March 18, 2023 — The Doors of Generosity

“He (Jesus) looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury; he also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. He said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them, for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.” Luke 21:1-4

 “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)

“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?”

Let us pray: Dear G-d, generosity does not come easily when there is so much I want or need. Help me to see life through the lens of faith – through the generosity of your blessings toward me and the world – and help me to share with my neighbors from those blessings. Amen.

Pastor Dave