HILARITY OF GIVING
A meditation by the Rev. Dr. James G. Kirk
Harundale Presbyterian Church
Text: “God loves a cheerful giver.”
First
Second
You sit down to write a check to your favorite charity. You smile to yourself. As you write out the amount your smile turns to a laugh. By the time you sign your name your hilarious with happiness, happiness that God is pleased with your stewardship, happiness that the donor will use your gift to do such good things, happiness that you’ve been blessed with the where with all to make such a gift, happiness that you’re doing something with God’s blessings for someone or something other than your own use. Sound like a fantasy? Doesn’t have to!
When Paul wrote to the Corinthian church he probably made what amounted to the first church-wide financial appeal. As good fund raisers do he had sent ahead of him an advance party to prepare them for the “bountiful gift” they were going to make to ease the burden of churches in need. He probably didn’t want to be embarrassed by any lesser amount they might be thinking, so he makes sure they understand how God has blessed them abundantly, “so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.”
We then
come to the phrase which highlights the meditation this morning, “for God loves
a cheerful giver.” You’ve probably heard
that phrase numerous times during your tenure in the church, so much so that
it’s become somewhat of a catch phrase during stewardship time. The problem is that the English translation
is a poor one, in so far as it doesn’t do justice to the Greek. The Greek adjective we translate as
“cheerful” is actually “hilaron,” from which we get hilarious. Now I dare say that not many of us have
become hilarious when pledging to the church, but that’s what Paul
intends. The chairman of my first
stewardship campaign in
It’s
probably true to say that many of us feel good when we really help
someone. It was true for Jeff
Feinberg. “On a flight from
“She led him to a young woman in the rear of the aircraft who was sobbing and bright red from fever, a result of ingesting a dangerous combination of wine and several 500 milligram capsules of cold medicine that she had removed from their protective coating in a misguided attempt to alleviate flu-like symptoms. With the woman’s vital signs weak and her condition deteriorating, he was asked to go to the cockpit to talk by radio with the airline’s chief medical officer in the United States. He sat on the jump seat, put on the headset and explained the situation to him. ‘What do you think we should do?’ the chief medical officer asked him.’ He explained that he was not a doctor. ‘Well, what would you do?’ he asked again. He said that he would get her to a hospital as soon as possible and have her stomach pumped. ‘O.K,’ he replied. ‘Tell the captain to land the plane.’
“He thought to himself who was he to tell the Captain to land the airplane, but he did as he was told. The pilot complied. He instructed the first officer to identify nearby airports and gauge their quality as landing sites. Within seconds, ‘Halifax’ appeared on the computer screen, the closest location by far, but among the least desirable for landing a jumbo jet. ‘What does a ‘D’ rating mean?’ he asked the pilot. It meant that the runway was really short, or non-existent. The pilot informed the passengers of the imminent emergency landing and gave strict instructions to buckle up, as it was going to be a ‘little’ rough. He checked on the woman again, then returned to the cockpit. He buckled his seat belt, and the pilot leaned over and attached a shoulder strap to him, pinning him against the wall.
“With good reason. When the plane hit the ground and the pilot slammed on the brakes, he thought his spleen was going to come out of his mouth. He could only imagine what the passengers in the back of the plane were feeling. The plane stopped at the tip of the runway, with water just a few feet ahead of its nose. An ambulance and a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in full uniform and on horseback greeted the plane and he escorted the passenger off the aircraft and into the care of a Canadian E.M.T. Back on board, the pilot thanked him and upgraded him to first class, not just for that flight but any time in the coming year…
“After a hair-raising takeoff and a meal, the plane finally touched down at Kennedy Airport. Three days later, he was back at J.F.K for another trip to London. As soon as he gave his name, an attendant approached him, took his bags, led him through security and into the first-class lounge, where he waited to board. His seat was 1A.” (The New York Times, Tuesday, September 28, 2004, page C9)
As we begin our annual stewardship, it’s time all of us did what Jeff Feinberg did, step up where a need exists and give of ourselves with the graceful abundance God has given us. And who knows, we may find ourselves travelling in first-class company. At the least, hopefully as we make our pledges for the next year it’ll put a smile on your face!
Thanks be to God,
Amen