WHERE LOVE MEETS
Deuteronomy 15:1-11
Mark 12:41-44

"How did God decide where to put the Temple in Jerusalem?"  The Jews have a beautiful story to answer that question.  Two brothers were partners in a grinding mill in Jerusalem.  At the end of each day, they took the grain they had milled and divided it equally into separate sacks.  One night the bachelor brother thought, "This is not right.  I am alone and don't need much, but my brother has a wife and family.  He deserves the larger share."  So, sneaking back to the mill each night, he took part of his share and poured it into his brother's sack.

The married brother also thought one night, "This is not right.  When I am old, I will have children to support me, but my brother will be all alone.  He deserves the larger share."  So, sneaking back to the mill each night, he took part of his share and poured it into his brother's sack.  They thought it a miracle to find their sacks refilled each morning.

One night, however, the brothers left home at the same time to sneak back to the mill, and by coincidence, met on the streets with their sacks in hand.  Instantly, they knew what was happening and fell into each other's arms weeping.  According to the Jewish story, God looked down on the scene and said, "Here is where love meets.  Here is where I will build my Temple."
The Scripture passage read from Mark’s Gospel a few minutes earlier tells a story with which we are quite familiar.  With a play on words we could say that the story of the widow's mite and her attitude calls attention to our attitude in giving.  Like the widow our giving is measured by might, we might give and we might not.  What Jesus makes abundantly clear in his comments about this woman's gift is that the attitude in giving rather than the amount of the gift discloses the most about the giver and is most essential if we are to be anything like God in our giving. 
        
Jesus sat outside that temple one day and saw a gift of love being made by a poor widow--a gift of love to God.  Within the temple enclosure, but outside the building proper, there were 13 offering boxes.  According to Mark's Gospel, Jesus apparently sat for a while watching people come up to these boxes and leave their offering.  What if we were to receive the offering like that?  We could have our eight offering plates placed here on the Table and we could bring our offering and put it in the plate.  And we could have someone sitting next to the table watching the whole process, observing how much we put in.  How about it?  Should we ask the Stewardship Board to consider doing this? Just this week I heard about a congregation in the Bahamas that does just that.  When the offering is received, everyone in the congregation files past the offering plates.  An appointed leader in the congregation watches as people give their gifts and calls out, “Sister Josie gave $5.  Brother Joe gave nothing.”   

As Jesus watched, and as Mark tells the story, "Many rich people put in large sums."  The implication, reading between the lines, is that there wasn't much love behind those gifts, even though they were large amounts.  The attitude behind those gifts seems to have been to draw attention to the givers. And they received their reward.  They got attention.

But along came a widow who dropped in two copper coins, the smallest value of the Greek-Syrian monetary system, and the equivalent of about a penny.  And the clanging of those two tiny pieces of copper as they fell into the coffers of the Temple reverberated around the world.  Why?  Because when that widow's thin, frail hand released those two tiny coins, her love met God's love and Jesus said, ". . .this poor widow had put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury."  With that statement Jesus shifted the entire enterprise of gift giving from amount to attitude.  Thus began the concept of proportionate giving.  Our giving is to be in proportion to what we have received. I’m always surprised by those who indicate they have received nothing or next to nothing. Jesus said that what made the woman's gift so significant, worth so much, was what was behind her gift.  "For they all contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, her whole living."  Her gift had a great cost behind it.

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, "The only gift is a portion of thyself.  A poet brings his poems; the farmer his corn; the miner his gem."  We could add a teacher gives his teaching, a preacher her preaching, the student her studying, the parent his parenting.  Emerson is right.  That's the only gift there is, a gift that is a portion of oneself.

How are we giving a part of ourselves when you give our offerings?  How are we giving a part of ourselves as we think about the ministry and service of this congregation and the financial commitment and contribution we will make to support the ministry of this congregation during the next year?  What is the amount of our contribution and commitment?  What is the attitude behind that amount?  Of course God knows our attitudes in giving, and so do others because the attitude permeates how we interact and relate to others.  The attitude comes through the type and tone of the questions we raise about the life and ministry of the church.  The attitude is evident through the way we participate in the ministry of the congregation.  If our attitude is that somehow all that we have God has given us, then there is a sense of freedom and gratitude in our giving that makes our giving an act of worship.  If our attitude is that what we have is ours, we've worked hard to earn it, and nobody is going to take it away from us, then our attitude tends to be drudgery rather than generosity.  There is nothing freeing or worshipful in what we give or the way we give if the attitude of resentment or drudgery is behind our giving. 
As we give our offerings, as we make a promise about what we will give through the church during the next year, the basic question we need to ask is, "What is behind my offering and my promise?"  The issue is not the amount but the attitude.  In light of our standard of living, everyone of us from the youngest child to the most senior adult on the bleakest fixed income can give a larger amount than this widow whom Jesus observed.  But what will be the attitude as you and I give?  Will fear and selfishness dominate our attitude or will our generosity be another time and place where our love and God's love meet?

I wonder if some of those at the temple treasury on that long ago day in Mark’s story gave because they knew Jesus was looking.  And that immediately discounted the gift, because that isn't putting much behind a gift.  The widow probably was unaware there was anyone around; to give as she did--all that she had--would be such a consuming matter with her, that it is doubtful she would have had anything else on her mind.      

There is a range of at least six degrees of giving from number one with one being a person who gives but with bad grace, on down to number six being a person who gives without the beneficiary of the giver knowing who the gift is helping.  Stewardship progresses from the first level to the sixth. I like the way our Stewardship Board has framed our campaign: My Faith, My Church, My Commitment.  Their invitation encourages us to grow toward the sixth degree of stewardship.

The widow who caught Jesus' eye as she was placing her tiny coins in the collection coffers at the Temple had graduated to the sixth level.  She remains nameless, but not unknown, because of her generosity.  Jesus said she had given more than all the others because, out of her poverty, she had given all she had.  Actually, she gave herself.  Giving is an enriching, even euphoric, experience when it is done with an attitude of gratitude and generosity and with the abandon that one doesn't care if credit is received. 

I read about a beautiful ranch lake in Montana that lost its attractive splendor.  The water that had been clear and alluring to animals and people alike became covered with green scum.  The ranch animals lost weight and some of them became ill from drinking the water.  Finally someone came by the lake who understood the problem.  Debris collected from the hard spring rains had stopped up the dam and prevented the free flow of water out of the lake.  The spillway was cleared and soon the lake had clean, fresh water once again.

A pure lake is not one that contains all of its water within, but one where the water flows out through the spillway.  The flow is necessary to keep the water pure.  Human lives are that way too, they are kept pure by flow.  When we try to hoard, to keep for ourselves more than we need, trouble arises, impurities enter and bring sickness and misery.  A constant flow is vital for purity and health.

Luke's Gospel has the most highly developed teachings on material possessions in the New Testament.  Nowhere are the possessions themselves denounced.  What is denounced is the stoppage of material goods in the life of one individual who thinks those goods are his and he does not pass them along.  Nearly every parable or incident follows this same plot.  The Rich Fool thought he could stop the flow and put his wealth in barns and granaries.  In the Parable of Rich Man and the beggar Lazarus, the Rich Man is criticized not for his material abundance but for his callous disregard of the grievous need at his gate as personified in Lazarus.  None of his wealth flowed out through the gate to the beggar.  In the Parable of the Talents, there is the same cash flow problem.  Those who invested--kept the flow going--were commended.  The servant, who hid his money in the ground and thereby stopped the flow, was denounced and lost his money. 

Luke is consistent throughout.  Money is to be used.  That is its purpose and nature.  That is how it is redeemed from its potential danger of distracting from the rule of God in our lives. 
The University of Oregon, in soliciting support from its alumni, shared the following story with them:

When the King of Siam came to the United States for an eye operation several years ago, his surgeon, accustomed to setting prices somewhat by ability to pay, couldn't decide exactly how much to charge His Royal Highness--$1000 to be a good neighbor?  Or $5000 to match his usual fee?  Or $10,000 to prove the operation worth the trip?  After all, a king is a king.

Someone suggested that he check with the king's New York lawyer who might have some thoughts on the matter and so he did.  "No problem," said the lawyer.  "The king is an honorable man.  Like you, he understands value.  Simply send him an invoice with no amount indicated, and then add a handwritten footnote:  `The king can do no wrong.'" 

He did.  Back came a check for $75,000!  The surgeon was overjoyed.  He bought his wife a mink coat, ordered a new Cadillac, and blew the rest on a trip around the world. 

Upon arrival home with flattened wallet but happy and refreshed, he opened his mail.  In it was a bill from the lawyer . . . with no amount indicated, but a handwritten footnote:  "The honorable doctor can do no wrong."

As we make our financial commitment to the church for the coming year, we feel a little like that doctor.  So much value received through the church, but nobody is standing over us telling us how much to give in return.  It comes down to a matter of attitude, and it is the attitude behind our giving that determines the strength of the congregation.  Will our financial commitment express an attitude of fear or ingratitude or an attitude of gratitude and generosity?  If our commitment expresses an attitude of generosity then, "Honorable church members can do no wrong!"

The attitude behind our giving has an impact on others in the attitude and amount of their giving.  When people sense generosity is behind the giving of others, they tend to be more generous.  Generosity can be contagious. When people sense we are all functioning as one body, there is a desire to help make that body function even better.  

Not only what we give, but also the manner in which we give, and the process we go through in giving are part of the attitude behind what we give and what the amount of the gift is.  This point was made for me in a story I read about an African boy who brought a Christmas gift to his teacher, a superb sea shell.  She marveled at its beauty and asked him where he had found it.  He said such shells could only be found at one particular beach, several miles away.  When the teacher responded with, "Oh, you shouldn't have gone so far for a gift for me," the boy said simply, "The long walk was part of the gift."

We may be a bit fearful of developing the right attitude in giving.  We might go great distances as part of the gift to give a gift.  We might become like the widow Jesus observed and give everything.  We prefer to think in terms of amount rather than attitude.  If we think in terms of amount, we can remain in control of things.  Our giving won't get out of hand, and we think we will always have plenty for ourselves.  Our need is not to have plenty, but to become like Esau, who being offered all kinds of bonuses to accept Jacob and do him no harm, said, “I have enough.”  Do you know what liberation will be ours if we have the attitude of enough?  Our mistaken thinking is that if we can determine a set amount to give, then what we give and how we give doesn't have anything to do with how we live or treat others.  But clearly there is a direct correlation between our attitude in giving and the attitude and manner regarding how we interact with people. 

  The eventual result of Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenburg was the Protestant Reformation.  One of Luther's major concerns was the attitude of giving.  He was troubled by the manipulation the church had gotten into in the selling of indulgences.  In one sense, the Protestant Reformation was about people being reformed in their attitude of giving--church leaders needed to be reformed and church members needed to be reformed. 

I am praying that you and I will invite the Spirit of God to reform us and change our emphasis from the amount of the gift to the attitude in giving.  What will be the result of the attitude behind our giving?  Whenever the attitude is right, the amount is generous.  When our attitude in giving is one of generosity, we find ourselves doing things for the benefit of others without calculating the cost to ourselves.  Indeed, this is where love meets. When people are generous with each other, generous in giving, when the attitude of gratitude and generosity motivate us, this is where love meets.  And that is where the temple, the dwelling place of God, is built.