I want to talk honestly and candidly with you this evening. That is a chance I am willing to take because all of you are my friends and if I can’t tell you exactly how I feel then who else will listen or care.
Not long ago my sixth grandchild, Sarah Frances, was born. Although I have three children and five other grandchildren, I had forgotten how small, fragile and dependent a baby really is. My hope is that I can give this wonderful child everything she needs from me.
I’ll give her gifts! I’ll sing to her! I’ll bounce her on my knee and tell her stories! I’ll watch her grow and learn and tell her story! I’ll hold her in my arms and protect her from all danger! I’ll love her! What more must I give her?
But then it struck me that she has already been given the most precious gift one can ever imagine. That gift is the same gift every person on this earth has been given. That gift is life itself and the power to become a child of God.
I believe that before time and deep down in our very nature, God gave each of us a living spark of the divine when He created us in his image. At creation all of us were chosen to live a life of sacrificial loving service in harmony with all of His glorious creation.
I believe that in the beginning, that spark made it possible for us to know ourselves and to know God. Throughout history, that spark has been fanned to flame by those who have chosen that life of sacrificial loving service.
Moses sees it burst into flame in a bush. The chosen see it in a pillar of fire. Sophia fans it to a blaze in the streets. The exile keeps the ember of Zion glowing. John the Baptist shouts about the spark in the wilderness!
Then Jesus is born and we now can see plainly the spark impeccably reflected in a life of perfect loving service and sacrifice.
Now the question becomes what do we do with our gift?
I believe that generosity is a human quality that provides a solid foundation for mindful and purposeful living. See if you can get in touch with that living spark of the divine at your core that is rich beyond measure in all-important ways. Let that spark start radiating its energy outwardly, through your entire body, and beyond.
Try giving away this energy---in little ways at first--- directing it toward those closest to you and then toward all others with no thought of gain or return. Give more than you think you can, trusting that you are richer than you think. Celebrate this richness. Give as if you had inexhaustible resources. This kind of generosity is called Kingly Giving.
Kingly Giving does not refer solely to money or material possessions, although it can be wonderfully life enhancing, uplifting and truly helpful to share our material wealth with others. Rather what is being suggested here is, that you practice sharing your spark of the divine, your best self, your enthusiasm, your vitality, your spirit, your trust, your openness, and above all your presence. Share the spark with yourself, with your family, with Home Moravian Church, and with the world.
Home Moravian Church exists as the result of the life and ministry of Jesus. His example is ours to follow. Our choice is crucial. Jesus said that in order to live our lives to the fullest we must be willing to give our lives lovingly for our brothers and sisters in their time of greatest need.
That is why this stewardship campaign is more important than any of us realize. I believe that for too long we Christians have avoided that life of sacrificial loving service because the demands of that kind of living are just too hard for us to accept.
Maybe just maybe, through Kingdom Giving, we at Home Church can begin to teach a whole generation to give of themselves so that others might live.
I know it is hard for us to share this much of ourselves with the rest of the world. But I also know that it is up to us to initiate this practice of Kingly Giving. If we give it a chance we may find that we gain a greater clarity about ourselves and about our relationships, as well as more energy rather than less.
We may find that, rather than exhausting ourselves, or our resources, we may actually replenish them in extraordinary ways. Such is the power of the spark of the divine as expressed through Kingly Giving!
Because at the deepest level there is no giver, no gift, and no recipient…there is only that part of the Kingdom of God that is reflected by your life, by my life, by the life of my granddaughter, Sarah Frances, and by the lives of every person on the face of the earth.
Listen. Listen. Could that be the sound of the universe rearranging itself because Home Moravian Church did the Kingly thing?
Roma Combs, October 2006
