Angela Merici: Why serve the poor?

“You have a greater need to serve [the poor] than they have of your service.”

Angela Merici (1474-1540) was an Italian religious leader and saint who founded the Order of Ursulines in 1535 in Brescia. This citation came to me in a paper written by Chelsea Hurlburt, one of my TEDS seminary students.

Chelsea has dedicated her life to “spending herself on behalf of the hungry” (cf. Isaiah 58:10). She believes such humble service has been the best training ground for learning about the love and grace God extended to her through Jesus.

How are you spending your life and what are your actions teaching you?

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 1 John 2:15

“Get thy heart as clear from the world as thou canst. Wholly lay by the thoughts of thy business, troubles, enjoyments, and every thing that may take up any room in thy soul. Get it as empty as thou possibly canst, that it may be the more capable of being filled with God.”

Richard Baxter (1615-1691) in The Saint’s Everlasting Rest (Grand Rapids, MI: CCEL) 157.

Perspective. That’s what I get when I read Baxter. Perspective. For example, to the wealthy who would often become complacent, he proclaimed, “the more you have, the more you have to give an account for” (Acton, Religion & Liberty 23.4). Such pointed truth motivated many in Kidderminster (where he pastored) to practice faithful stewardship!

To the masses, he urged them not to worry about what they did not have but to be faithful with all they had, saying: “Every one must give an account of his stewardship. Every talent of time, health, abilities, mercies, afflictions, means, warnings, must be reckoned for” (The Saint’s Everlasting Rest, 23).

Should his listeners ask themselves, “So how should I do this, pastor? How should I prepare to give an account?” He offers us thoughts akin to today’s meditation. I think he’d say “empty your hearts of the things of this world and set your affections on God alone.” This is good advice for me and for my seminary students in Chicago today, and I pray that it is helpful for you too.

“In 2006, I remember standing in the Mumbai airport at the conclusion of my sixth trip to India. While I was outside the terminal, a young girl came up to me begging for money. Though I didn’t typically make this my practice, I felt impressed to give the girl all the Indian money I had with me. As I emptied my pockets, and gave her all the rupees I had (which I later learned was about a month’s average wage), the girl had the biggest smile on her face as she ran to a woman who I hope was her mother.

When I returned to the U.S., I told a friend of mine about the incident. My friend immediately said, “Bill, so often our overflow is someone else’s necessity.” Since that time, I’ve thought about that phrase hundreds of times. It’s given me a better perspective on God’s blessings and helped me see the needs around me.

I love the truth of 2 Corinthians 9:8 that says, “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed.” We know that God’s grace has already abounded to us…so that we might have an abundance for every good deed. May God give us the wisdom to express generosity as we understand that our “overflow is someone else’s necessity.”

Bill Williams, CEO of National Christian Foundation, in “Overflow for Every Good Deed” blog post for National Christian Foundation on 2 April 2014.

While this idea is not new (it can be traced to early church fathers such as Augustine among others), it’s expression here by Bill Williams is both fresh and forthright! This leads me to invite you to join me in prayer in response to the reality of this statement.

Father in Heaven, as our overflow is someone else’s necessity, give us wisdom to know the people with whom we are to share it, and by your Holy Spirit, help us humbly and willingly share in a manner that reflects the love of Jesus, in whose name pray. Amen.

“Jesus is the model for sacrificial giving…if you stare long enough at Him, you’ll become a giver, and if you give long enough, you’ll become more like Him. Giving is an act of God’s grace, and it is His Spirit that changes a self-centered man into a grace-centered, joyful giver for the sake of the Gospel.”

Randy Alcorn as quoted by Patrick Johnson in “The Story of One Little Book” located on the Generous Giving website.

We’ve been on a journey of letting go of that which this world offers and growing in the grace of giving. Without Jesus as our model, we would be lost! As we “stare” at Him, we find Him having fun with people, even tax collectors and sinners. We see Him touching the untouchables and caring for those the world does not care about. We see him emptying Himself so that others may be filled and never running dry in so doing because the source of the abundant life He offered was and still is the Father in Heaven. All this inspires us to be conduits of divine blessings like Him.

Today’s meditation comes with a prayer for friends like Randy Alcorn, Patrick Johnson, Wes Willmer, Scott Rodin, and others reading this who are fellow pilgrims on the journey. It’s hard because it’s so counter cultural, and it’s so different from how most Christians live their lives. It ultimately boils down to where we place our trust, security, and identity. Wherever you find yourself, just look to Jesus as your model for giving and get ready for an adventure of a lifetime.

“Generous giving, whatever form that may take, is not a project or a special activity, rather it is the unfolding of the life of God in us. Put in Christological terms, the salvation that Christ brings is Christ’s life taking form and shape in us. As a consequence, the life of Christ is thus ‘repeated’ is us in a smaller or greater way.

Thus to be a self-giving servant in the reign of God is an expression of who we are as caught up in the life of the New Adam. Giving, generosity, and servanthood are first and foremost not practical activities and certainly not utilitarian, they are ontological. That means these responses are intrinsic to who we are as part of the new creation in Christ. This means that generosity is not an ‘extra’ in the life of the Christian. Instead, it is basic and intrinsic.”

Charles Ringma in a one-page paper entitled: “A Theology and Practice of Fundraising” as shared by Dr. Zenet Maramara, Director, Center for Biblical Stewardship at Asian Theological Seminary.

I reviewed this short paper at the request of a friend, Daryl Heald, who founded both Generous Giving in the USA and Global Generosity Movement, which seeks to stir up Christian generosity around the world.

I liked the article and am sharing this quote because I appreciate the ontological or “design” focus of his argument. In a sentence: Generosity is not about things we have done or do, but rather about something we are and become in Christ Jesus.

How is the reign of God reflected in your life and mine? Are we “self-giving servants” or as Ringma makes it personal elsewhere in the paper: “Is my generosity merely the left-overs of my selfish life-style?”

“A number of years ago I (Mark) invited a group of friends into an audacious experiment in which each of us would sell or give away half of our possessions and donate the profits to global poverty relief. We were inspired by what Jesus taught about true security and abundance, deciding that an experiment would be a tangible way to explore the implications for our everyday lives.

Jesus once told his disciples, “Sell your possessions and give to the poor” (Luke 12:33). And when people asked the prophet John how to respond to the reality of God’s kingdom he said, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same” (Luke 3:11). We called our experiment Have2Give1.

To our surprise over thirty people signed up to participate and together we plotted how to sell the things we owned to help the poorest people in the world. Friends traveled an hour or more each way just to be at our project meetings. We spent the next eight weeks systematically divesting of our stuff—each week collecting different items to sell, donate or recycle. One week it would be books and music, another, clothes and household items. Everyone had a list of objects in question (Can I keep my figurine collection? Should I auction off some of my jewelry? Do I really need three bicycles?).

We were excited to see how the things we owned, much of which were collecting dust, could be sold to feed and help hungry people. While selling our cars, antiques and bicycles we discovered that many of the items we thought were so precious and valuable were actually nearly worthless. Some of us wondered why we kept buying things we didn’t need or use, like sales rack clothes with price tags still attached after years in the closet. One Saturday we held a garage sale and put out a sign saying that all proceeds would go toward Tsunami relief in Indonesia. With the leftovers we did a swap and then donated the rest to a local thrift store.

This flurry of activity led us to ask deeper questions about our heart posture towards money, possessions and consumption. One night we decided it would be a good idea to share how much money we made and where that money was spent. We did some further investigation into what Jesus taught about God’s abundance and wrestled with how his teachings offer a subversive critique of many of our commonly held beliefs and practices. We came up with a list to summarize the qualities we had explored: contentment, gratitude, simplicity, abundance, frugality, generosity and trust.

We decided to make a public statement about what we were learning by having a postcard printed with the following phrase written on it:

A new way is possible
Sell your possessions and give to the poor
For where your treasure is there your heart will be also
Ask and you will receive
Seek and you will find…the secret of contentment”

Mark Scandrette in Practicing the Way of Jesus (Downers Grove: IVP, 2011) 11-13.

This is a wonderful contemporary example of disciples choosing simplicity in community. It reveals what our family is learning: simplicity is more than giving away something to bless someone with the resources. The subversive call of Jesus to divesture frees us to depend on Him rather than ourselves for sustenance and empowerment in mission. It positions us to find contentment in the only place it can be found. It is about taking hold of life in Christ’s Kingdom.

“As the tide of generosity rises in a church, the waves of volunteers become bigger and more frequent. In other words, as people start to embrace generosity as God’s chosen way (“the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom”), and as people start to discover the joy that comes with giving, their inclinations toward service increase. Teaching and modeling holistic generosity leads to increased service in the church.”

John Richardson in “Revolutionizing the Way We Recruit Volunteers” blog post for Generous Church on 12 June 2014.

The correlation is unmistakable. As people are encouraged to imitate the self-less, sacrificial giving of Christ, they not only grow in generosity but also their proclivity to serve rises as well. If you need volunteers, teach generosity. It’s about much more than money!

Check out this YouTube video: Do Something

I woke up this morning
Saw a world full of trouble now
Thought, how’d we ever get so far down
How’s it ever gonna turn around
So I turned my eyes to Heaven
I thought, “God, why don’t You do something?”
Well, I just couldn’t bear the thought of
People living in poverty
Children sold into slavery
The thought disgusted me
So, I shook my fist at Heaven
Said, “God, why don’t You do something?”
He said, “I did, I created you”

If not us, then who
If not me and you
Right now, it’s time for us to do something
If not now, then when
Will we see an end
To all this pain
It’s not enough to do nothing
It’s time for us to do something

I’m so tired of talking
About how we are God’s hands and feet
But it’s easier to say than to be
Live like angels of apathy who tell ourselves
It’s alright, “somebody else will do something”
Well, I don’t know about you
But I’m sick and tired of life with no desire
I don’t want a flame, I want a fire
I wanna be the one who stands up and says,
“I’m gonna do something”

If not us, then who
If not me and you
Right now, it’s time for us to do something
If not now, then when
Will we see an end
To all this pain
It’s not enough to do nothing
It’s time for us to do something

We are the salt of the earth
We are a city on a hill (shine shine, shine shine)
But we’re never gonna change the world
By standing still
No we won’t stand still
No we won’t stand still
No we won’t stand still

If not us, then who
If not me and you
Right now, it’s time for us to do something
If not now, then when
Will we see an end
To all this pain
It’s not enough to do nothing
It’s time for us to do something [x3]

I heard this Matthew West song on the radio yesterday. I have heard it many times before but the lyrics really struck me today.

Once this move is behind us, our hope is to be freed up to “do something” in more areas of life. Someone said today, “Downsizing your home will actually upsize your life.” That’s our hope anyway. Today’s our yard sale at 11318 West Ontario Avenue, Littleton, CO 80127. Another step in the process. This is work, but we know it will be worth it.

What’s our new address? For now: PO Box 271028, Littleton, CO 80127.

For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come. Hebrews 13:14 (NLT)

We are moving. We’ve sold our home.

For up to six months, we are housesitting for our good friend, Sung Wook Chung, theology professor at Denver Seminary. He is on sabbatical in Korea with his family and so we are looking after his place while we begin our search for a townhouse.

Think about it. We are all moving….because this world is not our home.

Tonight while I was driving the last load of things with a truck my dear brother Dave Rowland loaned us the last two days, this classic gospel song came to mind. Enjoy!

This world is not my home
I’m just a-passing through
My treasures are laid up
Somewhere beyond the blue.

The angels beckon me
From heaven’s open door
And I can’t feel at home
In this world anymore.

Oh Lord, you know
I have no friend like you
If heaven’s not my home
Then Lord what will I do.

The angels beckon me
From heaven’s open door
And I can’t feel at home
In this world anymore.

I have a loving mother
Just up in Gloryland
And I don’t expect to stop
Until I shake her hand.

She’s waiting now for me
In heaven’s open door
And I can’t feel at home
In this world anymore.

Oh Lord, you know
I have no friend like you
If heaven’s not my home
Then Lord what will I do.

The angels beckon me
From heaven’s open door
And I can’t feel at home
In this world anymore.

Just over in Gloryland
We’ll live eternally
The saints on every hand
Are shouting victory.

Their songs of sweetest praise
Drift back from heaven’s shore
And I can’t feel at home
In this world anymore.

Oh Lord, you know
I have no friend like you
If heaven’s not my home
Then Lord what will I do.

The angels beckon me
From heaven’s open door
And I can’t feel at home
In this world anymore…

Downsizing has been work, and it’s only been possible with the help of friends. We are selling, giving away, and cleaning through our stuff so as to travel light through this life in anticipation of the next.

Join us in the journey. Don’t get too comfortable here. Why? This world is not our home.

“Prayer is the gift of the Spirit. Often we wonder how to pray, when to pray, and what to pray. We can become very concerned about methods and techniques of prayer. But finally it is not we who pray but the Spirit who prays in us. Paul says: “The Spirit … comes to help us in our weakness, for, when we do not know how to pray properly, then the Spirit personally makes our petitions for us in groans that cannot be put into words; and he who can see into all hearts knows what the Spirit means because the prayers that the Spirit makes for God’s holy people are always in accordance with the mind of God” (Romans 8:26-27). These words explain why the Spirit is called “the Consoler.”

Henri Nouwen in Bread for the Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith (New York: HarperCollins, 1997) daily reading for 9 June.

Numerous times through Jenni’s cancer journey, my PhD experience, or the showing and sale of our house (this is moving week for us), we have found ourselves helpless and at a loss for words regarding how to pray. It is times like these we realize the gift that “the Consoler” is to us.

We also experience this on ordinary days. When we are preparing for teaching a lesson or just personally studying the Scriptures, we ask for and receive help. Often quietly and sweetly, the Spirit guides and instructs us. Join me today in thanking God for prayer as a gift of the Spirit.