1 John 3:16-24
You’ll know it when you see it. Has anyone said that to you before? Probably one of the most annoying things a person can say to you. Just tell me what to look for! So I’m going to suggest some hints, some clues to look for if you’re interested in finding out what a generous community looks like. The third of our core values, generosity, isn’t a simple thing to define. And you probably will know it when you see it. But in our reading from 1 John, we find a wonderful summary of what is at the heart of generosity, simple words that can give you plenty to think about. This is what he says: Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. And so I come to a simple definition of generosity: love in action.
I really like this because it starts with the virtue of love. So often when we think about generosity our default way of thinking is money. To be generous is to give money. But when you start with love as the core principle, generosity becomes about so much more. It places relationships at the heart of things. We’re not interested in how much money you have given but what that gift of money has created. Is your generosity going to lift someone from despair? Will it improve their life? Is it given with no expectation of return? Are we generous as a way of building up others? Those are relationship questions, and they flow from love not from money. When love is the source of our generosity, it should give us great confidence. We are confident because love isn’t something we have to create from nothing. We love because God first loved us, John will say later in his letter. God poured love into our lives, filled us to overflowing, so any love we share with others is from that same source. As Jesus said: freely you have received; freely give. We are confident because when we share love, put it into action, we are not left poorer. You will know this is true. To love someone enriches your life too. It makes you freer, more fully alive, a bigger person than you were before. Giving love doesn’t diminish your love supply. As fast as we give it away, we are refilled again. Love is like an ocean that we are all sinking in; we can never outswim it or give it all away. And with love as the source of our generosity, it makes us more confident that our motives are pure and our actions are good. When it is love at work, the actions that flow are always for the good of all. Love in action: such a helpful way of thinking about generosity.
So what does a generous community look like? Here are some of my thoughts to get us started.
I think a generous community is a welcoming community. We recognise that God has made us joyful and so seek to include as many people as possible in that joy. That means creating a space where people can come and be our guests, where we can offer hospitality, where we can provide for people a place of sanctuary in their time of trouble. You might have known that welcome yourself to this place. I think we shouldn’t underestimate how important that is. I know when I first joined you here, I didn’t feel like an outsider for very long. I was welcomed in, included in conversations, invited to join in with activities, and so on. We are good at being an open-door church, where visitors and guests feel at ease among us. And that is part of our generous community, sharing the love we have for each other with all those who cross our threshold. I suppose my question then is this: what can we do to become more generous in our welcome? Do we need to open the door wider, spread the word that people truly are invited to meet Jesus among us here? How can we be even more generous in our welcome?
A generous community is also generous with its resources. One of the blessings and challenges of church life is our communal resources. We are all inheritors when we become part of a local church. There is a building, a bank account, a story, which others put in motion before we arrived on the scene. And yet as new members of the family we now have access to and responsibility for those resources. We don’t own any of it, but we are given responsibility on what to do with it during our time here. We are trustees, custodians during our time here. How we use our resources is a decision we make together as a church. Do we invest in certain projects, do we share our building with other churches, what charities and groups should we support, and so on. We are called to be wise with what God has placed into our hands. And the fundamental principle, in my mind, is to be as generous as possible with what God has given. So often churches fall into the trap of being self-interested. The survival of the church is foremost in their minds, even at the cost of sending people away empty. This leads to an attitude where generosity can’t be afforded. But that attitude comes from fear and not from faith. A faithful church remembers that God is the giver, the provider, the sustainer, the generous one. And remembering who God is sets a church free to be generous with others. Are we a generous community in this way? I think so, but as always there is room for growth. Do we look for ways to be generous with others, not simply sending money but genuinely seeking to partner with others, working with God to bless our local and translocal community?
A generous community is the responsibility of all its members. One of the problems of defining generosity only as giving money is that once we’ve given some money we can walk away. We’ve sent our donation to the foodbank so we don’t have to be personally involved with those who are hungry. When generosity is done as a community, it can be easy for individuals to neglect generosity in their own lives. The church is generous on our behalf. But we can’t allow ourselves off the hook; if we want our church life to be generous, we must each learn what generosity looks like in our own lives. And that means putting love into action in relationships. As John says: ‘How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses to help’? In other words, love compels us all to act. If we have, we are called to share. And that sharing is between real people, face to face. And that generosity goes beyond sharing our financial resources. Generosity as an individual might look a lot like patience, giving someone time, offering people space to be themselves. Generosity might mean assuming good intentions for someone else, giving them the benefit of the doubt. We can be generous in a multitude of ways. It is about our individual relationships, and from them discovering that our community life flourishes as a result.
I find myself realising that all of this isn’t simple. But that little phrase really does help us to put first things first: love in action. Love takes us away from focussing on our own needs so that we can recognise the needs of others. It allows us to be patient and kind with other people. It encourages us to use our resources and time wisely so that many people can be blessed and encouraged. Love helps us to forgive one another when we say or do hurtful things. Love glues us together as a church, and points us constantly back to God, the source and goal of our lives. All of this is generosity. And with that at the heart of our life together, we will start to look like God.
Because here is the truth: God is our ultimate model of what a generous community looks like. Endless circle of love, ever outpouring that love into creation, abundantly blessing and sustaining our lives: God is our vision of generous community. So here’s our real challenge after all: does our church resemble God’s generous life? Does my individual life speak of how generous God has been to me? Let’s work together on growing in our generosity so that any who meets us will go away changed, knowing they have been met by love put into action. Amen.
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