11-9-18 - Radical Abundance

(You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.)

We've explored giving when you have nothing, when it costs you everything. Today let's look at the more common way we give, out of our excess, out of our abundance.

Ah, but what if we don’t view our circumstances as abundant? What if we’re wired to see scarcity? I daresay it is impossible to grow up in our culture unaffected by the advertising industry, and that industry is fueled by scarcity. “Are you rich enough, are you pretty enough, do you smell good enough, is your car x enough….” (Rarely are we asked to wonder if we’re smart enough.)

Can you think of a crowd in which every hand would go up if you asked, “Do you have enough money in the bank?” Most people would say, “Enough for what? For today, sure. But for the next 25 years? For retirement? Ah, no, never enough…”

Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have donated out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

Trusting in our abundance is inextricably connected to staying rooted in the day we’re in. “Give us today our daily bread,” Jesus taught us to pray. And most of us have plenty in the day we’re in. Jesus invites us not only to trust that we have enough for the day, but to give everything we have, trusting that we’ll also have enough tomorrow.

I once attended a weekend retreat. At noon on the second day, each participant was given a bag stuffed with cards of prayer and encouragement from people at our churches as well as from total strangers. It was overwhelming to realize how many people were praying for me and took the time to write a note. I read a few notes, and decided to save the rest, to parcel out to myself when I got home. I wanted to spread out the affirmation.

But that evening we got another bag, and more the next day, and the day we left. It was unbelievable, the abundance. And still I was going to save most of them – until with the fifth batch it hit me: this is God’s love made tangible. God’s love is abundant. It never runs out. You can’t save it for the next day – you have to receive it all, open it all, read it all, accept it all – or you won't be open to the blessing God may have for you tomorrow. So I opened every single note, by faith, trusting there would be love when I got home too.

It’s the same thing with our money, our food, our time, our love. We don’t have to save them up. We can spend them lavishly, allowing God to bless others through us, and us through others. Radical abundance is God’s gift to us. Radical abundance can be our way of giving. Radical abundance is the road to true joy and freedom.

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