On How to be a Manger (Barbara Germait)
be empty
be sturdy
be soft inside
be still
be ready
Merry Christmas!
Friday, December 25, 2009
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
*generous vs generative giving
gen·er·a·tive (jen′ər āt′iv, -ər ə tiv)
adjective- having the power or function of generating, originating, producing, or reproducing
I am pretty sure most people want to be generous. I mean, does anyone really want to be a scrooge? I think most people wish they had more money (me included) and many people wish they had more so they could give more of it away. Sharing our blessing does something to us, makes us alive, draws us closer to the core of who we are and closer to the one who created us.
But if you are like many Americans these days, dollars are tighter and pay increases are few and far between. This creates discomfort for us in the US, but it ravishes our brothers and sisters around the globe. It has been said that if the US sneezes the third world gets a cold. What does that mean for the rest of the world when the US gets a cold? Maybe in this time of sneezing and wheezing, our focus in giving needs to move in a new direction?
Through movements like Advent Conspiracy, the Spirit is calling us to consider our Christ welcoming giving and their end result. Is our giving a continuation of the good work that God began in us through the gift of his son? And if it is, what are the outcomes that good work is seeking in us and through us?
Our desire is to learn to give generatively- considering the outcome of our gifts and their ability to create, originate, produce and reproduce life and move forward the good work that is rooted in the coming of Jesus Christ.
200 chickens today will be how many chickens next year? How many eggs will be produced by the offspring of these chickens? In five years how many people will have been fed by the simple gift of a couple hundred chickens?
As the cold of winter creeps in and the snow brightens the landscape, the impact we are having together through growing a third world barnyard warms me more than any new Christmas sweater.
adjective- having the power or function of generating, originating, producing, or reproducing
I am pretty sure most people want to be generous. I mean, does anyone really want to be a scrooge? I think most people wish they had more money (me included) and many people wish they had more so they could give more of it away. Sharing our blessing does something to us, makes us alive, draws us closer to the core of who we are and closer to the one who created us.
But if you are like many Americans these days, dollars are tighter and pay increases are few and far between. This creates discomfort for us in the US, but it ravishes our brothers and sisters around the globe. It has been said that if the US sneezes the third world gets a cold. What does that mean for the rest of the world when the US gets a cold? Maybe in this time of sneezing and wheezing, our focus in giving needs to move in a new direction?
Through movements like Advent Conspiracy, the Spirit is calling us to consider our Christ welcoming giving and their end result. Is our giving a continuation of the good work that God began in us through the gift of his son? And if it is, what are the outcomes that good work is seeking in us and through us?
Our desire is to learn to give generatively- considering the outcome of our gifts and their ability to create, originate, produce and reproduce life and move forward the good work that is rooted in the coming of Jesus Christ.
200 chickens today will be how many chickens next year? How many eggs will be produced by the offspring of these chickens? In five years how many people will have been fed by the simple gift of a couple hundred chickens?
As the cold of winter creeps in and the snow brightens the landscape, the impact we are having together through growing a third world barnyard warms me more than any new Christmas sweater.
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