Isaiah 12: 2-6; Philippians 1: 3-11

A pastor was talking to one of his rural parishioners about the need to raise money for the church building fund. Trying to work into the subject subtly, he asked the farmer, “if you had 100 horses would you give me 50?” the farmer said, “certainly”. The pastor asked, “if you had 100 cows would you give me 50?” The farmer said, “yes”. Then the pastor asked, “if you had 2 pigs would you give me one?” The farmer said, “now cut that out pastor you know I have two pigs.” `We are always willing to give away what we don’t have, until we have it. Living a life of spiritual richness means that we cannot let outward show take the place of inner commitment.

If you’ve got kids in your home, or grandchildren you’ve probably already seen The List. The gift list, what your children want for Christmas and I’m sure most children are told something about the value of the gift being inversely proportional or directly proportional to whether they’ve been naughty or nice, respectively.

Here’s the truth. You’ve already given a lot of money this year, and collectively, as Americans the giving figures are almost beyond belief. Billions, for most of us, a billion has way too many zeroes to the right of the first number to be comprehensible in any way that directly touches our lives. Seeing a billion written out in numbers assures most of us to one simple fact, that’s a whole lot of money. But as far as actually understanding how much it is, it might as well be a jillion or a bazillion or some other meaningless number.

But a billion dollars is a precise figure, and when applied to how much we, as Americans, give away to those in need, it’s really impressive. We Americans have given 1.8 billion to tsunami relief in Asia, 3.1 billion to hurricane relief in New Orleans and that does not include government aid, last year the total charitable giving by Americans including individuals, foundations, bequests and corporations was 248 billion dollars.

This is a good time to celebrate our generosity because during these days before Christmas charitable organizations flood our mailboxes with requests forms to make new donations piggybacking on the spirit of giving that is part of our observation of Christmas. However those who track charitable giving have notice a change in how some money is being directed. Wealthy givers increasingly are giving to such things as funding a hospital wing or scholarship aid, less than 10 % of all giving goes directly to the poor.

Suppose you give a dollar to National Public Radio, which is a nonprofit organization, but it’s also a station that you listen to and enjoy and therefore an entity from which you receive something in return. Is that just as much a good work as giving a dollar to help a hungry person, and if you give that dollar to National Public Radio does that mean you don’t have to give it to the hungry? Does that reflect on your compassion and your faithfulness in following Jesus?

It might be interesting to ask those questions of the apostle Paul, for he was one of the first Christians to thing about the end user of our charitable donations. And our reading today from Philippians is a good place to start, for Paul identifies the Philippians Christians as a generous people. In fact his letter is a kind of thank you note. Paul has had good experiences with the church at Philippi so we can understand why Paul begins by saying, “ I thank God every time I remember you”. Paul appreciates their joy, their support, their friendship and their ministry.

Paul does not answer our questions about where our donations should go, but he does say that it is worth the effort to determine what is best. Paul prays that the Philippians will have an overflowing love that is not indiscriminate but is wise.

So you are thinking about Christmas lists and Christmas gifts, as you should, but let’s extend our advent reflections to consider the following observations:

First, giving something is better than giving nothing. That comes right out of Jesus’ statement that loving our neighbor is second only to loving God. And for some of our neighbors, the only way we can express our love is by giving to them in some way. For Christians, neighbor loving is not optional, so neither is giving!

Paul says that when you give, profit accumulates to your account. Clearly giving something is better than giving nothing, both for the neighbor who is helped and the one who gives and therefore profits before God!

Second, giving and being taken advantage of is better than giving nothing. Paul says that in performing living acts we should make the effort to determine what is best, but there are going to be occasions when we are conned. I give to close to 200 people a year out of our church’s discretionary fund. I know that there are some con artists in there. There is no shame on our church; the shame is on the con artist. The potential for doing good is so strong that the occasional scam should not become an excuse to stop giving.

There are ways to verify the integrity of the individual or group to whom you are giving, but we cannot let the possibility of fraud bring our generosity to a halt. We need to exercise caution with some people, no one likes to be taken advantage of, but we should not be judgmental when we respond to a request for help, for we have not lived in their situation. When in doubt, give.

And thirdly, giving something when you don’t have something to give is better than giving nothing. This gets at the heart of our motivation. Giving, bottom line emerges from gratitude and obedience. We give when we’re grateful and we give whether we have anything to give or not out of obedience. It’s our duty and sacrifice is good for our souls as well as helpful to others.

Now the truth is that not many of us fall into the category of not having anything to give. It’s rather a question of what we can sacrifice or cut out of our lives that might enable us to be more fruitful with our giving.

During Advent everyone is thinking about gifts. Paul did not mean for his text to browbeat people into being better givers. Rather he is wring in the spirit of gratitude, for him it is an opportunity to thank those people for their generosity. He is telling them how they exemplify the principles of Christian giving. And as the year draws to a close Paul is also thanking you for your generosity. Paul was grateful to the Philippians and he would be grateful to us.

During Advent we cultivate a generous and grateful spirit. Paul tells us to try to do and determine what if best. Paul is suggesting that we use our minds and hearts so that when we react in Christian love, we do, as far as we can tell, that which is most needed and really helps.

During Advent Christians around the world celebrate Jesus entering our world as a baby. Heavenly voices proclaim peace on earth, God’s will to all, we mark this season with generosity and love. We show compassion for the poor and outcast, we remind ourselves of God’s design for us living together in peace.

The virtues that make us kind and generous people during this season are the same virtues that are proclaimed year round. They are virtues that connect us to each other, in our homes, in our communities and our world. They offer us a vision of generous lives fully engaged with the whole human family.

And on December 26^th generosity need not end, peace and joy need not be set aside. The gift we give to others each year can be the resolve to hold on to the generosity and nobility of this season for all seasons. Joy to the world, all of us included everyone.

Amen.

Let us pray.