Paul And Corinth
The city of Corinth was in a time of peace. Since Emperor Augustus returned to the roman senate to civil Rule In 27 BCE, the Roman Generals were not at war against each other. This time of peace benefited cities like Corinth that were along key sea routes that brought wealth into the city.
However, an issue that Corinthians were facing was that the increase in wealth in the city meant that wealthy folks were buying up farm lands, or confiscating land for debts that farmer owed. As a result, the farm lands were now tended by slaves or serfs. This brought farmers into cities for work, leaving them in poverty, and creating a large wealth gap between the rich and the poor. Does that sound familiar?
So in the church in Corinth, you may have had really wealthy folks, and really poor folks. But overall, there were financial resources in Corinth that were not available to the churches in Jerusalem.
This is what this portion of 2 Corinthians is about. The church in Jerusalem needs funds, and Paul is trying to convince the church in Corinth, where some have a little and other have a lot, to give to support the church in Jerusalem.
To the Corinthians, Paul writes
“Now as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in utmost eagerness, and in our love for you—so we want you to excel also in this generous undertaking.”
“Now as you excel in everything.” A nice compliment to soften the ask.
At first when reading this passage, it’s easy to wonder if Paul is being a bit of a shyster, trying to manipulate the wealthy into giving to other churches. But this would be too much of a simplification of what Paul is doing here. Paul offers them the “privilege of generosity.” Paul’s complement to the corinthian in the excelling, places generosity in the same category as faith, speech, knowledge, and love. Generosity is a spiritual endeavor.
Paul explicitly states that he is not commanding the Corinthians to give. No one is forcing them to give. But Paul is encouraging them to consider generosity as a part of their faith
It is also notable that he is not also just speaking to the wealthy in church, who have an abundance of resources. But also those with scarce resources. Paul writes,
“For if the eagerness [to give] is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.”
Like all spiritual practices, one can not be forced to do them. Generosity is a practice that everyone must choose for themselves, no matter if they have an abundance of resources, or scarce resources. And developing this practice can be a struggle.
Never Enough
Unfortunately I too often respond to requests for money with fear.
“Am I being swindled by shysters like Paul?”
Whether one has a lot of resources, or very little, one way to live with what you have, is with fear.
When one has an abundance, one can be scared that people will take advantage of your wealth. Scared that people will not be grateful. Scared that we will lose it all.
When fear guides our resources, one can be tempted to control others with your wealth – Like giving money, but then having expectations.
One can be tempted to hoard resources because the future is uncertain.. Build a bunker and hide away with your money. Like in Jesus’ parable of the talents where the servant in error buries the wealth in a hole. He was chastised because he didn’t do anything with it. It didn’t grow. It didn’t support the community. It was just there, in the hole. Not a bit of creativity.
Whether one has a little or a lot, fear can keep one from generosity.
The other evening, Chaska Flora and I went for a walk at the bluffton Nature preserve and there were black raspberries everywhere. We would pick the raspberries, and give most of them to flora, who would go on to stuff her face, juice running down her cheeks. We then decided to ask her if she would share some of the raspberries. With a grin on her face, she quickly stuffed the raspberries into her mouth, and laughed.
We all know this fear. Will there be enough?
I currently have a family of racoons living in one of our trees. Part of me wants to find ways to get rid of them so they do not eat our garden food. I am afraid that I will not have any vine ripened tomatoes, afraid that I wont have green beans.
Do I have enough resources for my fellow mammals to eat from my garden? A gun could provide a simple, uncreative, fearful response to my issue. Like it does for all issues. The question – “will there be enough”, is one that is all too often solved with a gun.
We assume that with more resources – with excess, we are in a better position. That there are more options. That we are safer. Less anxious. Less worried.
But this is not the case.
I think a lot about this with toys nowadays.
I loved lego sets as a kid. Who am I kidding, I still love them.
I remember my first lego set. It was a small little space ship. My second set was a helicopter. These were all the legos I had. So I mixed these two sets up over and over and over again. The possibilities seemed endless.
What made legos so much fun for me, is that you could purchase two different sets, and the pieces were interchangeable with each other. So if you purchased a star wars spaceship, and a basic house set, you could try to mix them together and make a strange starwars house. .
Over time, I would accumulate more and more and more and more legos. I soon had a big tub full of legos from all my sets.
The big tub full of legos was often overwhelming. Now there were so many pieces, what do I build with all of them?
There was no limiting constraint on what I could build. I wasn’t forced to use the few pieces that I had. Too much excess killed my creativity.
So I would often, as a kid, revert back to my original challenge of building with fewer sets. Pick two of my sets, and make some sort of creation with those two. Because the big bin, which while had more possibilities was exciting, scarcity is what made the building fun.
So now I have a giant bin of sorted, well organized, retro lego sets from my childhood.
I am trying to figure out how I pass these on to Flora. Because on one hand, If I were a kid, I would have loved to have inherited a bunch of retro legos from my parents, but I wonder if too many legos would not be fun. Would not be creative. That if Flora has a ton of legos right off the bat, she won’t be forced to have the same kind of creative restraints that I loved so much.
But who knows, she might not even like legos.
Having excess does not mean one’s life will be more creative, more enjoyable, or more fulfilling. It might even be that we are happier and more creative when we have less.
Generosity and Creativity
Paul writes to the Corinthians “For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.”
Paul has the insight that there is something spiritual enriching about having less. He sees how Jesus gave of himself. In this act of generosity, Jesus became poor. And this poverty has the ability to make one rich.
How so? Generosity enriches others. When one is generous with their resources, it builds community which in return enriches your own life. You may have fewer items of your own, but have instead created a network of connections.
This is what makes generosity deeply spiritual. Spirituality are the things we do that deepen connections. Connection with each other. With the divine. With the earth. With yourself. Then to be generous is to deepen each of these connections.
When you give to your community, you are deepening your connection to the people around you. When you give towards the work that is sacred to you, you deepen your connection with the holy, and help create good in the world. When you give towards the earth, you are replenishing the place where all resources come from. When you give to yourself – yes my fellow mennonites, sometimes it’s good to treat yourself – you are deepening connection to you.
All of this generosity is creating abundance in other spaces.
Even with little amounts of resources, generosity creates. Soup can be made from a stone. A potluck where there is more than enough takes shape from leftovers and this and that. To think about making food for 200 people sounds overwhelming. One wealthy person could foot the bill for feeding 200 people, but at a potluck, everyone brings a pan and all of a sudden there is more food than needed.
In a conversation with Phil Compton this last week, he shared about his time working at the non-profit restaurant Table 1 in Kenton. This restaurant was a fine dining experience that was built around customers paying what they can. If you didn’t have access to resources, you could have a meal for a dollar. If you wanted to generously give a lot, it would go towards paying for someone else’s meal.
Phil shared that one time a person gave $500 for a meal, knowing that it would support another person’s meal. Another time, a person asked if he could help wash dishes as a way of giving. This person provided ongoing dishwashing when he would come to the restaurant for a meal. As a result, he felt part of the restaurant community.
No matter how much one could give, everyone was able to feel a part of contributing to the cause, and it was enriching for everyone. Whether one had abundant resources or scarce resources, generosity was key for creating this restaurant.
But this type of generosity is really hard to do.
Fear can jump in. I don;t want to be taken advantage of. I don’t want to lose everything. I don’t’ know if there is enough.
When we follow these fears, we risk destroying connection with the world around us.
Generosity, whether you have scarce or abundant resources, has a component of struggle.. This is why Jesus talked about the rich getting into the kingdom of heaven, is camel going through the eye of a needle. It is hard work to become generous with one’s resources.
Generosity requires letting go. Letting go – a deep spiritual practice. Letting go of control. Letting go of fear. In this way, generosity requires a lot of faith .
When we let go of control, we open ourselves to the possibilities that we were close to. When we let go of control of our resources, we find ourselves in a similar space as those who have little. Unsure of what our futures are, and having to more deeply live by faith.
When we let go of control we create a spaciousness where the holy one might take you to places you never expected. Generosity is a creative act, in that it stems from the faith that more will be created. That the creator will continue creating, and generating, and creating.
Generosity begets generosity, but it has to be faithfully practiced.
Living in the Struggle.
In the struggle is where most of us sit. Working hard at trying to discern what to do with our resources. One moment living in faith and giving generously to those around us. And the next moment, gripped by fear, holding tightly to our resources.
This last week, the capital campaign team met with folks in the congregation to consider different projects that our church might invest in. It was exciting to see what projects folks were interested in support, through pulling resources together as a congregation .
We sit at the precipice of a lot of creative opportunities. If we invest several hundred thousand dollars as a community into our church, what possibilities might come from that investment. Would this investment be generative? Creative? This is the hard work we have to do. It might feel like going through the eye of a needle.
How can we as a community function generously – not because anyone has to give- Paul makes it clear that it is not a command, but because in our generosity, there is the deepening of connection to God, to each other, to the world around us and even ourselves. There is the possibility for something new to be created. For our church to live into its vision of healing and hope for those around us.
Generosity, whether each of us has abundant or scarce resources, is an opportunity for us to create. To generate as a community abundance for those in this space, and for those around us.
May we be generous with open hearts. May we practice allowing generosity, not fear, to guide us. And may God walk with us as we do the deep work discerning what to do with our resources, so that our web connections, and even ourselves, may flourish.
Paul And Corinth
The city of Corinth was in a time of peace. Since Emperor Augustus returned to the roman senate to civil Rule In 27 BCE, the Roman Generals were not at war against each other. This time of peace benefited cities like Corinth that were along key sea routes that brought wealth into the city.
However, an issue that Corinthians were facing was that the increase in wealth in the city meant that wealthy folks were buying up farm lands, or confiscating land for debts that farmer owed. As a result, the farm lands were now tended by slaves or serfs. This brought farmers into cities for work, leaving them in poverty, and creating a large wealth gap between the rich and the poor. Does that sound familiar?
So in the church in Corinth, you may have had really wealthy folks, and really poor folks. But overall, there were financial resources in Corinth that were not available to the churches in Jerusalem.
This is what this portion of 2 Corinthians is about. The church in Jerusalem needs funds, and Paul is trying to convince the church in Corinth, where some have a little and other have a lot, to give to support the church in Jerusalem.
To the Corinthians, Paul writes
“Now as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in utmost eagerness, and in our love for you—so we want you to excel also in this generous undertaking.”
“Now as you excel in everything.” A nice compliment to soften the ask.
At first when reading this passage, it’s easy to wonder if Paul is being a bit of a shyster, trying to manipulate the wealthy into giving to other churches. But this would be too much of a simplification of what Paul is doing here. Paul offers them the “privilege of generosity.” Paul’s complement to the corinthian in the excelling, places generosity in the same category as faith, speech, knowledge, and love. Generosity is a spiritual endeavor.
Paul explicitly states that he is not commanding the Corinthians to give. No one is forcing them to give. But Paul is encouraging them to consider generosity as a part of their faith
It is also notable that he is not also just speaking to the wealthy in church, who have an abundance of resources. But also those with scarce resources. Paul writes,
“For if the eagerness [to give] is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.”
Like all spiritual practices, one can not be forced to do them. Generosity is a practice that everyone must choose for themselves, no matter if they have an abundance of resources, or scarce resources. And developing this practice can be a struggle.
Never Enough
Unfortunately I too often respond to requests for money with fear.
“Am I being swindled by shysters like Paul?”
Whether one has a lot of resources, or very little, one way to live with what you have, is with fear.
When one has an abundance, one can be scared that people will take advantage of your wealth. Scared that people will not be grateful. Scared that we will lose it all.
When fear guides our resources, one can be tempted to control others with your wealth – Like giving money, but then having expectations.
One can be tempted to hoard resources because the future is uncertain.. Build a bunker and hide away with your money. Like in Jesus’ parable of the talents where the servant in error buries the wealth in a hole. He was chastised because he didn’t do anything with it. It didn’t grow. It didn’t support the community. It was just there, in the hole. Not a bit of creativity.
Whether one has a little or a lot, fear can keep one from generosity.
The other evening, Chaska Flora and I went for a walk at the bluffton Nature preserve and there were black raspberries everywhere. We would pick the raspberries, and give most of them to flora, who would go on to stuff her face, juice running down her cheeks. We then decided to ask her if she would share some of the raspberries. With a grin on her face, she quickly stuffed the raspberries into her mouth, and laughed.
We all know this fear. Will there be enough?
I currently have a family of racoons living in one of our trees. Part of me wants to find ways to get rid of them so they do not eat our garden food. I am afraid that I will not have any vine ripened tomatoes, afraid that I wont have green beans.
Do I have enough resources for my fellow mammals to eat from my garden? A gun could provide a simple, uncreative, fearful response to my issue. Like it does for all issues. The question – “will there be enough”, is one that is all too often solved with a gun.
We assume that with more resources – with excess, we are in a better position. That there are more options. That we are safer. Less anxious. Less worried.
But this is not the case.
I think a lot about this with toys nowadays.
I loved lego sets as a kid. Who am I kidding, I still love them.
I remember my first lego set. It was a small little space ship. My second set was a helicopter. These were all the legos I had. So I mixed these two sets up over and over and over again. The possibilities seemed endless.
What made legos so much fun for me, is that you could purchase two different sets, and the pieces were interchangeable with each other. So if you purchased a star wars spaceship, and a basic house set, you could try to mix them together and make a strange starwars house. .
Over time, I would accumulate more and more and more and more legos. I soon had a big tub full of legos from all my sets.
The big tub full of legos was often overwhelming. Now there were so many pieces, what do I build with all of them?
There was no limiting constraint on what I could build. I wasn’t forced to use the few pieces that I had. Too much excess killed my creativity.
So I would often, as a kid, revert back to my original challenge of building with fewer sets. Pick two of my sets, and make some sort of creation with those two. Because the big bin, which while had more possibilities was exciting, scarcity is what made the building fun.
So now I have a giant bin of sorted, well organized, retro lego sets from my childhood.
I am trying to figure out how I pass these on to Flora. Because on one hand, If I were a kid, I would have loved to have inherited a bunch of retro legos from my parents, but I wonder if too many legos would not be fun. Would not be creative. That if Flora has a ton of legos right off the bat, she won’t be forced to have the same kind of creative restraints that I loved so much.
But who knows, she might not even like legos.
Having excess does not mean one’s life will be more creative, more enjoyable, or more fulfilling. It might even be that we are happier and more creative when we have less.
Generosity and Creativity
Paul writes to the Corinthians “For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.”
Paul has the insight that there is something spiritual enriching about having less. He sees how Jesus gave of himself. In this act of generosity, Jesus became poor. And this poverty has the ability to make one rich.
How so? Generosity enriches others. When one is generous with their resources, it builds community which in return enriches your own life. You may have fewer items of your own, but have instead created a network of connections.
This is what makes generosity deeply spiritual. Spirituality are the things we do that deepen connections. Connection with each other. With the divine. With the earth. With yourself. Then to be generous is to deepen each of these connections.
When you give to your community, you are deepening your connection to the people around you. When you give towards the work that is sacred to you, you deepen your connection with the holy, and help create good in the world. When you give towards the earth, you are replenishing the place where all resources come from. When you give to yourself – yes my fellow mennonites, sometimes it’s good to treat yourself – you are deepening connection to you.
All of this generosity is creating abundance in other spaces.
Even with little amounts of resources, generosity creates. Soup can be made from a stone. A potluck where there is more than enough takes shape from leftovers and this and that. To think about making food for 200 people sounds overwhelming. One wealthy person could foot the bill for feeding 200 people, but at a potluck, everyone brings a pan and all of a sudden there is more food than needed.
In a conversation with Phil Compton this last week, he shared about his time working at the non-profit restaurant Table 1 in Kenton. This restaurant was a fine dining experience that was built around customers paying what they can. If you didn’t have access to resources, you could have a meal for a dollar. If you wanted to generously give a lot, it would go towards paying for someone else’s meal.
Phil shared that one time a person gave $500 for a meal, knowing that it would support another person’s meal. Another time, a person asked if he could help wash dishes as a way of giving. This person provided ongoing dishwashing when he would come to the restaurant for a meal. As a result, he felt part of the restaurant community.
No matter how much one could give, everyone was able to feel a part of contributing to the cause, and it was enriching for everyone. Whether one had abundant resources or scarce resources, generosity was key for creating this restaurant.
But this type of generosity is really hard to do.
Fear can jump in. I don;t want to be taken advantage of. I don’t want to lose everything. I don’t’ know if there is enough.
When we follow these fears, we risk destroying connection with the world around us.
Generosity, whether you have scarce or abundant resources, has a component of struggle.. This is why Jesus talked about the rich getting into the kingdom of heaven, is camel going through the eye of a needle. It is hard work to become generous with one’s resources.
Generosity requires letting go. Letting go – a deep spiritual practice. Letting go of control. Letting go of fear. In this way, generosity requires a lot of faith .
When we let go of control, we open ourselves to the possibilities that we were close to. When we let go of control of our resources, we find ourselves in a similar space as those who have little. Unsure of what our futures are, and having to more deeply live by faith.
When we let go of control we create a spaciousness where the holy one might take you to places you never expected. Generosity is a creative act, in that it stems from the faith that more will be created. That the creator will continue creating, and generating, and creating.
Generosity begets generosity, but it has to be faithfully practiced.
Living in the Struggle.
In the struggle is where most of us sit. Working hard at trying to discern what to do with our resources. One moment living in faith and giving generously to those around us. And the next moment, gripped by fear, holding tightly to our resources.
This last week, the capital campaign team met with folks in the congregation to consider different projects that our church might invest in. It was exciting to see what projects folks were interested in support, through pulling resources together as a congregation .
We sit at the precipice of a lot of creative opportunities. If we invest several hundred thousand dollars as a community into our church, what possibilities might come from that investment. Would this investment be generative? Creative? This is the hard work we have to do. It might feel like going through the eye of a needle.
How can we as a community function generously – not because anyone has to give- Paul makes it clear that it is not a command, but because in our generosity, there is the deepening of connection to God, to each other, to the world around us and even ourselves. There is the possibility for something new to be created. For our church to live into its vision of healing and hope for those around us.
Generosity, whether each of us has abundant or scarce resources, is an opportunity for us to create. To generate as a community abundance for those in this space, and for those around us.
May we be generous with open hearts. May we practice allowing generosity, not fear, to guide us. And may God walk with us as we do the deep work discerning what to do with our resources, so that our web connections, and even ourselves, may flourish.