June 30, 2024
Indianola Presbyterian Church, Columbus
“Giving From Abundance”
Sermon by Rev. Trip Porch
June 30, 2024 Based on 2 Corinthians 8:1-15 MSG
I'm going to start this sermon from a place I never imagined beginning a sermon: The middle of the Nevada desert at a modern-day Woodstock festival, Burning Man.
Have you ever heard of Burning Man?
I'm sure by now you have. It’s a week-long festival out in the middle of the Nevada desert, known for its wild costumes and incredible art installations. A modern-day Woodstock focused on "community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance.”
I learned recently about one of the core things that makes Burning Man a transformative experience for those that attend… Once you get there, the whole event functions on a culture of gift giving. No money changes hands. There's no buying or selling within the festival itself. Instead, people freely share. Giving their talents, their time, their creativity, their food – all to a temporary city fueled by generosity.
Interactive Art installations that have taken years of preparation rise from the sand and you are invited to come in and stay as long as you like, people wear elaborate costumes with built in giveaways to share with people they meet on the “playa”, and meal booths everywhere, where people prepare for months to give food away freely. It’s not a system based on bartering, there is no expectation to get anything back. People come to burning man prepared to give and share something. And they come trusting that the community will meet their needs too.
It’s a testament to humanity’s core need to care for others, form connection and foster community not through transactions, but through giving. It is a culture so profound it has made it into one of the core principals of the festival… and it’s an experience participants say not only brings them back to this one-week experience, but actually shapes the culture of how they live back in their normal lives… how they give, how they share off themselves
This idea of a culture based on giving resonates deeply with the message of our scripture today where Paul urges the Corinthians, who as he says excel in many things… to also excel in the "grace of giving.” Which for Paul is rooted in Christ who he sees as possessing everything in abundance, grace, mercy, love, and giving it all away to each person he met for free.
God's love for us isn't a transaction. It's a gift – the ultimate gift, its grace, freely offered to the world with nothing expected in return. Paul thinks this gift should completely shape how we live, leading us to share, to give of ourselves without expecting anything back, to give from our abundance to meet the needs of others.
It’s this last point he makes that I find interesting.
Giving should come from our places of abundance. You shouldn’t give from places where you are scarce, you shouldn’t give from places where it would hurt to give, you should give from places in your life that are overflowing. As he says… your surplus matches others deficit, their surplus matches your deficit. In the end everyone comes out even.
What Paul is suggesting is a change in culture, to structure our life not on greed, or self-focused hoarding, or transactional living, but on gift-giving, on sharing, on seeing the needs and deficits of others, and seeing what abundance you may have to fill their deficit, to meet their needs.
I love this concept, because not everyone has money to give, but everyone has an abundance of some kind to share.
What abundance do you have in your life that you can share to meet others deficit.
Maybe it’s your time you can give… maybe it’s your expertise and knowledge, maybe it’s your social capitol the people and influencers you know, maybe it’s food, maybe your kindness, maybe it’s your enthusiasm, maybe it’s your prayers, maybe it’s your love. Maybe, like me, it’s envelopes of seeds.
For the past five years, I have had a bin of unopened vegetable, fruit, and herb seeds I had been hoarding. Some of them I bought each spring, hoping to plant and never did, others I was given as a gift from Brittany’s Aunt who is a prolific gardener. Over time my seed bin was filled to bursting to a point that I realized… I will never plant these seeds; they will go to waste here… I have so, so many, I should give them away. That was my idea, but I never did. At least until I found an old wooden medicine cabinet someone was giving away on the curb and I pictured it… I could use this to make a seed library, like the little book libraries people have. Someone gave away their surplus, an old medicine cabinet, and it inspired me to give my surplus… my seeds. I fiddled with the project over the next year in my garage and basement. I found pallet wood someone was giving away to make a roof, I asked my neighbors if anyone had left over shingles to give, and they did. And ultimately the seed library came together. I put my seeds in, and the presence of this inspired my other neighbors to put theirs in.
Everyone has a surplus of some kind. It can be as simple as offering a helping hand to a neighbor, volunteering your time at a local soup kitchen, or simply paying a genuine compliment. These acts of generosity, big or small, create ripples of connection that can transform our communities.
Just like at Burning Man, where a shared spirit strengthens the experience for everyone, so too does generosity build bridges between us. It fosters empathy, compassion, and a sense of belonging. It allows us to see beyond ourselves and recognize the needs of others.
In our increasingly transactional world, where everything seems to have a price tag, this spirit of giving becomes even more important. It's a beautiful rebellion against a culture of "getting" and a powerful reminder of the joy of "giving."
Remember, the Bible tells us that it is "more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35). Giving doesn't diminish us; it enriches us. It allows us to connect with something larger than ourselves, to be part of something bigger. It allows us to embody the very essence of Christ's love – a love that is freely given, without expectation of return.
So, lets live our lives in response to this free gift of God’s love.
Let us pay attention to what surplus we have. And let’s give from those places. Let's look for opportunities to share our time, our talents, our resources – not because we have to, but because we are called to do so. Let's show the world the transformative power of generosity, one act of kindness at a time. Until the culture and economy of our late-stage capitalism world changes because of our small actions.
Amen.
WE GATHER IN AWE AND PRAISE
PRELUDE "Because I Have Been Given Much" Phillip Landgrave
arr. Summer Decker Nelson
INTROIT “This is The Day” Pablo Sosa
WELCOME Rev. Trip Porch
One: This is the day that the Lord has made
All: Let us rejoice and be glad in it
*CALL TO WORSHIP by Thom Schuman
One: With friends and strangers, with family and neighbors, we gather:
All: Come among us, Healing God,
One: with that generous love which never ends.
With faith reaching out to touch, with hearts straining to trust, we hope:
All: Come among us, Friend of the broken,
One: with your compassion which makes us whole.
With word and wonder, with silence and song, we wait:
All: Come among us, God of abundance, to lift us to our feet to follow you…
*HYMN 397 “O Look and Wonder” MIREN QUÉ BUENO
*PRAYER OF CONFESSION Marie Boozer
All too often, God of Excellence, it is the hem of sin we cling to, letting it drag us through the mud of fear and failures. You offer us that love which will always be with us, but we find it difficult to share it with those who need it most. You fill us with an abundance of gifts, but we think we need them all for ourselves.
Forgive us, God of Gentle Hope. You do not keep a list of all that we have done wrong, but erase our failings and foolishness, writing a new ending for our lives. You touch us with your grace, you lift us to our feet, you strengthen us so we may follow our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, in service to all your children.
Silence is kept
Amen.
*ASSURANCE OF PARDON
*RESPONSE OF PRAISE 695 “Change My Heart, O God” CHANGE MY HEART
*PASSING OF THE PEACE
One: The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all,
All: And also with you.
WE LISTEN FOR GOD’S WORD
ANTHEM “A Call to Silence” Craig Courtney
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
SCRIPTURE 2 Corinthians 8:1-15 MSG
Now, friends, I want to report on the surprising and generous ways in which God is working in the churches in Macedonia province. Fierce troubles came down on the people of those churches, pushing them to the very limit. The trial exposed their true colors: They were incredibly happy, though desperately poor. The pressure triggered something totally unexpected: an outpouring of pure and generous gifts. I was there and saw it for myself. They gave offerings of whatever they could—far more than they could afford!—pleading for the privilege of helping out in the relief of poor Christians.
This was totally spontaneous, entirely their own idea, and caught us completely off guard. What explains it was that they had first given themselves unreservedly to God and to us. The other giving simply flowed out of the purposes of God working in their lives. That’s what prompted us to ask Titus to bring the relief offering to your attention, so that what was so well begun could be finished up. You do so well in so many things—you trust God, you’re articulate, you’re insightful, you’re passionate, you love us—now, do your best in this, too.
I’m not trying to order you around against your will. But by bringing in the Macedonians’ enthusiasm as a stimulus to your love, I am hoping to bring the best out of you. You are familiar with the generosity of our Master, Jesus Christ. Rich as he was, he gave it all away for us—in one stroke he became poor, and we became rich.
So here’s what I think: The best thing you can do right now is to finish what you started last year and not let those good intentions grow stale. Your heart’s been in the right place all along. You’ve got what it takes to finish it up, so go to it. Once the commitment is clear, you do what you can, not what you can’t. The heart regulates the hands. This isn’t so others can take it easy while you sweat it out. No, you’re shoulder to shoulder with them all the way, your surplus matching their deficit, their surplus matching your deficit. In the end you come out even. As it is written, “Nothing left over to the one with the most, nothing lacking to the one with the least.”
Holy Wisdom, Holy Word
Thanks be to God
CHILDREN’S MESSAGE Trip Porch
SERMON
WE RESPOND TO GOD’S WORD
*HYMN 716 “God, Whose Giving Knows No Ending” BEACH SPRING
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE followed by The Lord’s Prayer
TIME OFFERING online giving is available at www. indianolapres.org/give
OFFERTORY "Give, Said the Little Stream" William B. Bradbury
arr. Wilford Andersen and Bonnie Heidenreich
*OFFERTORY RESPONSE 710 “We Lift Our Voices” OFFERING
*PRAYER OF DEDICATION
For the wondrous gift of life, we are thankful, O God. Your generous outpouring of grace reminds us of the fruitful life we are called to bear. May the gifts we share: our time, our labor, our money, our love, embody our desire to share and contribute to your coming reign among us. Amen.
*HYMN 762 “When the Poor Ones” (Cuando el pobre) EL CAMINO
TIME OF COMMUNITY SHARING
CHARGE AND BENEDICTION
POSTLUDE "God, Whose Giving Knows No Ending" BEACH SPRING
arr. Anna Laura Page
Acknowledgments:Unless otherwise indicated, all texts and music are printed and broadcast under OneLicense.net license #A-702452