The Offering of Life

1992 (Year C) 11 October / Pentecost 18

St Peter de Beauvoir Town

‘Now the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things which they possessed was their own, but they had everything in common ... There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles’ feet; and distribution was made to each as any had need.’ 

Generosity in all things was the hallmark of the early church. But then it’s hardly surprising since generosity and gift is at the very heart of the God they worshipped. They had come from a tradition which knew that the whole of creation had been a gift of the creator to humankind and that the gift was supremely good. 

They had followed a teacher who had compared his Divine Father to a Lord who out of his generosity had given a great banquet but found that all the seats had not been taken and so he had commanded his servants to go out into the streets and bring people in. That was the story he had told them. Then they had seen their Lord even give up his life and they felt that they themselves had been the beneficiaries of this gift. 

Now it was their turn and they began to put into practice all that they had learned and all that they continued to discover about God. And what they learned was this. That in order to be generous they first had to recognise their own real worth. They had to be aware of their gifts and the gifts of others within their community, for would not generous at all if the only things that they were prepared to give away were the things of little value. 

They discovered that they needed to accept one another and that they needed to be open as individuals and as a community. That once they had accepted the offerings which were given them they should offer what they had in return. They had to accept graciously when they were the beneficiaries of other people’s generosity, trying to keep their pride in check. No doubt they found it just as difficult as we all do today. 

It is a remarkable thing, but whenever people in the New Testament talk about their experience of God, they become intoxicated and fall into superlatives. They talk about ‘the abundance’ of the Spirit, ‘the overflowing exuberance’ of the Spirit, about the boundless ‘riches of life’. People later called the Christian community in Jerusalem ‘the poor’; but we are told that there was not a needy person among them’. Everybody had enough, more than enough. 

Yet our affluent world is marked by a desire for more. And our needs are met at the expense of others. There is never enough. Needs bring yet more desires and things are made in such a way that they’ll soon come to an end. We’ll need to replace them. Our world, lost in its need, has forgotten how to be generous and we have forgotten how to offer our what we have to others. It feels sometimes as if we have very little to be thankful for. That in reality we have been given very little. If I asked now that we remember one thing that we’ve been given this week some of us would be very hard pressed to think of anything. Our lives seem to be filled with trials and tribulation, with needs to be met rather than hearts thankful for what we have been given. 

This week Daniel has gone through two hard operations and a good deal of pain. We have been tired and anxious. Yet we have also been given many many gifts. We have a son who has been able to care for us whilst we were caring for him and in the haze of anaesthetic he has been able to thank us for being there. 

That is a blessing and a gift from God. It’s hardly surprising for at the very heart of God there is giving and a longing to be generous, even to the point of offering his own life. He has given us all life and in Him we live and move and have our being. 

Maybe what we need to do is train our eyes to recognise just some of the glories that have been put in our way. To encourage our hearts to be open to the gifts that come to us from God. Then we will be able to offer all that we have back to him in worship and the service of others. That is all. It is the work of a lifetime. But it will be a life spent in joy and generosity. May our prayer be; ‘For all that has been – thanks and for all that shall be – Yes’. Thanks be to God. AMEN