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United Church of Paducah
4600 Buckner Lane
Paducah, KY 42001
(270) 442-3722
Worship Times
Sunday Service: 10:00a
Refreshments &
Fellowship: 11:15a
Christian Education
For All Ages:
11:20a - Noon
Nursery Services Provided Handicap Accessible
All Are Welcome!
A Congregation Of The
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From October 28, 2007
In On The Secret
2 Corinthians 9: 6-15
Two things happened yesterday that may not,
at first blush anyway, seem to have much in common.
First, the Greater Paducah Sustainability project held its
monthly recycling day at the Park Avenue Kroger. As many as
30 volunteers were on hand to greet recyclers and sort their
varied donations.
Some recyclers came with a little. Some came with a lot. It
didn't matter. What mattered was this: as much as two tons
of recyclables were kept out of the city's landfill.
Now, add yesterday's success to the previous months'
successes, add to that the many successes yet to come and do
you have? A compelling case for curbside recycling in
Paducah. An eventuality, even.
Even if you wanted to, even if Mayor Paxton wanted to, even
if Governor Fletcher wanted to, even if President Bush
wanted to, no one person could ever make this case. Because
the case for curbside recycling can't be made by one
individual, not even two. It can only be made by people
working together, each contributing out of their passion,
showing the community today what is possible tomorrow.
So this is what was happening yesterday in one part of
Paducah. Elsewhere in town, something very different but
equally exciting was taking place.
At Grace Episcopal Church folks gathered learn about and
affirm the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals,
which (among other things) seek by the year 2015 to cut in
half the world's most extreme poverty, halt the spread of
HIV/AIDS, and provide primary education for children
everywhere.
It was hard to not be bowled over by the sheer scope of
human need. One in seven of our brothers and sisters on
earth is hungry. Another one in seven of us lives in an
urban slum. One in six has no access to clean drinking
water. One in every three people does not have even basic
sanitation. One half of us lives on a slim $2 a day.
Those who gathered at Grace yesterday afternoon encountered
the same truths our recyclers did. We cannot do this alone.
We need each other to care and respond and believe that
together we can and will make a difference. When you and I
pool our passion, our time, our talent, and our treasure,
just about anything is possible. Especially when our goals
mirror God's vision. That's when amazing and even miraculous
things happen because the Spirit amplifies our efforts.
Yesterday's happenings speak to us today as we come together
to ask God's blessing on our giving for the coming year. We
come knowing full well that none of us can support the
church and its ministries all by ourselves. No one has that
big a pocketbook, enough hours in the day, or the full
complement of talents and interests necessary to float this
boat all by himself or herself.
Even if that were the case, we would all be placing
ourselves at tremendous risk. One of the quickest ways to
bring a church down is for it to be the recipient of some
outlandish-sized donation.
You think that this would be the ticket to a church's
longevity. All the church's financial worries would be wiped
out. But no, this isn't true at all. And pastors who've seen
huge windfalls come their congregations' way will tell you
stories about the damage done when their churches hit the
financial jackpot and transformed congregational giving into
a secondary concern.
I know what you're thinking. That doesn't make sense. If a
church has no financial headaches, if everything's taken
care of, then the church is free to do everything it dreams
up and then some.
But no. Those financial windfalls have the opposite effect;
they take the wind right out of the church's sails. Because
what makes church church, what makes church what it is, the
living body of Christ, is each of us stepping forward to
give part of what we have been given--our passion, time,
talent, and treasure. All so that God's mission of love on
earth can continue.
Just as yesterday's recycling effort relies on donations of
all sizes, so does the church. Just as the accomplishment of
the Millennium Development Goals depends not on one single
entity but on governments, corporations, civic
organizations, communities of faith, and private citizens
working together, so the church needs each of us to offer up
who we are and what we have.
True. Very true. But you know what? Something even bigger
happens when we are all in on God's not-so-little,
not-so-secret secret: God is the source and the multiplier
of all that we give. Nothing we have or are is of our own
making. All we do when we give our talent, our time, our
treasure, all we do when we get excited about making a
difference is return to God what God has shared with us so
that God can double, triple, quadruple the value of our
gifts.
This is what the apostle Paul is driving at when he writes
to the church in Corinth. "He who supplies seed to the sower
and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for
sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness."
God is both the source and the multiplier of our gifts.
But that's only half of God's big secret of giving. The
other half of the secret is equally if not more important.
Here's how Paul puts it: "You will be enriched in every way
for your great generosity."
Let's be careful here. Paul can easily be misunderstood. The
apostle isn't suggesting what some televangelists do when
they say that the bigger the gift, the greater God's
blessing. It is folly to think we could ever manipulate God
with our generosity.
No, what Paul means is that part of the big secret of giving
is that it isn't a one-way street. When we give with
generous hearts, when we give grateful for the opportunity
to give, then we find ourselves--paradoxically--richer than
before.
Years ago I was invited to a wedding of a couple that was
already rather well off. I had just come from the
reservation where I had been earning next to nothing. The
more I thought about the kinds of gifts others would be
bringing, the more intimidated I became and the more the
spotlight seemed to shine on my teeny, tiny, nearly empty
wallet. I genuinely didn't feel I could afford to be
generous. So I wasn't.
And you know what? When I got to the wedding and set that
gift down amongst the others, it hit me: I had met my
obligation as a guest but that was all. The giving of the
gift gave me no joy, no glad heart. I had unintentionally
cheated myself of the good gift, the greater gift, that
comes back to us when our giving has been inspired by a
generous spirit.
If only I'd taken the time to listen to Paul who, nearly two
thousand years earlier, wisely asserted: "Each of you must
give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under
compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."
Why? Because glad hearts are also open hearts. Open to give
and open also to receive. Not just a little, but far more
than we could ever imagine. Such is God's not-so-secret
formula; when our hearts are open, what is returned to us is
always far greater than anything we have chosen to give.
As we join together in presenting to God our promises of
giving for the coming year, let us remember, indeed, let us
rejoice: We are free to be generous because God is our
source and our sustainer! God supplies and multiplies every
good gift.
Let us remember. Let us rejoice. In our giving today, let us
open our hearts and ready ourselves to receive all that God
gives in return. As we give today, let us say the very thing
Paul was inspired to say: "Thanks be to God for his
indescribable gift!"
Let us pray:
Gracious God, Generous God, thank you. Thank you for all
that you have given us. Thank you for inspiring us to give
not out of fear or scarcity but out of joy and abundance.
Thank you for supplying us with brothers and sisters, so
that as we work together our joy is multiplied. We open our
hearts today to receive your multitude of blessings. Amen.
© Rev. Karen Winkel
United Church of Paducah (UCC) |
"Never place a period where God has placed a comma." - Gracie
Allen
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