THE SPIRIT OF GIVING

The Spirit of Giving

When you generously give the gift of giving,

And expect nothing in return,

You’re not doing business,

But spreading Christmas joy at every turn.

And when we leave this world ,

For a better home some day,

Some of the things we’ll take with us,

Are joyful memories of things we gave away.

—Inspiration from The Christmas Coat

 

CHRISTMAS RED KETTLE ADVENTURES

Red Kettle, Jamestown, NC

There are now over one million charitable organizations in this country and it seems most of them have my telephone number soliciting donations.  But there’s a wide disparity in how much of the money they raise actually goes to the intended recipients that are in need.  The Salvation Army is one of those which does a good job and consequently our adult Sunday School class volunteers to ring the red kettle bells every year outside a local grocery store.  This Saturday was our day to ring and I had volunteered to take the last shift after sunset so that I could experience the rapidly dropping December temperatures and see that the gathered monies were securely placed in an official truck.  I always depart the scene after removing my red apron with the sound of that signature and sometimes insidious little bell ringing in my head for days, however!

No matter what the experience, I enjoy observing human behavior and the species never disappoints.  It always restores my faith when I see a loving mother guiding her child to the red kettle with a coin in hand and a smile on both of their faces as the child places their donation into the kettle slot.  I suspect that there are some that will actually be the recipients of this bounty on Christmas day.  Then there are those who purposely will not make eye contact as they rush past the kettle into the sanctuary of the store.  A young lady asked if I was cold as she donated a bill and I replied that “watching folks like her give to others always warms my heart.”  She gave me a hug. 

One man with his wife approached me and asked if I would give him a receipt if he wrote a check.  I assured him that a copy of the cancelled check from his bank would suffice, so he considered it and then put a check of an unknown amount into the red kettle.  Another fellow walked past with a container in hand, hesitated, and then returned.  He stated that he was bringing all of his loose change to the store to run through a coin machine, but instead decided to funnel all of it into my red kettle, which must have added a couple of pounds to the mother lode.  The coins actually helped to compress down all of the bills at this late hour of the day.  No matter how much money was donated, however, I always watched people walk away from the little magic red kettle with an elevated spirit and an extra lift in their step as I wished them a Merry Christmas, raising my spirit as well.

As my shift was nearing the bewitching hour, a dark BMW sedan driven by a middle age woman pulled up in the fire lane and blocked me and my red kettle from the parking lot.  I had witnessed this at the other end of the store as folks had a spouse roll out the door and load groceries instead of simply wheeling them out into the lot.  I probably shouldn’t have been making a snap judgement, especially these days, but I was getting a bit irritated with the woman as I assumed her husband would soon roll out and further block my sacrosanct space.  Then she exited the car, walked up to me, stuffed a wad of bills into the little red kettle and drove off as I meekly wished her a Merry Christmas and softly whispered about twenty-five hail Mary’s in repentance, even though I’m not Catholic.          

SHIPS IN THE NIGHT

Overcast Fall Morning, Jamestown, NC

Outreach Center, Jamestown, NC

As we turn the calendar over to November, or swipe our touch screens, there is now a chill in the air as scarlet and yellow leaves gently glide down in slow death spirals around us.  The changing seasons are always a good time of renewal and preparation for new beginnings.  It’s a great time to go through the clothes closet and weed out those items that you haven’t worn this past season or probably for the past year or two.  And a thrift center is the perfect place to take them so that someone else can benefit from the bargain prices.

I burned some quality closet time this morning and filled a large plastic bag with polos and t-shirts.  Then I dropped it off at our local church thrift store.  All of this rather mundane activity left me with a warm feeling of giving back to help total strangers in their life struggles.

As I exited the thrift center to my car, I passed a man very close to my age and appearance walking out to his weathered truck with a small bag of clothing.  It was a scene from the perspective of a casual observer of two similar ships passing in the night.  One was giving and the other was receiving.  If that observer had caught us in the middle of the parking lot, only the shopping bag might have revealed the receiver and from all appearances, both strangers could have been brothers. 

Of course, we are brothers in the broader sense and hopefully the experience was equally satisfying to both of us.   

CANDLE IN THE WIND

Spirit Flame, Jamestown, NC

Taking, Giving

Blowing out someone's candle doesn't make yours any brighter.

In fact, lighting a thousand other candles doesn't diminish it either.

THE GIFT OF GIVING

Anyway, Mother Teresa

The time was 1897, not all that long removed from the devastating War Between the States. It was a time when hope and faith were waning in this country as a minister’s son, Francis Church, was still reassembling his life as a war correspondent at the New York Sun newspaper. With the Christmas season on the horizon, his editor handed Francis a letter from a young eight year old girl named Virginia O’Hanlon questioning if there is a Santa Claus. His reply remains the most memorable in editorial history as Francis drew deep into the depths of his faith to find a suitable reply that resonates with people even today. He wrote that he exists “as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy…Ah Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding”.

We too can find the lasting joy in giving to make a difference in people’s lives. It’s a relative bargain compared to the money people spend on pursuing the fleeting happiness found in material things. And that’s the true power of giving—when the gift is given with love, generosity and devotion it is returned tenfold in the form of blessings of lasting joy and an enriched life. Jesus taught us in John 8:12 that He is the Light of the World and if we follow Him, we won’t have to walk in darkness, because we will have the ultimate gift of light that leads to life!

GIVING BACK

Divine Light, Jamestown, NC

I lost my mother and then my wife in the span of six months five years ago. A person could be very bitter and angry after experiencing such a loss. But the love and outpouring of support my family received from our Jamestown church family sustained us, along with the Easter hope in Jesus’s resurrection that we will all meet again in a beautiful forever. It’s a belief that is reinforced every Sunday and one that I would like as many others as possible to know. I understand that we all share a common destiny, but the Bible has taught me that once we depart this mortal life, those who believe in Christ’s salvation and the unconditional love of our God need only look to the cross for affirmation of His promise for an eternal spiritual life in His presence. In the meantime, Jesus left us with three years of teachings on how to live our lives and a model of the God who created us in His image. He distilled all the commandments into five simple words; “Love God and love others”. As a body of Christ, we have lots of opportunities to learn about this and to do this every day of the year, as the Light of God’s grace is generally dispensed through other human beings like us these days.

Our commitment pledge cards enable all of us to stop for a moment and evaluate our giving, what it means, and how much it should be for the coming year. It gives our church leaders a much better picture of how we should plan our ministry for the coming year based on our members’ giving plans and not guesswork. Our financial commitment to God is both a reflection of our faith and a critical part of what makes it possible to shine Light into the dark corners of people’s hearts.

CAUTIONARY TALES

Dallas, Chicago, IL

A cautionary tale is a story which contains a warning. Humanity has used such stories since Adam and Eve were driven out of the Garden of Eden to drive home lessons learned in an impactful way so that the point is never missed. They teach survival lessons. Generally, there’s a threat, taboo or prohibition, a narrative that includes a violation, and finally the violator comes to an attention getting fate that won’t soon be forgotten.

Recent events in Steubenville, Ohio have been characterized as a modern day cautionary tale. Graphic tweets and photos essentially self-convicted two starting ex-high school football players. They could be incarcerated until they turn twenty one years old. Modern technology hasn’t altered human behavior, but social media is now an effective accelerant. Social media was characterized as the oxygen that fueled the fires of the recent Arab spring. In this case, old fashioned stupidity and lack of moral character became immortal as fast as you can hit “post”! The new technology has exposed politicians such as ex-Representative Anthony Weiner who exposed himself. An ex-cast member of The TV series Glee tweeted some plot spoilers prior to airing. Her producer responded with a tweet that hoped she was qualified to work in something besides entertainment.

Not surprisingly, cautionary tales are scattered throughout the Bible. One that immediately comes to mind is the story of the rich man and Lazarus. Jesus is making the point that blessings of wealth are not proof of a person’s righteousness if those blessings are not shared with those less fortunate. The rich man exquisitely lived and dined, while the beggar Lazarus lay at his gate without aid or compassion. They both die and the rich man finds himself in hell while a great chasm separates him from Lazarus who is now with Father Abraham in heaven. The gift of wealth did not condemn the rich man, but rather his selfishness and hardhearted refusal to use it for good condemned him.

KNOCKING HOLES IN THE DARKNESS

Sunrise, Wrightsville Beach, NC

Young Robert Lewis Stevenson was watching a lamp lighter at the turn of the century lighting the gas lamps in his neighborhood. When young Robert’s father asked what he was finding so fascinating that evening, he innocently replied, “Daddy, I’m watching a man knock holes in the darkness”! And there’s a lot of darkness in this world.

The Lord asks Satan where he has been when angels gather in the first chapter of Job. He replies that he has been roaming the earth and then is given permission to tempt Job. Satan shows his powers over this world then as well as when he later tempts Jesus, the Light of the World, in the wilderness before his ministry begins. The Prince of Darkness provides many opportunities for us human beings to exercise the dark side of our free will or choose to resist it. It’s interesting to consider that darkness represents the absence of light. Other worldly examples include cold as the absence of heat, death as the absence of life, and evil as the absence of God’s love in men’s hearts. These concepts are most apparent when we reflect on what is missing.

The Bible is infused with passages referring to God and His Son as light. Isaiah promises that the Lord shall be our everlasting light. The Psalmist tells us that His word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. We shall see light in His light. There are even more references to Jesus in the New Testament as the light of life, the light of the world, the light of men and the true light. We humans are considered the children of light and the light of our bodies is the eye. When Jesus was transfigured his face shined like the sun and his raiment was white as the light. Jesus promises that He has come as a light into the world and whoever believes in him will not abide in darkness. And Revelation reveals that the new earth and heaven will have no night and therefore no need of a candle or the sun and moon to shine in it for the glory of God will lighten it and the Lamb will be the light thereof.

When we do what is right in loving others and humbly loving our God, we are also growing our character and spirit during our time here on earth and in preparation for our eternal destiny. We do this by volunteering our time, sharing our God-given talents and giving back what we cannot keep so that others might have what we cannot lose. We do this by being a light upon a hill sending sunbeams of grace to knock holes in the darkness. And we do this by following Jesus’ teaching to spread that Light of Life out into the world so that we and others will not walk in darkness, but walk along a straight path in the eternal Light of our Heavenly Father. And as the Son reflects His Heavenly Father’s Light and the moon reflects the sun’s light, the Light of giving has a way of circling back to bless the lives of those who honor their God by their commitment and their actions.

DRIVE BY COMPASSION

Christmas Streets, Kansas City,MO
Panhandling on the Street, Chicago, IL

It’s the holiday season once again and most folks are generally in a holiday mood. My adult Sunday class recently spent time ringing Salvation Army bells around one of those ubiquitous red kettles that sprout up all around the city at this time of the year. And it was a great way to start the holiday season to once again be part of an effort to facilitate the generous outpouring of my fellow citizens to give a helping hand to those less fortunate. It’s especially gratifying to watch proud parents stand aside while young children joyously place coins in the kettle.

The experience of our class members prompted a discussion last year about not being able to ignore the folks standing on street corners and medians with handmade signs asking for money as we drive by them. Some of them expressed feelings of guilt if they didn’t give the person something. And I suppose we all really have to quickly assess each circumstance to attempt a good decision because unfortunately, many street people are afflicted by addictions or mental illness. In many cases, giving money on the street only enables the person to continue their self-destructive behavior. This situation was amplified recently with the much publicized photo of the New York City police officer buying a pair of socks and boots for a barefoot man on the street. Reporters soon found that the man had a government subsidized apartment in the Bronx and spotted him soon afterwards back on the street walking barefoot and panhandling.

Sad to say, but it would seem that when we’re confronted with these situations, it might just be in the best interest of all to reconsider a direct donation to these people on the street. That “drive by compassion” may provide us with a short term feel good fix, but it doesn’t provide the recipient with any sort of long term quality of life. It just extends their life on the street for another day. Rather, when we’re confronted with this situation, a donation to a local shelter or a low overhead organization like the Salvation Army might be the best use of our hard earned money. These groups can assess situations and provide basic needs of food and shelter and even counseling for constructive change and hope for the future, rather than enabling a hopeless life on the streets which I don’t believe any of us would consciously finance. Loving our fellow man sometimes requires a form of tough love instead of a "drive by compassion" which doesn’t help anyone.

THE SPIRIT OF GIVING

Christmas Snow, Jamestown, NC

The time was 1897, not all that long removed from the horrendous War Between the States. It was a time when hope and faith were waning in the country as men like Francis Church, the son of a Baptist minister who had covered the war as a correspondent, were still reassembling their lives and outlook. Church now worked the editorial desk at The New York Sun and found himself to be the dubious recipient of a short but direct letter from a young eight year old girl named Virginia O’Hanlon. When other children had challenged her belief in Santa Claus, her father had delicately sidestepped the subject by encouraging her to write to the last word in their household—The Sun. Church’s now famous editorial reply was titled “Is There a Santa Claus?” after Virginia’s closing question to the newspaper. But it was his opening sentence of the second paragraph of the now most memorable editorial in newspaper history that everyone remembers; “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy…Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding”.

A recent study found that if two groups of people were given a fixed amount of money and asked to either spend it on themselves or someone else, the ones who gave their money to others reported a significant uptick in mood compared to the other group. It came as no great surprise to find that there is a lasting joy to be had in giving to help others and that it’s a relative bargain compared to the money people spend on pursuing happiness. That spirit of giving, personified in a rotund bearded man in a red suit, is still alive and well and was the message that has resounded in the hearts of folks ever since the first edition of Church’s reply to Virginia was published over one hundred years ago around Christmas time. And that’s the true power of giving--when the gift is given with love, generosity and devotion it is returned tenfold in the form of blessings of lasting joy and an enriched life.

"Freely you have received, freely give".--Jesus, Matthew 10:8

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

MAY THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS ABIDE WITH YOU ALL THROUGH THE NEW YEAR!