This month we will focus on generosity (and money): Generosity of God, Giving what belongs to God, Loving the ungenerous and Generosity from Poverty.
This is partly because we have been in receipt of a large amount of money (£177,000) in grants to refurbish and extend the Family Centre. In addition another church (St Barnabas in Cambridge) is giving away 10% of its own building fund to other churches, and we may be a recipient of their generosity. My genuine concern in raising this issue is that we heed the following from Psalm 62:10, “Though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them”. In Matthew 17:14-27 (Sun 10 May) we start with the Generosity of God, with the extraordinary example of finding the exact amount of tax owed in the mouth of a fish. In Malachi 3:7-12 (Sun 17 May) we are challenged to give to God what belongs to God. “Doing the maths” in scripture varies from giving 10% (The Old Testament tithe), to giving 50% (John the Baptist: If you have 2 coats give one away) to giving 100% (Jesus: Go sell all you have)In Mark 10:13-27 (Sun 24 May) we are challenged to follow the example of Jesus who was able to love the ungenerous. Fortunately the Spirit of Jesus is available to us on this Pentecost Sunday. In 2 Corinth 8:1-15 (Sun 31 May) we explode the myth that generosity is a luxury that we can ill afford when times are hard. Indeed it is often the most poor who are the most generous. My objective this month is that we each grow in generosity, as a result of growing in understanding of the generous nature of God, and that we are generous not only with our money, but also with our time, attention and attitudes.