What We Appreciate, Appreciates
Harvest Sunday,
November 22, 2009
Rev. Janice Palm
Exodus 36:1-7
Did you hear what was happening in the Exodus reading? Moses calls the Israelites, at God's command, to build a sanctuary. At this point in the Exodus story, two artisans had every skill and understanding necessary to be about the work. And then in order for the work to happen, free will offerings were received. Every morning the offerings came. So the work continued. Attention was being made to God. God's glory, God's presence was being recognized in their lives and see what happens. The freewill offerings were in great abundance. So much so that Moses had to say stop giving toward the building of the sanctuary! Now if that isn't thanks giving, I don't know what is!
I am not sure that in recent history a pastor has ever had to say stop! Hold on. We are giving too much! I have been talking about our attitudes toward money and our resources. I've talked about the myth of scarcity and last week I spoke on sufficiency.
I do know that we do try to alot portions of our financial resources to go toward various expenses and savings and gift giving. We have housing/shelter expenses, utilities, food, educational expenses. Some of our money is set aside for savings and pension. Oh and we have transportation costs: a vehicle, fuel. There's clothing. There's entertainment, recreation, vacation. And then we have a tenth that's set aside for giving thanks for God in our lives. Oh, somehow there was that unexpected breakdown of the furnace, the car needed a new transmission. There was the unexpected surgery costs and the time we weren't able to work and we had to take a furlough. Each time a little is taken away from what we had intended. And we end up offering this to God.
We don't exactly practice what happened in Exodus. For the Israelites, they were deeply moved by the presence of God in their lives. They were deeply dependent; they recognized how God was a part of lives. They appreciated that Presence. Our giving to God, to the church whose work is to be about God in our lives, tends to be quite measured. Our financial resources, through our regular giving as a church is more careful and in a different place on our priority list than what the Israelites experienced.
Lynne Twist speaks in terms of appreciation. She causes me to ask: What do we appreciate? She suggests that what we appreciate has value to us and as we appreciate whatever it is, it becomes more valuable. In other words: what we appreciate appreciates. The Israelite story is an example of just that. The people expressed their appreciation of God in their lives through the building of the sanctuary which represented God's presence among them. As they put more value to God in their lives, the building of the sanctuary and giving increased, and I might add, their lives changed..
The act of appreciation can become a powerful practice of creating value through our deliberate attention to the value of what we have.
I offer a story illustrating this. Some time ago Bangladesh was the cover story round the world. It became a country of poverty. Years of foreign misuse of the Bangladeshis' land, wars, and floods all contributed to Bangladesh becoming the poorest country in the world. About 40 years ago it became the recipient of a massive flood of aid. The country and its people became known as a needy, helpless people: a begging bowl. The Bangladeshi's as well had convinced themselves that they were hopeless/helpless.
In the northern region of the country is the town of Sylhet. It lies just above the flood line and, thus, the destruction caused by the floods. But the land became overgrown with a prickly, poisonous, scrub brush by order of the government. The people scraped by on a meager existence on land the government had given them. But now it was becoming more and more difficult to live. The youth were involved in crime, stealing. Many were talking of leaving the village; others were talking of giving up their family life and having one in the family leave the village to find work.
Around this same time, there was another movement happening that seemed to offer great promise, there were small business loans being made to cash poor women. These loans allowed for women and their families to become self-sufficient. About this same time, in Dhaka, a workshop called Vision, Commitment and Action was held in a city park. Mind you when there's a gathering it's not just 50 or 100 people gathered; the park ended up with hundreds of folks gathered – shoulder to shoulder. After some initial pieces, the people were asked to close their eyes and envision what a self-reliant, self-sufficient Bangladesh would look like. What would it look like if Bangladesh was exporting its finest quality goods? What would it be like to be known for its art and music and poetry? What if it were a contributing member of the international community rather than the begging bowl receiving aid?
At first the people were quite still emotionless. But then there was a full silence that held the crowd. Tears streamed down the cheeks of one man. And then another. People remained with their eyes closed, silently weeping.. In the crowd of more than a thousand, hundreds were weeping as they imagined self-reliance.
Then they shared their visions with one another. A new future was born. In another, later part of the workshop the people were asked to commit to what they had envisioned. They broke into small groups to collaborate and design actions they would take to fulfill their commitment to make their vision real.
It just so happens that a leader from Sylhet attended that Dhaka workshop. Captivated, inspired, he took that workshop back to Sylhet. He could look with new eyes at Sylhet. He led the workshop in Sylhet, seven leaders arose who saw value in Sylhet and themselves. They were able with governmental permission to clear the seventeen acres of tangled vegetation that had taken over the land. The clearing located an unknown lake and streams. The seven spread the workshop to more and more folks. They began to cultivate the land. They built a road along the edge of the land. Crime decreased. Destitute women were trained in farming. The land became largely cultivated once again. They provided their own food. Eventually, 18,000 people became involved and benefited from the activity. They moved from an area wracked with poverty to one of self-sufficiency.
They had had what they needed all along – but they had lost touch with those resources and capabilities when they became recipients to world aid. Hopelessness and helplessness instead became their motto. Bringing the village back in touch with a self-reliant vision of themselves had them find what they appreciated in themselves and in their lives.
Similarly, that's why it was important for us to hear from Connie Tilroe and Nannette Ashe this morning, to be reminded of why this place of worship, this community of faith is important to individuals, to us. It helps bring into focus why it's important to each and every single one of us here. There perhaps are different ways in which we each are touched by God through this community. It helps to hear from folk like Brian Collier, so we might have a vision of what this community is and might become. We can vision, envision something more for the future. Hearing from folks, it reminds us of what we appreciate. It helps stirs us to become more involved and offer gifts of thanksgiving to what we appreciate. Only then will what we appreciate have even more value in our lives and for others.
There is a type of counseling and consulting approach that is in practice now; it was developed for organizations. It's called Appreciative Inquiry. It is used in churches and other places where there is division, or conflict or a loss of vision or focus. Actually it's a good approach no matter the circumstances. Rather than looking for fault or what's wrong or what's lacking in an organization, this approach has folks considering the strengths, the areas of positive, best practices, where the group is doing well. Instead of concentrating on what's not, or concentrating on criticism and creating a downward spiraling in thoughts, with Affirmative Inquiry there is discovery, dream and design. There is thanks giving. Affirmative Inquiry has folks build on the positive attributes. You find what you appreciate and it appreciates. If I/you were to consider this church, what are positive areas/areas of strength for us? Where is the energy or Holy Spirit working? Music, mission, families, children, Sunday School, VBS, relationships, Education? How might we build on them? How might we grow with our best practices?
James had become alcoholic, spun through several marriages, and moved through all relationships. He was a young man with a big and generous heart and wanted so much to be a normal contributing part of society. And yet, he had come to resent his family's name and fortune; he never learned to trust his relationship with money. He came from a small Missouri town where his family owned the business. His name was a curse to him. People either envied or despised him because of his family's wealth; they took advantage of him, or assumed he was spoiled and rich. He felt he needed to escape this environment in order to find self worth. And yet, he never did anything of significance to earn money so he suffered from self doubt. He felt worthless except for the very money he hated. He had the money to do anything, but he had become nothing but an expensive charade.
At a particularly low point, his life began to turn around as he unloaded his misdirected anger. He began to get himself onto a better path as he shared more of his true self and who he yearned to be. Not until he began to consider living a life in sync with the deeper vision he held within for himself, did he start on a path that really made sense. Envisioning a life that he loved, that he appreciated, opened James up to new possibilities and gave him a new experience of himself. He learned that he felt an affinity for young people who were struggling. He volunteered at a local school. He wanted to work with children with learning disabilities. He began to learn of the complexities of the children's needs; he tutored them. He started supporting organizations who work with special needs children. He became an advocate for school funding in these areas. He had a special understanding and connection with these struggling children because of his own childhood. Each step he took led to another. The money that once was a curse for him now became an instrument of his release into a rewarding world.
When he found what was important to him, his love for and actions in helping others with learning disabilities grew. And his money was no longer a burden but an instrument.
For the folks in Bangladesh and for James, too, the power of appreciation enabled them to expand and deepen their experience of their true self and true worth.
Similarly, as each one of us comes to appreciate what it is that faith provides for our lives, and what it is that this community of faith might offer to help deepen our faith, our connection with one another and with God, we may be further pulled into relationship. Certainly, God is waiting with open arms, ready to align our lives lived with what's deep within our souls. Perhaps we will get to a point when no longer will our thanks giving to God, our commitment for a year, be the tenth or less that is left over. But rather it will become the tenth or more that comes first. Let us pray that our thanksgiving becomes a good measure of how much God desires to be a part of our lives.
