given, and all that you will
give in the year to come. Together, may we be amazed by God’s generous
initiative towards us.
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