Making Disciples: A Lenten Journey
5. “Extravagant Generosity!”
Text: Psalm 8; John 12: 1-8
Rev. Dr. Geordie Campbell
March 22, 2015
Like pebbles tossed on a quiet pond . . . I want us to consider the ripple of two
words this morning - a tiny splash made by each one, and then the rings that rise and
reach from the center. These are not random words tossed without thought, but
particular attributes of discipleship, descriptors of people who follow Jesus,
characteristics of folks just like you and me.
Let me place them in the context of remembering a sequence with you. These Sundays
before Easter we have been focusing on five practices that relevant, growing, and vital
congregations have in common: radical hospitality, passionate worship, intent ional
Christ ian formation, and risk-taking mission. These have been at center so far and are
stand-alone qualities of being disciples, but they also fit the larger whole as they
support and enhance one another. Today we finish up and add the fifth measure:
extravagant generosity.
So here goes! I want to start at square one and disarm both of these words. Let’s
take the second one first. I think so often when we hear the word generosity in church
we think of giving, and giving quickly leads to money, and (let’s be honest) thinking
about money and giving in church - is almost a guaranteed path to increase our anxiety
- no matter how little or much of it we have!
But be not suspicious, or in the words of an angel, be not afraid! Because the word
generosity signals far more. It speaks of a spirit in life that is marked by fullness and
abundance, and an open-heartedness underscored by a product ive capacity that is it’s
own energy center. It roots in a passion to be for others in the purest of form.
As for extravagant, with the help of my thesaurus I think of definitions and synonyms
like “over the top” . . . “without limit” . . . “excessive” . . . “lavish” . . . “lacking in
moderation or balance” . . . or “grandiose, plentiful and exorbitant.”
I want to assure you that the two words at center today, extravagant and generous, are
far larger and more expansive than our accustomed defaults might trigger. So, please,
uncouple any prior associations that you may have within you! And let’s listen and
stretch with open hearts and minds.
Start in this simple way. We could learn, as individuals and as a community of
faith, to be extravagantly generous in how we speak and what we say. We are, after all,
social animals (sorry to sound crude!) and the realities we perceive are socially
constructed, and most of that construction is in how we communicate thoughts, ideas
and feelings – our use of language. And how we do this, one with another really
matters.
I conducted a funeral this past week for a woman named Gloria. Her friends and family
called her “Glo” because that’s how they experienced her. She was always glowing with
something good to say. She had a way of lifting the moment of encounter such that
others felt affirmed and recognized and valued. She had a generosity of expression you
might say. It was not a learned skill, rather a natural gift. And I suspect that we all have
known people like that who, in the words of the prophet Isaiah, “know how to sustain
the weary with a word.”
Rabbi Naomi Levy wrote a little prayer that I love. “Help me God to wisely use my
tongue, that my words not cause pain. Remind me God that my words can cause joy.
My words can praise, enlighten, encourage, inspire. My words can comfort. My words
can heal. So place wisdom on my lips, God, blessings on my tongue, honor in my
heart.”
And then, too, as individuals and as a community . . . we can learn to be
extravagantly generous in how we express and share our gratitude. Garrison Keillor is
right, “gratitude is where the spiritual life begins.” It’s where perspective is born. It’s
the positive fuel in the engine of moral action. It strengthens the soul.
A man named Ted Loder1 was once in a mood of self-loathing. Things happened that
made him feel quite sorry for himself. He was in a pity-party made better and worse by
one. He went to bed but he couldn’t sleep. And so he got up at 3 AM, paced and
fidgeted. Then he sat down to write – which is one of the ways that he prays.
“What is there to be grateful for?” he began. “Don’t I have enough?” Do I really need to
wallow in my own sorrow? “Countless times I’ve watched the sun rise like God’s tender
mercy to gently lift the dark blanket from the earth, and countless more times I’ve
watched it set in such splendiferous farewell that it must reflect the fringe of God’s
robe. I’ve watched rivers run to the sea, and seen the sea roll with the eternal waves of
mystery.”
“I’ve scratched the ears of dogs and laughed at the ballet of cats. I’ve tasted bread and
wine, hot dogs and caviar. I’ve been loved and forgiven beyond all deserving. I’ve
known the loneliness of freedom and being human and having hard choices. I have
been shaken changed and blessed a thousand, thousand times. Isn’t that enough?”
And we can learn, as individuals and as a community
. . . to be
extravagantly generous in the ways that we express our love. We have been rightly told
from the first days “love is the more excellent way” – the summum bonum, the highest
good and goal of life.
Take the curious lesson we have from John’s gospel. As best we can tell and quite
apropos, it happened the week before Palm Sunday – the first time around. There was
a dinner held, apparently in Jesus’ honor. Martha, Lazarus and Mary were there. Judas is
also named as present.
Mary took a perfume of the precious sort and anointed Jesus’ feet. Then she wiped his
feet with her hair. Both the anointing and the wiping were signs of pure devotion and
love. And of course, Judas complained to Jesus that she had been wasteful with what
could have been sold and given to the poor.
But Jesus knew the moment, and so did Mary. Sometimes in life we simply have to
respond fully to where we are with what we have to give. In Matthew’s account this
conclusion is offered: “wherever the Good News is proclaimed in the whole word, what
she has done will be told in remembrance of her.”
And what did she do? She poured out her love for Jesus without reserve! She was
extravagant, generous, over the top, lavish . . . making sure and certain not to miss the
moment with Jesus.
And so this f ifth practice of living, relevant, growing congregations . . .
to learn to be and to become extravagantly generous . . . in so many ways: in mercy, in
gratitude, in justice and with joy; in compassion, in hope, and in all that we have to
share and dare.
I think I get it! And hey! I would want to be a part of a church like that! Where just to
walk in is to have some felt-sense that all that is good in life is not held back from one
another; all that is challenging in life is sustained with a lift and a word of genuine
faithfulness; and all that is gracious and grand and beautiful and benevolent are
experienced as the Living presence of God.
Take me to that church! I want to be first in line to join! Amen!
© 2015 Charles Geordie Campbell.
First Church
12 South Main Street,
West Hartford, Connecticut 06107
860.233.9605
www.whfirstchurch.org
1 Ted Loder. The Haunt of Grace. Innisfree Press, 2002, pp 23-24.