“Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.”( 1 Timothy 6:18)

With what shall I come before the Lord

    and bow down before the exalted God?

Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,

    with calves a year old?

7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,

    with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?

Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,

    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.

    And what does the Lord require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy

    and to walk humbly[a] with your God. (Micah 6:6-8)

 

When my kids were in daycare, one of the things that the staff encouraged was that we bring a stuffy with us as a comfort toy for naptime.  It was always a bit dicey because this required me, as an exhausted working mom, to remember to pack the toy in their backpack in the morning along with a change of clothes, and to, even more difficult, remember to repack the stuffy at the end of the day so that it could come home and be with them when they went to bed.  Sometimes, I managed, sometimes I didn’t with dire consequences.  Well, maybe, not dire; just difficult bedtime consequences.

 

The stuffy was placed on the top shelf of the kids’ cubby in the morning, and was put back at the end of the day by the kids as part of their routine.  It always amused me to see the lineup of stuffies in the cubbies; with their stages of loving wear.  One time when I was picking up the kids, one of them pointed out a particularly awe-inspiring stuffy.  It was a unicorn.  It was purple and had a rainbow sparky horn and hooves and great big eyelashes.  My kid said, in a ‘matter of fact’ tone, that that stuffy was someone’s ‘from home’.  A little more questioning revealed that a toy that was someone’s ‘from home’ was a toy that was off-limits for the other kids to play with.  I was impressed at the teacher’s ability to instill this learning on the kids; probably made for a lot less toddler brawls on the playground.

 

The lines did get a little blurry, though.  One day I discovered that one of my kids had stuffed their backpack full of some of the daycare toys.  When I questioned them I was told, again in a very matter-of fact tone, that this was theirs ‘from home’.  Oh no it wasn’t.  I’m the mom; I know exactly what has come from home and what hasn’t.  There were many tears when I corrected this belief and required my toddler to put the toys back in the communal daycare toybox.  The same week, I watched one of my kids snatch a toy away from another child with an adamant “this is mine from home”.  Again, it wasn’t.  Again, there were tears.  “But I like it!”  “But I want it!” “But if I give it to them, I might not have it to play with anymore”.   There was no amount of conversation that would assure my little one that sharing meant that everything was available to everyone.

 

It’s a really hard lesson to learn, isn’t it?  The fundamental lesson that if we share that means that everything is available to everyone.  Because WE have likes.  Because WE have wants.  Because it is, on some level, a risk, right?  There is always a risk that we might lose something if we share.

 

If we share our time, it may mean that we don’t have time for something else.  If we share our gifts, it may mean that we don’t have them for our own use.  If we share our food or our financial resources, it may mean that we have less for our own use.  And even more fundamentally, if we share our love, it may not be returned to us in the same way.

 

Having a belief and a trust in sharing is particularly hard when we are part of a society that values the acquisition and accumulation of all our resources over the reciprocity of sharing.  “Having enough”, is not something we seem to value anymore.  Now its about “having it all”, “having the best”, “having the most”.  Acquisition and accumulation.  Even down to relationships and community (and thinking;  ie “intellectual property”).

 

Unfortunately, churches aren’t immune, right?  We don’t share space because we’re worried that it will mean loss of our space.  We don’t share activities, because it may mean that we lose that event as “ours from home”.  We don’t share worship, because we’re afraid that it will spell the end of our sacred time.

 

So, when we’re confronted by God’s ordering of life, including that we are expected to share, it’s a huge leap of trust.  A huge leap to trust that there will still be enough.  Enough for us.  And enough for everyone.

 

So, today, if you’re feeling stingy in your time, your resources, or even your love and thinking.  If you’re worried that you won’t get what you need if you share, or even if you want to plant your feet and declare that all of this is “yours from home”, stop.  Take a deep breath.  Loosen the grip on what ever you’re holding so tightly onto, and remember your lesson from daycare.

 

If you share, then everything is available to everyone.  Your time.  Your space.  Your gifts.  Your love.

And this is the justice that God wants from us.

 

Blessings today my dear friends, and remember you are Loved (and there’s plenty for everyone)

~Rev. Lynne