March 30, 2017
Lenten Devotions – The Doors of Generosity

The Doors of Generosity
“I am sure that you come across opportunities to be generous almost every day, and if you fail to respond to those opportunities, who knows what rivers will not flow, what great ministries will never come to birth, what mighty things will not get done? God has opened the door of generosity to you; don’t fail to open up the doors of generosity to others. – Selwyn Hughes (1928-2006)

Daily we receive from God in great abundance. It comes to us as pure gift, apart from what do or what we might sense we deserve. This is God’s heart – to give everyday all that is needed and even more. Since we receive and continue to receive, we are set in a position to reflect God, the giver of all good gifts, to the world around us. As we give to God it speaks for other to see that God is good, generous and provides beyond our hopes or expectations. Thanking God is appropriate and what we do. It is a regular part of daily life for a Christian.” (Lenten Devotional Stewardship Principles, We walk together as stewards in God’s church, ELCA, 2012, March 13)

“If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up till he sees all things thro’ narrow chinks of his cavern.” (William Blake (1757-1827), The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, circa 1790)

What are the doors of our perception? I would say that we see through glasses thick with the lenses of experiences we think are formative. But what do we really perceive if we choose only to gaze upon the trees that adorn our own yard or country church graveyard? We may think we are generous when we give ten dollars to the woman who asks us for some money to ride the bus – and pat ourselves on the back as we ride home in our Mercedes.

G-d opens doors of opportunities to each one of us throughout our lives – many, many doors. I believe in fact that the doors of opportunities act similarly to a revolving door – again, and again, and again we have opportunities to be generous opened to us. If we choose to ignore them, we may see little difference as we maneuver from building to building, shop to shop, church to church. But when we finally choose to walk through one, using Selwyn Hughes’ own words, “…who knows what rivers will…flow, what great ministries will…come to birth, what mighty things will…get done?”

This week please collect a tube of toothpaste each day for Trinity’s Table and bring them into church on Sunday April 2.

Pastor Dave