By Pat Russell
It rained last night. The rain covered the Garden of God’s
Goodness with a moisture I work hours to replicate with hoses and sprinklers
and faucets and soakers. It even rained on places that I don’t water like my
yard and the garden on the hillside. It was such a generous rain.
I slept through the storm, did not hear a roll of thunder or
the rain coming down. This morning I was so surprised to see the amount that
had fallen. Everything is so fresh and smiling. The Garden of God’s Goodness does
not need me to do anything today!
Another surprise was that it also rained on my neighbor’s
garden. She has a large and beautiful garden. And, besides that it rained at my
other neighbor’s home and they don’t even have a garden! Then, oh my goodness,
it rained on three other neighbors who were all target practicing for hours on
Sunday, which was very disturbing to my quietness. Like I said, it was a very
generous rain.
Within the past three days we spent time with three
different groups of people, all of whom we love dearly. The three groups have
played major roles in our lives in different eras. One was part of our
experience in another church, part of a deep tragedy that happened in that
time. The second group was part of our coming home from Germany with all the
major adjustments there. The third group was a part of receiving us with love
into a new church. All three groups are precious to us.
We talked politics. “Oh no,” you say, “you crossed that
line??” Yes, we talked at different levels with each group. Not surprisingly,
no one had the same thoughts about our political, economic, and health
situations in the US as we do. Some were similar to ours and some very
different.
These groups are rather like our EPC fellowship. Let’s face
it, we run the gamut in our church from liberal to conservative with everything
in between. We have strong and differing opinions and emotions that go with
those opinions. We sense it, we hear it once in awhile (not so much these days
that we are not together), but mostly we keep it to ourselves while looking
rather skeptically towards those we know are different from us.
How do we, as brothers and sisters in Christ, followers of
Jesus, choose to relate to one another in these days? We do have choices: 1.
Just stay quiet and don’t talk about these controversial topics. Keep it to
“general matters.” 2. Talk with those who believe like you, or at least you
think they think like you. Share your opinions and criticisms, and like-minded
ideas, and even your emotions about the whole thing. 3. Voice your opinions
whenever you like with whomever you like and if they don’t believe like you,
that’s too bad. They need to hear what you say so that they can change the way
they believe.
Three obvious choices, but I believe that Jesus offers us a
4th way. It has to do with his generous rain. He said, in what we
call the Sermon on the Mount, that we are to love our enemies. (Phil Wood’s
devo on the 23rd) "You have heard it said, 'Love your
neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for
those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He
causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous
and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?
Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own
people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be
perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
Applying this to these days, Jesus did not mean that he
wants us to run out and hug anyone who thinks differently than us (especially
with COVID). He follows it up with these two thoughts: the first is that
everyone loves those who are like them, that’s the natural thing to do.
(Conservatives will always like talking with other conservatives and liberals
will always like talking with other liberals.) The second, however, was his
reminder of what God is like – he pours out rain on the just and the unjust. He
is GENEROUS! So generous. Generous to all.
In our Encounters with Jesus, we see nothing but generosity
from Jesus towards anyone who comes before him, even Pharisees, who want to
trap him. He thinks with them; he shares his thoughts about life again and
again even as they seek to trap him. He is honest even when they are not.
Generosity – giving even when it is most uncomfortable:
“Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”(Luke
23:34)
“For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor
as she is, has given everything she had to live on.” (Mark 12:44)
“Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.”(Luke 8:11)
“If you are sued in court and your shirt is taken from you,
give your coat, too.” (Matthew 5:40)
We are called to be generous. Generous beyond anything we naturally
have in our hearts. I think of us being generous listeners and talkers,
allowing others to express their opinions and expressing ours with lack of
judgement, being curious about another way of thinking, of being. Asking
non-attack questions. Keeping a space in our heart and head for this person’s
thoughts and feelings, even if they are not keeping a space for us.
But this is not something we can produce on our own.
Generosity is something God puts in our hearts by way of the Holy Spirit. Our
part is to commit to following him with all our heart, mind, soul, and
strength. With that as our baseline, God has a space to move in and change us,
to make us more generous of spirit. We must want it, however.
After all, he pours out his rain on everyone. He did on my
garden and my neighbor’s garden and on my neighbors that don’t have a garden,
and even on my neighbors who felt and acted differently about Sunday than I
did.
Lord, give me Your generous heart, I ask. And along with
generosity, give me a brave heart to shower others with that same generosity.
Amen.
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