Learning To Give God's Way

L ife is gift from God.  Each of us was born with unique gifts and talents.  Each of us has a purpose in life.  Discovering our purpose in life and spending our time, energy, and talent toward that purpose leads to fulfillment.  The more we fulfill our purpose in life the more we are blessed.  Think if you will of a composer of music.  The more wonderful music he writes, the more his music is recognized and performed, the more satisfaction he experiences.  The same is true of builders.  When an engineer builds a bridge and has the opportunity to see cars filled with people traveling across it, something deep inside him takes delight.

We fulfill our purpose in life by using our gifts, developing them fully, and by sharing them with others.  For most of us this is counter-intuitive.  There is a part of each of us that wants to hold on to what we have.  There is a strong unconscious impulse to try to accumulate and keep as much as we possibly can.  This impulse comes from our instinct of self-preservation.  We get hungry and we don't want to run out food.  In nature there are times of scarcity, and the impulse to save is not only useful, but essential for the preservation of life.  But if we hold on too long to too many things, we risk missing the joy of fulfilling our true purpose in life.  And because life is short, ultimately our possessions can never save us.

Again and again using different words and images Jesus taught the great principle that if we try to hold on to things, we will ultimately lose them.  He said, "If you try to save your life you will lose it, but if you lose your life for my sake you will find it."  Putting it more affirmatively, Jesus said that if you give of yourself, you will find true fulfillment.  St. Francis of Assisi discovered this and put it this way.  He said, "It is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, it is in dying that we are born to eternal life."

Here at St. James, especially during the last 16 months, we've explored being purpose-driven, realized new insights about the "Jesus we never knew," and gone on retreat together to grow closer.  In this spirit of growth and discovery and in this season of stewardship, we are taking a different approach to stewardship this year and have asked the Rt. Rev. Richard Grein, the retired Bishop of New York, to assist us in our Stewardship Campaign.  Bishop Grein has a great deal of experience in the field of stewardship, first as a parish priest and then as a bishop.  He successfully reorganized the Diocese of New York and founded Episcopal Charities.  Bishop Grein has chosen our Stewardship theme this year: "The measure you give will the be the measure you get back."  It is based on the words of Jesus,

"Give and it will be given to you; in good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, it will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back." (Luke 6:38)

The story of Creation in Genesis says that each of us is created "in the image of God".  God has created you as a unique individual with gifts and talents, and with a purpose for your lives.  God is the giver and he gives in love.  He wants you to be a giver, like him.  Join us at St. James with Bishop Grein, who will be visiting us, in the weeks ahead as we explore the meaning of giving.  Let us learn to give in the way that God created us to give.