Matthew 6:19-21 NRSV version
Beth Henricks
August 22, 2021
19-21 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Friends, I gave a message to Whittier Friends last Sunday by zoom (the benefits of virtual connection) and Bob asked me to share a modified version of this message today as I examined my spiritual journey trying to live more fully from a place of generosity versus scarcity and how I am trying to live out my spiritual transformation in the world for me. This is a difficult journey as fear, shortages and inadequacies can dominate our being. I have had several significant moments in my spiritual journey where I was challenged to trust God for my future.
As I reflected on my spiritual journey as I prepared this message, I was thinking back to my religious upbringing. As I have shared before, I was raised in a fundamentalist tradition, very devout and was at church 3 times a week. I went to a Baptist high school and a conservative Christian college. I was immersed in church, was told what to believe, read the Bible literally and all my doubts and questions were dismissed by the church teachers and leaders. There were no women in paid leadership roles (only administrative assistants and those that worked with kids). I had so many questions about our faith and the Bible. I began a spiritual exploration in high school, and it has continued throughout my life. That is how I found Quakerism. It has been so important to my life and my spiritual journey. The Quakers were accepting and embraced my questions when we first walked into First Friends doors 28 years ago. I felt others journey alongside of me as I explored my belief system. Nothing was off the table, and I felt safe and loved. That is a feeling that spiritual seekers are longing for, and I believe Quakerism can give that space and should be bursting at the seams with new seekers. Quakers also provide opportunities through wonderful organizations like RSWR, QVS, FCNL and others to put our spiritual transformation into action as we are led. These organizations operate with integrity, transparency and spirit led stewardship. They are making a difference in our country and our world.
Another reason for my passion for Quakerism is the role of women in our leadership and throughout our history. Margaret Fell, Dorothy White, Elizabeth Bathurst, Rebeckah Travers, Lucretia Mott and many others were prominent leaders and teachers and writers for our faith tradition. We should all look up their writings and their life to consider what they wrote about the faith. One of my personal heroes in our quaker tradition is Lucretia Mott. She was an incredible woman that spent her time and energy advocating for women’s rights and blacks’ rights. It’s hard to adequately describe her impact on the movement. She gave so much of herself even as she was raising a number of children. She was also an incredible hostess welcoming many into her home to spend the night and prepare a delicious meal. She was a model of hospitality and generosity in all parts of her life. She lived within the example of Jesus.
Quakers have a grand history, but we aren’t bursting at the seams – we are in decline in the United States. I think we sometimes lack generosity in our hospitality and embrace of newcomers. It is important that Quakers practice an extravagant hospitality and not welcome folks from a place of insider language and a scarcity mentality. We need to be generous in our hospitality, our welcome, our understanding. I have seen Quakers be small and restrictive in their standards of simplicity and might make an outsider feel unwelcome because they don’t ascribe to a perceived standard of simplicity or peace or any of the other testimonies. As our beloved Quaker Rufus Jones wrote in 1940, there is no fixed standard of simplicity,
What is very simple for one person often seems
Very complex and extravagant for another person.
There is no known calculus of simplicity.
I love this statement from North Carolina Yearly Meeting (Conservative), written in 1983 about simplicity. Simplicity does not mean drabness or narrowness but is essentially positive, being the capacity for selectivity in one who holds attention on the goal. Thus, simplicity is an appreciation of all that is helpful towards living as children of the Living God.
The question for each of us is how we are extravagant in our welcome, our hospitality, our tangible means of providing largesse. We should welcome others with all our selves. An example of this occurred five years ago when a young man showed up at our door. He was desperate, about to be evicted, going through a divorce, had lost his job and was struggling. We talked for several hours in the parlor and he asked if we could pay his rent to prevent him from losing his apartment. His only connection with Quakers was from a number of years ago when he was choir director at a Friends Church in Muncie. He was desperate and humble about his situation. It’s difficult to discern the right response. I have heard many stories from people over the year that have a need and trying to decide if the person’s situation is real and deserving of our support is not easy. In this situation God’s voice spoke to me and encouraged generosity to this young man. First Friends paid his rent.
I heard from this young man a couple of times after that but then lost track of him. Often our generosity does not know an outcome and that is ok. However, last month, this young man made a contribution doubling the amount we gave him five years ago. He called me and said that moment of generosity helped turn his life around and he is thriving. He will never forget First Friends generosity and the way we supported him without judgement or shame.
The greatest example for generosity, hospitality and embrace of all is Jesus. I read the Gospels as my guiding Light (as many early quakers did). Jesus showed the way to the most dramatic sense of generousity and faith for the future. He called twelve men to leave their jobs, their families, their stable future to follow him in a radical new way of love, hospitality, generosity. He didn’t worry about where he was going to stay the next night, gave up all his possessions and had complete trust in God’s leadings. He welcomed the lowest of society at the time into his presence and his hospitality and generosity was magnanimous. And the disciple that understood him best was Mary Magdalene. He broke all bounds of tradition. How do I live into this example?
Jesus knew what generosity was all about. He taught in Mark 12:38-44 that the Scribes (the religious leaders of the time) walked around in their fancy robes, were greeted with respect in the public marketplace, had the best seats in the synagogue, the most influence over money matters and were held in honor. Yet these leaders were devouring widows homes and saying long prayers to show off to others. Jesus said they will receive the greater condemnation. Jesus then shared the story of the widow. “A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. 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 contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.” This widow gave out of a place of abundance and trust and not from scarcity and fear.
I believe one of my pivotal moments was about 13 years ago that I started to shift my thinking. I decided I didn’t want to give a small amount of money to a lot of different organizations, rather I wanted to limit my contributions and make them more significant to organizations that I knew, understood, appreciated their governance, and connected with in a deeper way. This journey began when Jim Cason from the Friends Committee on Legislation (FCNL) contacted me and asked me to serve as the clerk of the Capital Campaign that FCNL was preparing to launch. I was shocked that they asked me to serve in this role as I was not qualified to do this. I had never been on a capital campaign committee much less being its clerk. I felt out of my league in this role, but FCNL put together a qualified and spirit led committee and the experience was amazing. I met so many deeply spiritual Quakers from around the country and from various Quaker branches and my world of Quakerism began to expand beyond my Midwest connections. The work we did was so grounded in the spirit and in worship.
Everyone on the committee was asked to consider their gift to the campaign. FCNL utilized a seasoned Quaker development consultant to help with the campaign and I remember his discussion with me about my gift. He suggested an amount that stunned me at its size. This was not what I had been thinking at all. I sat with this idea for several weeks listening to God’s voice and what God was calling me to give. My biggest hesitancy was the fact that my husband was in the 3rd year of an Alzheimer’s diagnosis and as his condition declined, I had to bring in more care for him. I was afraid that I could run out of money if this disease in him lasted for years. Could I really give this significant gift for me considering an uncertain future with my husband? I spent several days in intense prayer about what to do. The voice I heard said, do you trust me or not? Should you not make this decision from a place of generosity versus scarcity? My hesitancy was because I feared an uncertain future. But isn’t that the point of our relationship to the Divine? God will journey with us through whatever our circumstances might be, and this was a moment in my life where my faith was tested and deepened through the experience. I gave the amount the consultant suggested.
I am reflecting on my initial connection to an amazing organization Right sharing of World Resources. It was Ann Panah that was leading a campaign to raise some money for RSWR, a number of years ago]. I knew very little about them and had been giving a small amount of money to Heifer International. It was her leadership that had me investigate this organization more closely and I began to see this was a place that I could live out my spiritual transformation. What a joy to host a lunch and auction off a quilt in Ann’s honor from her quilting group to support a women’s project in Kenya.
What a blessing to have Amy Perry, Brad Jackson and others to take on the stamp ministry to raise money for RSWR. This group is so faithful and so generous in giving their time and talents to trim and sell stamps to dealers.
Eleven years ago I agreed to join the board of RSWR and served them for 9 years, the last two as clerk. It was an amazing experience. One of the most important aspects to this for me was allowing my small world dealing with my husband’s dementia to be expanded. Most of you know that my husband was diagnosed (probably suffered for a few years prior) with Alzheimer’s in 2010. Anyone that has dealt with a spouse with Alzheimer’s knows how small the world gets in dealing with their care. For a couple of days two times a year, I was able to join other Friends to review and approve women’s projects in Kenya, India and Sierra Leone. What a privilege to expand my horizons to be a small pebble in the ripple of power these women take in their communities. How my world was expanded to be in relationship with these women through their project descriptions. How this investment changes their lives, the lives of their families and their communities. What a privilege to be part of this! RSWR is important to me as they support women that can often be the most effective change agents in their communities.
RSWR is a place for me to live out the spiritual transformation I have experienced internally. I know that there is so much trouble in our world and at times we can all feel paralyzed with all the issues we face and might become immobilized into doing nothing to change our world. I have felt this despair at times and have come to a place where I must respond to what God is specifically calling to me. I can’t impact so many ills in our world, but I can respond to God’s call and do what God lays on my heart. And I can’t let despair stop me from responding to God’s call to me. I am praying that each of us responds to God’s call on our hearts.
The idea of generosity versus scarcity is present in our personal lives, our interactions with our communities and in our Meetings. This concept can be about money, but it is more often about how we embrace others, welcome others, and give of our time to others and live out Quaker testimonies and Jesus’ commandments in our own world.
I heard an interesting story on NPR a few years ago about an observant Jew that was in a foreign country staying at a resident host. This host had no idea of the guest’s dietary restrictions, and the host provided the guest with a special pork dish. This dish was presented to the guest in a way of honor and the observant Jew needed to quickly decide what to do. He had never allowed pork to cross his lips, as this was restricted by his faith. But his host was offering this restricted food in a gesture of great generosity and hospitality. The guest decided this trumped the restrictive restrictions of his faith concerning food and he ate the pork. This feels to me like living in a space of generosity versus scarcity.
As we enter our time of unprogrammed worship I share the following queries.
Queries
Where are we afraid of scarcity in our lives?
What does it mean to me to live in a spirit of generosity?
Where is God calling me to expand my giving of time and talents?