Lent Exercises: Give - Poverty, Generosity, and Life in God

I grew up working poor.  During the gas crisis in 1979 we converted the lawn of our small back yard into a vegetable garden.  We grew food and shared our produce with neighbors.  Despite being a small child, I could tell that our work was tethered to an anxiety.  Would there be enough? 

My sister resented the ways the inflation of the early 1980’s kept us on the outside of fashion.  (It’d be years before thrift stores were trendy.) While I sometimes envied friends on the street who had cool bikes or new toys, I also loved our family’s creativity.  Dad’s jigsaw made toy guns that were the envy of the neighborhood.  Milk crates and twine created some pretty cool forts.  Wood fires were fun to tend, especially learning to bank them to maximize heat.  

Dad started making money the same year mom left.  A bigger car was a small consolation for the chaos of a broken family.  On vacation, I missed sleeping in a work van that was converted into a camper with cardboard, foam, and sheer ingenuity.  

Maybe that’s why the story from Mark 10:17-27 has always struck me.  The ‘rich young ruler’ comes to Jesus asking for life.  Jesus points him to love God and his neighbor, by keeping the law.  When the young man shares that he’s done this, Jesus looks at him with love and says, “’You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ 22 When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.”

I’ve never heard a preacher teach this passage of scripture without going to pains to explain how it’s ok to have possessions.  This always struck me as odd.  Possessions and wealth are the things that are keeping this, otherwise godly, man from life.  It’s as if we’re so afraid of the implications of this story that we feel a need to protect ourselves.  But what if it’s our wealth or our desire for wealth that is keeping us from life?  

There is a kind of poverty that is death.  When hunger, oppression, vulnerability, and danger overlap, the results are ugly.  In fact, Jesus seems concerned to alleviate this kind of poverty.  But there’s another kind of poverty, the kind that makes you dependent on your neighbors, the kind that unleashes creativity and craftsmanship, the kind that looks to God for daily bread.  I suspect we need this spiritual poverty more than we know.  

Why not practice almsgiving today?  Set aside $5 (or more if you want) to give to someone in need.  Slip it under a neighbor’s door.  Give it to a local food pantry or homeless shelter.  Buy a sandwich for someone in need.  Try giving something, for no other reason than because God is generous, and notice what happens in your soul.