“Let us carefully consider, brothers, the material from which we have been made, and who and what sort of people we were when we entered into the world; and let us consider from what kind of tomb and darkness we were led into the world by the one who fashioned and made us, after he prepared his kindly acts in advance, even before we were born.” 1 Clement 38.3.
Clement, Bishop of Rome (c. 96), here reminds the Corinthians that we were dead and then made alive in Christ to be sent forth to perform the “kindly acts” (cf. Ephesians 2:8-10) that God has already prepared for us to do. What are we waiting for?
“Let the one who is strong take care of the weak; and let the weak show due respect to the strong. Let the wealthy provide what is needed for the poor, and let the poor offer thanks to God, since he has given him someone to supply his need. Let the one who is wise show forth wisdom not through words but through good deeds. Let the one who is humble not testify to himself but permit another to testify on his behalf. Let the one who is pure in the flesh not act arrogantly, knowing that another has provided him with his self-restraint.” 1 Clement 38.2.
Clement, Bishop of Rome (c. 96), urged the Christians in Corinth to live out their faith in words and deeds. Note the wealthy with more than enough were to share with those who did not have enough.
“And so, let our whole body be healthy in Christ Jesus, and let each person be subject to his neighbor, in accordance with the gracious gift he has received.” 1 Clement 38.1
Clement, Bishop of Rome (c. 96), wrote a letter to the church in Corinth. This an excerpt from that letter included in the collection known as “The Apostolic Fathers” of the Early Church.
Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” Luke 21:1-4
“Your degree of generosity is not measured by how much you give, it is measured by how much you have left over after you give.”
Jay Link in Big Giver/Small Giver: Someone Has Reversed the Definitions blogpost on 29 August 2011 at: http://www.stewardshipministries.org/blog/2011/08/29/big-giversmall-giver-someone-has-reversed-the-definitions/
“One purchases immortality through generosity; and by giving the perishing things of this world, receives in exchange for these an eternal mansion in the heavens! Rush to this market, if you are wise, O rich man! If need be, sail around the world.”
Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Luke 12:33-34
Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215), in Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010) 488.
In “Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,” Frodo is discouraged and overwhelmed with the responsibility of carrying the ring.
This famous response from his old friend, Gandalf inspires him to press on through the dark mines of Moria. I pray it inspires you today.
Frodo: I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.
Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.
To view the scene from the movie on YouTube, visit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeDMTAfl1YU
“Remember that you have only one soul; that you have only one death to die; that you have only one life, which is short and has to be lived by you alone; and that there is only one glory, which is eternal. If you do this, there will be many things about which you care nothing.”
Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), in Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010) 481.
Oskar Schindler was a German businessman who lived in Czechoslovakia. He joined the Nazi party in 1939, and moved to Krakow that year when Germany invaded Poland. There he ran two manufacturing companies and made money using cheap labor, Jews from the ghetto in Krakow.
When he witnessed the Germans taking and killing Jews, Oskar was moved to transfer the Jewish workers from his factory to a safer place. Using the factory as cover, he saved many Jews putting his own life in danger.
Oskar Schindler: I could have got more out. I could have got more. I don’t know. If I’d just… I could have got more.
Itzhak Stern: Oskar, there are eleven hundred people who are alive because of you. Look at them.
Oskar Schindler: If I’d made more money… I threw away so much money. You have no idea. If I’d just…
Itzhak Stern: There will be generations because of what you did.
Oskar Schindler: I didn’t do enough!
Itzhak Stern: You did so much.
[Schindler looks at his car]
Oskar Schindler: This car. Goeth would have bought this car. Why did I keep the car? Ten people right there. Ten people. Ten more people.
[removing Nazi pin from lapel]
Oskar Schindler: This pin. Two people. This is gold. Two more people. He would have given me two for it, at least one. One more person. A person, Stern. For this.
[sobbing]
Oskar Schindler: I could have gotten one more person… and I didn’t! And I… I didn’t!
Oskar Schindler (1908-1974) in the movie Schindler’s List (1993).
Ultimately, Oskar Schindler saved nearly 1,200 Jews from which over 7,000 descendants are alive today. With all the injustice in the world today, you have to ask yourself this question. What’s a person worth to you?
To view the scene from the movie on YouTube, visit:
“‘The times are bad! The times are troublesome!’ This is what humans say. But we are our times. Let us live well and our times will be good. Such as we are, such are our times.”
Augustine of Hippo (c. 354-430) in Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010) 466.
“If ancient examples of faith, which testify to the grace of God and give us encouragement, are honored and recorded for posterity in writing, so that by reading them the deeds of God are glorified and others are strengthened, why should we not in our generation also set down new witnesses which serve these ends. One day our example will also be ancient and important to our children…”
This reading comes from the introduction to the martyrdom of Perpetua, Felicity and their companions at Carthage in 203, as recorded in Celebrating the Saints, ed. Robert Atwell (Norwich: SCM Press, 2004) 129.
