"The essential question is not how much can we afford to give,
it is how much we can afford to keep."
--Stephen Gray

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A story from the Jewish Talmud goes like this:

Time before time, when the world was young, two brothers shared a field and a mill. One brother lived alone, and the other had a large family. Each night they evenly divided the grain they had grown together.

One day, the single brother thought to himself, "It isn't really fair that we divide the grain evenly. I have only myself to care for, but my brother has children to feed." So each night he secretly took some of his grain and put it in his brothers' granary.

And the married brother said to himself, "It isn't fair that we divide the grain evenly - because I have children to provide for me in my old age, but my brother doesn't." So he began every night to take some of his grain and put it in his brother's granary.

Then, one night, they met each other halfway between their two houses, and they realized what had been happening. And then, what could they do but embrace each other in love?

The legend is that God witnessed their meeting and proclaimed, "This is a holy place. And it is here that my temple shall be built." And so it was that the first temple was constructed in Jerusalem.

In this season of thanksgiving, one of the things that I am always grateful for is the generosity of people. The story of the love the brothers had for each other, and how they acted their love out, encourages me to love more fully. My cynicism disappears when I hear about or witness an act of generosity. My cynicism disappears and is replaced by hope.

We spoke and heard last week about how volunteering feeds us, allows us to feel as though we are contributing to something larger than ourselves. That we derive a sense of meaning from being generous with our time. Indeed, there are many ways that we can be generous - with our time, with our skills and talents, and with our financial resources. But why do we give of ourselves? Why do we give of our time, of our financial resources? Unitarian Universalist Stewardship Consultant Wayne Clark identifies six reasons that we give.

First, he says, we give because we like to help people. Wayne claims that human beings are, predisposed to be helpful. We give because we believe in the benefit that others receive from our gifts. When we contribute our time or financial resources to a homeless shelter, for instance, we believe that we are making a difference in the lives of the homeless in the community.

Our desire to be helpful reminds me of a reading often used at weddings. First Corinthians, chapter 13, talks about love. It says:

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels,
but have not love,
I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal…
Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud…
When I was a child, I talked like a child,
I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.
When I became an adult, I put childish ways behind me…
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.
But the greatest of these is love.

Now in the King James version, the version that is most familiar to people because if its flowing language (if not its accuracy!), the greatest of these is not translated as love, but as Charity: And now these three remain: faith, hope and charity. But the greatest of these is charity.

Though today we understand charity more as generous acts and a feelings of benevolence, the translator at the time meant charity in an older sense - that of Christian love, or agape. "Love" really is a better translation, and yet there is a connection between love and generosity. This connection between love and generosity is illustrated in the song Magic Penny, by Malvina Reynolds. My daughters both learned this song in school, and they would sing the chorus in the car endlessly:

Love is something if you give it away, Give it away, give it away. Love is something if you give it away, You end up having more.

Over and over they would sing it. It wasn't until I finally looked the song up one day that I realized there are actual verses:

It's just like a magic penny, Hold it tight and you won't have any. Lend it, spend it, and you'll have so many They'll roll all over the floor.

Charity, love, helpfulness. Because we love, we want to be helpful. Because we want to be helpful, we are able to be generous.

The second reason Wayne says we give is: "out of a sense of gratitude. Giving can be a way of saying thanks for the gift we have bestowed upon us. We give because we acknowledge that we are fortunate to have received many gifts. Giving can feel like an act of worship, a celebration of abundance."

Generosity and gratitude go hand in hand. When we are grateful for what we have, we hold onto it a little less tightly, and so we are capable of sharing and giving in unselfish ways - we are able to give largely and more abundantly than when we are not practicing gratitude.

Tony Larsen builds on this, in his essay about Giving as Spiritual Practice, found in the very wonderful and affirming book "Everyday Spiritual Practice" edited by UU minister Scott Alexander.

In his essay, Tony focuses on financial giving, his own spiritual practice for over 20 years, which came out of his deep gratitude for all that he has. He says that his "own belief is that money is neutral, neither good nor bad in itself. But it can be a tool - a vehicle, a means - to a spiritual purpose...."

The trick to giving, he says, is "to know that there's no particular amount of money he needs in order to be happy." He refers to surveys where people always say that they need just a little bit more to be content. If they make $20k, then $30k would make them happy. If they make $30k, then they say $40k would make them happy. And onward and upward it goes.

"We all think a little more money can make us happier." He says. "And in some [extreme] cases, no doubt, it would. But after a while, we'd get used to the new amount and then we'd want a little more."

Tony points out that "Once you understand that no particular amount of money can make you happy, it becomes easier to live on less than you presently earn." Once we become grateful, in an unqualified sense, for what we have, it becomes easier to live, and easier to give. Easier to be generous.

Tony also offers practical advice This is how he does it: Whenever he gets a paycheck, he puts a designated amount into a charity account. He then thinks of the income he has left as his "real" income - for food, bills, house payments...It is kinda like having your retirement taken out right off the top - he doesn't consider this amount as part of his "income," but instead it is set aside from the very beginning.

As charitable requests come his way during the year, he donates to them out of his charity fund. At the end of the year, he gives whatever might be left away and starts from scratch.

Tony points out that this way, he gives out of fullness, out of gratitude, not out of guilt. And that it makes him "feel connected to the world around [him] - a part of the interdependent web of all existence. And that in itself is an experience of the holy."

Which connects with the third reason that Wayne says we give: "To add meaning to our lives. There is nothing bad about feeling good." He reminds us. "Giving is truly one of the great joys in life. Giving provides a depth of purpose that peels away several layers of our day-to-day superficiality. Giving takes us away from navel gazing and helps us to focus beyond our personal boundaries."

My children have a book they often ask me to read them that tells this story: The grandmother does not have much - she has given away most of her furniture, she does not have much income. But every week, she makes these enormous, aromatic batches of soup. Then she makes her rounds, visiting the grocer whose children have all moved away, the artist who can't afford to keep the heat on in her house, the shopkeeper whose wife is ill. One week, the grandmother takes her granddaughter on rounds with her. They visit the grocer, who is so appreciative for the batch of soup that he gives them a fresh loaf of bread, some cheese and a number of apples. The artist learns that the granddaughter is a budding painter, so she gives the girl some of her old paints. The shopkeeper is so grateful to the grandmother for her soup that he gives them all sorts of interesting treats from his shop. By the time they get back to the grandmothers apartment, the bag she had carried her soup in was even heavier than it had been when they left. When asked how this happens, the grandmother responds "Don't you know its was the miracle again. We empty the bag, and somehow the bag fills up again. And as full as the bag gets, fuller than that gets my heart." What goes around, she says, comes around.

Delivering her soup gives meaning to the grandmothers life. It makes her feel good and helps her focus on what really matters.

But meaning can be found not only in feeling good, but in sacrifice, as well. We don't talk much about sacrifice in our UU congregations - at least not in my experience.

But as human beings we choose to make sacrifices all the time for the things we care about: we make sacrifices for our spouses, for our children, for our friends. Unitarian Universalist congregational consultant Michael Durrall points out that we should also be willing to make sacrifices for our church.

"Charitable giving," he says, "should make some difference in how we as religious people experience life from day to day. If giving to your congregation is similar to writing a check at the end of the month to pay the phone bill or the electric bill, and then forgetting about it until the end of the next month, you are not giving enough" he says.

We give, in part, to add meaning to our lives. The act of sacrifice, the surrendering of something desirable to a more pressing claim, is a deep meaningful act.

Which connects to the fourth reason Wayne says we give: "Because we believe in an organization's mission. When we are passionately connected to our faith community, we readily give of ourselves." If we believe that the mission of the church is a more pressing claim, than we are more likely to give to it.

This is the tough part for us to get around sometimes. I have often heard that we expect conservative Christians to give generously, because they are guilted into it out of fear of damnation. But does this then mean that our vision of the interdependent web is not as inspiring? What about a world community with peace, liberty and justice for all? Is this not pressing enough for us to give generously of our rich resources? Is fear of some unknown really more compelling than what we know to be true in this life?

I don't buy it. And I hope you don't either, because if you do, this next reason that Wayne says people give won't mean much either. The fifth reason that Wayne says we give is "Because someone asks. It should not be surprising that many of us find it hard to ask others for gifts. But we often give willingly to someone who musters the courage to ask."

It can be hard to ask someone to give, of their time, their effort, their money. And yet, knowing that asking is so important, I'm going to risk it. Brace yourself ?

In the past, this congregation took some financial risks. You pulled out of your savings to assure that you would not have to cut staff or programming during the time of ministerial transition. When things seemed bleak, you did what you needed to sustain the church. And I truly believe that this risk is paying off - you invested in your future, and what a bright future it is. The energy here is unbelievable, the hope, the sense of investment and community. Visitors come through our door and are welcomed with open arms, many are choosing to stay. We are moving forward on our mission of transforming ourselves, our community, and our world.

As part of that investment in the future, the church decided to pass a deficit budget for this fiscal year. You had faith that it would all work out. I share that faith completely. And now is the time to give that faith some legs to walk the talk.

As you can see over on the side of the sanctuary, today we are kicking off our Spring for a Day campaign. Our budget deficit is just over $36,000, which conveniently works out to about $100 a day for a full year. Help us to make good on the seeds you planted in the fall, to help bring about the renewal of this historic, transformative church. Choose your birthday, or a special holiday, an anniversary. Choose the week you are going on vacation, or your favorite month of the year. Buy as many days as you like, dedicate them however you want. Once all the days are bought and dedicated, we will produce a 2010 calendar of dedications to share.

We have tried to make this an easy campaign for you, with multiple ways to buy a day. If you have an existing pledge, you can add the amount to your pledge. If you would like to write a check and attach it with the leaf of the day you select, you can do that too. Or if you want to make sure that you get the days you want, you can reserve the days now and pay anytime up until May.

You invest your time and energy into this congregation. I ask you to generously invest in this campaign as well. To help bring about the renewal that has already begun.

Which leads, finally, to the sixth reason Wayne says that we give: "In response to people we trust. The most spiritual stewardship is relational and personal rather than institutional… We give a financial gift, for example, to someone we believe has already given a meaningful gift of her own. This implies," he continues, "that people can not ask us to give something before they have given abundantly of their gifts.

It would be hypocritical for me to stand up here and talk about generosity, to ask you to be generous in your dealing with this congregation - financially, and time-wise, and not share how I am trying to walk the talk.

My spouse, John, joined the congregation last week and this week we filled out our pledge card. For the remainder of this fiscal year, we have pledged to give $xxx a month to this church. We hope to be able to pledge a full 5% of our income next canvass.

In addition, we understand that this Spring for a Day campaign needs our participation as well. So we have promised to buy 14 days. As the end of the campaign month nears, and there are only a scattering of days left, we will buy 14 of them.

I believe in this church. I would not have come here are your minister if I didn't. I think that our faith matters in this world, and that we can and must work for transformation. And so I will do whatever I can - with my time, with my energy and yes, with my financial resources, to make it happen. I ask you to do the same.

In a 1998 seminar, Stephen Gray, the Indiana Kentucky Conference Minister for the United Church of Christ, said:

All we have is just a loan. Whether it be our next breath, the food we eat, what is in our pocketbooks; it is on loan and we cannot take it with us when we go. We have the opportunity to use these resources to help care for others and those less fortunate than ourselves as a sign of our gratitude, and the essential question is not how much we can afford to give, but how much we can afford to keep.

If we understand our interdependence, then like the brothers we heard about a few minutes ago, we will always want to pour some of our grain into the granary of the world. When we do - and where we do - becomes a holy place. Let us make this church, this beloved community, a holy place through our generosity.

Blessed be.

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