Open (Ordinary Time - Day 7)

2 Corinthians 9:1-15

As I studied today's passage, music played in the background just as it always does. One of the songs on the playlist was by Mumford and Sons, and it's called "Hold on to What you Believe." The second verse says, "We're young open flowers in the windy fields of this war-torn world."

There are wars going on all around us and inside us. They are physical, mental, and spiritual. Yet, we are still young, open flowers, open to the wind of possibility and purpose. 

We're all good at something. We've been hard-wired to love the world and its people in our unique ways. Some of us do it through painting. Some of us do it through homeless ministries. Some of us do it through mentoring, and some through acting. These talents and gifts burst out of us every chance they get, and they pollinate the world around us. 

The wind doesn't discriminate in where it decides to blow pollen around. Wherever we are planted is where we grow and produce fruit, and help sustain the life around us. 

Paul is writing to the people of Achaia province to let them know they have gifts to give to the world, specifically their poor brothers and sisters a province over. He tells them to spend a good amount of time individually thinking about what they want to give. Once they each have decided what they want to give, they will pool it all together and send it as a relief offering to their desperate friends. 

Paul reminds them that giving is intended to be lavish and delightful, not a stingy burden. He also reminds them of the process over the last year of coming up with a plan, running into obstacles, and finally coming to a place where they are ready to execute. 

The audience that Paul is writing to has blessed extravagantly. They have everything they need, and probably everything they want. It sounds like they are a pretty high-end bunch of church folks. Yet, they can't stand to see their neighbors with nothing. They are ready to give abundantly out of their resources to meet the needs of their friends. These gifts aren't limited to money, but whatever each person decides to give in their own way.

Whatever our resources may look like, we've been handed extravagance. We have something valuable, something worth contributing to the world. Some of us are blessed with abundant finances, and some of us are blessed with abundant peace. Some of us are blessed with amazing voices, and some of us are blessed with unique ways of looking at life. "We are young open flowers in the windy fields of this war torn world." 

When our gifts and talents touch the world around us, sacred happens. Heaven meets earth. When we're able to share a song with a friend who needs a pick-me-up, give some donuts to a man who's hungry, contribute our mechanical skills to someone who has a car that's giving them grief, we're creating sacred spaces where the humane meets the divine, where what was once considered secular is now considered holy ground. We can take off our shoes, take off the burdens we've been carrying around for so long, and just enjoy the extravagance of what we've been blessed with. 

Giving is about acknowledging what we have and what we're good at, and giving it away, knowing that we have an unlimited supply. The results from this are transformed lives and gratitude for what God has done, what God is doing, and what God is going to do. We've been hard-wired to love people extravagantly, just as we're loved extravagantly - to give out of the abundance of our gifts and our talents.