Foothills Congregational Church The Rev. W. Matthew Broadbent

United Church of Christ Stewardship Sunday

461 Orange Ave., Los Altos 94022 November 18, 2007

THE RIVER OF GIVING

2 Corinthians 9:6-15

There are two seas in Palestine. One is fresh and full of fish. Animals drink their fill from it; trees spread their branches over its shores, birds build their nests near it and people their houses.

Jesus loved this sea. He spent his early ministry around it. He called four of his disciples as he walked along its shores. He spoke his parables from fishing boats with fresh breezes at his back to those who gathered along its sandy banks.

The River Jordan makes the Sea of Galilee with sparkling water from the mountains to the north. Then the River Jordan flows south through a portion of the Great Rift Valley, through the ancient town of Jericho and into the desert where it becomes little more than a small stream until it empties into another sea. Here there is no splash of fish, no fluttering leaf, no song of birds, no children’s laughter. The air hangs heavy above its water, an d neither human, nor beast nor bird will drink from it.

What makes the difference, in these neighboring seas, that are fed by the same river? This is the difference. The Sea of Galilee receives but does not keep the Jordan. For every drop that flows into it another drop flows out. The giving and receiving go in equal measure.

The other sea is shrewder, hoarding its income jealously. It will not be impoverished by any generous impulse. Every drop it gets, it keeps. So, it is not refreshed by the river, and its waters are briny and bitter because of it.

The Sea of Galilee gives and lives. This other sea gives nothing. It is called the Dead Sea.

There are two kinds of people in the world. There are two seas in Palestine. (adapted from a piece by Gayle D. Erwin).

This reminded me of something I read about John D. Rockefeller, the powerful oil baron. He started out as a son of a peddler, was a millionaire by the age of 23, and the richest man in the world by the age of 50. When he was 53, he became sick with a mysterious disease that even the best doctors could not diagnose. His hair and eyelashes fell out. The only thing he could eat was milk and crackers. He never smiled. He couldn’t sleep. His body shrank until he began to look like a corpse. And at the beginning of his 54^th year, his doctors told him he had less than a year to live. In the middle of another sleepless night, Jesus’ words came to John D. Rockefeller with a power and urgency he had never experienced: Do not store up for yourself treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven… For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matthew 5:19-21).

Five hours later, Rockefeller climbed out of bed with a new direction in his life. He was now determined, over whatever time might remain, to work as hard at giving his money away as he’d previously spent at accumulating it.

Some of us are here, alive today, because of the development of penicillin and cures for malaria, diphtheria, and TB that Rockefeller research grants made possible. Actually, it is estimated that 500 million people in the world owe their very lives to this man’s generosity.

But the most remarkable cure of all was Rockefeller’s own. Within six months of Rockefeller’s decision to devote his life to sharing money instead of hoarding it, he reported to his amazed physicians that he’d never felt better in his entire life. All his symptoms had disappeared. John D. Rockefeller went on to live another 44 years, and finally died in 1939 at the age of 98, having given away over $500 million for the good of others.

Like the Sea of Galilee, we were made for the river of God’s blessings to flow, not just to us, but through us.

Today as you consider your pledge to the life of this church consider the opportunity to channel the flow of God’s gifts of time and talent and treasure into things that give life to the world, and therefore give life to your soul.

There is another lesson we can receive in this metaphor of the two seas that is important for us to consider. The Sea of Galilee is a vibrant, life-giving body of water, not only because it gives away all the water it receives, but also because it keeps receiving as much water as it gives away. This seems almost too obvious to even say. But the truth is, for every John D. Rockefeller either hoarding or joyfully sharing their blessings, there are also many John and Jane Does frantically running around trying to meet the obligations of children, parents, friendships, school, church, and community, and feeling as drained and dry as the wilderness south of Jericho.

This is why when you open your Stewardship letter there are two cards: one for your estimate of giving, and another for your expression of thanksgiving. On your thanksgiving cards there are two responses: I am thankful for… , and This is how Foothills could better serve our congregation and community… I encourage you to take that card as seriously as your pledge card. I don’t want to ask you what you can do for your church without asking what your church can do for you. What can this church do to nurture and strengthen that most precious, eternal and divine part of you which you call your soul? What can it do to help you find wholeness in those parts of you that are wounded or shriveled or out of balance? What can it do to help you develop the attitudes that create spiritual growth – honesty, humility, gratitude, forgiveness, trust, and compassion? What can it do to help you unwrap and develop the gifts God gave you, and help you discover your life purpose and your call to ministry?

It seems like everything in the world conspires to keep us from letting those waters of life flow through our parched lives. There are so many sticks and logs that clog the stream and constrict the flow. There are so many voices cajoling us to chase after mirages in the desert rather than tend the stream that feeds our souls. So what can the church do for you to keep the river flowing into your soul as well as through your soul? And how can we, together, create a church that is coursing with God’s gracious, healing, freeing, compassionate, empowering presence?

Now we enter into the mystery of this river that runs through our lives. In our scripture lesson this morning, Paul said, “The one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully… And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.”

The mysterious truth of it is, you can’t really separate giving and receiving. You can separate giving and taking. But giving and receiving are as inseparable as the water that flows into the Sea of Galilee and the water that flows out of it. It’s the same water.

We take and we hoard because we fear that we will lack something. I try to clean out my closets, or my garage, or my office, and I think – “You know, I may need that scrap of paper some day?” Or, “That book had a good illustration in it?” And “I like the way thick books look on my shelf.” I have boxes of tools I will never use – but I am afraid that, someday, I might. And if I let them go, then, for sure, there will be a project where that precise tool is what I need.

It is not the lack of something that impoverishes us. It is the fear of the lack of something that diminishes our lives. There are many people around the world who have far less than what is in my garage and are perfectly happy. Whose life is more impoverished – the person living in a dry land who has gone to great expense to dig a deep well and who won’t let anyone have the water for fear it might run dry, or the one who shares their last flask of water with a friend on a hot day? Which one is living with a sense of abundance?

It is not the volume of water or life’s gifts that we hoard that enriches us. The deadness of the Dead Sea and the illness of John D. Rockefeller attest to that. It is the sense of water flowing through us that enriches us, and revives us and gives us life. We can stop that flow at either end – by taking without giving, or by giving without receiving – but that brings dire consequences. It is like breathing. You can’t just breathe in - you will explode. You can’t just breathe out - you will expire. You have to do both to live – breathe, in and out - deeply, fully, from the gut. When we attend to the whole process of breathing, of flowing with the river of giving and receiving we will experience, the abundance of what Jesus promised us when he said, Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get (Luke 6:38-30).

So, there are two seas in Palestine. I suppose each one has its place in the ecological balance of the area, but I don’t think I want to suggest that we model this church after the Dead Sea, which is dead because it takes all its water and keeps it for itself –there is no outlet, no outreach. The Sea of Galilee is more appealing. It is a source of sustenance for many life forms because a river runs through it, a river of giving.

A river of life, of grace, of generosity, of love can run through us, too. May we discover its abundance as we receive and give, receive and give. Amen.