I have a couple friends in my life who are difficult. They are difficult because they are the type of people who like to be givers. Extremely independent, they prefer to be the ones giving someone else something and when you try to give them something in return, they either deflect it, or just give you something back. It’s maddening!! Now, you might think, “Hey, in a world of takers, count yourself lucky to have friends who give.” I know, I know. But there is a sense of fairness here, and mutuality, and no one likes to be turned into a “taker,” right? So, I give to them when I can and I try to accept the fact that they are very generous friends.

You see, I believe deep down we live in a world where people notice things like this. We notice who stays after and cleans up the mess. We notice who picks up the bill each time. We notice who goes out of their way to do something that takes time and effort. We notice when we are the ones constantly asking others for favors – can you pick up my kids? Can you pick me up at the airport? Can you write a recommendation for a job? Can you listen to me tell you again something that is bothering me? I have a neighbor – my go-to neighbor when I’m out of coffee, or an egg, or a cup of sugar. They always have a stocked kitchen and I’ve been at their house many a morning or late night asking for that one item I do not have. One day, the father came to my house for something – quite apologetically. I practically poured the entire kitchen into his hands, I was so grateful that he had finally come to me for something!!!

The world teaches us to notice. Keep score. Make sure we don’t get taken by others. And it’s not just on a personal level between two people. We are schooled on a national level to notice when we are giving more than we are getting. And especially when things are tough we start to notice how much we giving. In a tight economy people grumble about how much we import from China instead of buying from American manufacturers. Or any other nation that seems to be taking more than they are giving from us. Did you know that the United States gave $13 billion through the Marshall Plan to aid certain European countries after World War II? And that was on top of $12 billion that was given between the end of the war and the start of the Marshall Plan? Of course we had an investment in our European nations rebuilding after a prolonged war fought in their backyard. This is when our GDP was $258 billion – I’ll have to ask an economist how that compares to where we are now and what her take on the Marshall Plan is!

The point is, in each of our encounters – whether it be with our family, our neighbors, or another country – we are aware of how much we are giving or receiving, and what strings come attached to each gift.

Contrast that then with the Gospel reading today in Luke where we are given several instructions on how Jesus wants us to live in this world:
• Love our enemies
• Bless those who curse us
• Pray for those who abuse us
• Offer the other cheek
• Give to everyone who begs from you
• Lend to those who cannot repay you
We are also told that our guideline should be to treat people as we would have them treat us and our reward will be that we will be children of the Most High.

Is that enough for us? Do we trust in Jesus’ teachings enough to live that way? We are not promised public accolades or a special seat at the table. We are not promised rewards of recognition or even a special dispensation in heaven. You see it sounds to me that if we live how Jesus asks us to live, we will be like my irritating friends. We will be the givers, the ones constantly on the look-out for those who need help. Can we accept that as our life-long orientation of the flow of our resources and good graces?

The image that Luke gives us today is of a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over being put in our lap. That is abundance -flowing toward us because of the choice that we make to live in that way. If we always measure, compare, give the minimum, our lives will unfold in that way back to us. However, if we choose to give with great abandon and joy, we are told that what will come back to us is a deeper satisfaction and peace from being children of the Most High.

I think it takes great faith to believe that this is worthy of our time. It doesn’t make sense by the world’s standards.

Masayuki Kimura is a Japanese man who grew up smelling sweet buns wafting up from the ovens of his parents’ ground floor bakery under his bedroom. Founded by his grandfather in 1926 the Kimuraya bakery specialized in local traditional Japanese sweets. When it came time for college, Masayuki left his small town. During those years he traveled the world and interviewed with a major advertising agency for a job in a big city or abroad. Before he received word about the job his mother called and “begged him to come home… she said his parents worked hard to build the business so they could one day pass it on to him. He felt like he had no choice.” On March 11th Mr. Kimura was up early to start his day filling orders. At 2:36 he felt the jolt and ran across the street to tell his mother that a tsunami was likely on its way. They went to the evacuation point and watched the waves swallow up their city below. Everything was gone – his bakery, 10% of their population, 80% of the businesses. Everything was gone except $370,000 worth of business loans that he had. Over the next few days he considered his options as a 54 year old man – move, or become an olive farmer. But then he heard his mother speak on a local radio station: “I can’t wait to make delicious sweets again. We will rebuild.”

Masayuki was conflicted – he was not young, he was in debt, he had lost all of his 150 recipes and his town was devastated. But, as others encouraged him to re-build his family business against the odds, he had an epiphany. He realized that what he did mattered to a lot of people – his mother, strangers, friends, his town. Over the past 7 months he has had gifts given to him by banks willing to suspend loans for a year, baking ovens and supplies given to him at reduced rates, businesses who are investing in businesses affected by the tsunami. He is currently in a borrowed cargo-train car baking and serving customers. It has not been easy, but because he decided in faith to stay and re-build, the measure of support that has flowed to him has been dramatic. (Story from Wall Street Journal Nov.12/13, 2011 p. A1)

There is nothing certain that tells us that if we give to something it will be worth our time, effort or money. We give because we believe in what we are supporting. We are invested in the success of the business or person or church that is the recipient of our giving. Today we are asking all of you to invest your money in this church for the coming year. We are asking you to fill out a pledge card with an amount of money that will help us continue to be here on this corner in Pasadena as a church that welcomes all, supports and cares for the people who walk in our doors. We are asking you to help us sustain ourselves in this challenging economy. We are asking you to help us support our new Aspire Ministry which is reaching out to those who don’t yet have a church home, who do not know that a church can be low in dogma and high in compassion. We are asking you to take a step of faith to support our church with a financial promise so that we may have teachers for your children, programs for all ages, beautiful worship, and outreach programs that invite us to go out into the world with great compassion. I’m asking you to make your church uncomfortable with your extravagant giving! Thanks be to God for the opportunity to support something that we believe in and love. Amen.

-Rev. Marlene W. Pomeroy