Giving and Generosity

I like the word generosity. I don't know what that word brings to your mind, but I see faces. I think of people who have been generous with me. I think of people who have consistently demonstrated a life of generosity. Every person that comes to my mind is someone I have liked, even if I didn't know them very well or maybe at all. Their generosity spoke volumes about who they were.

 I may think of the concept of generosity differently than others. It is my impression that most people might associate generosity with money, or the giving of money. That certainly is one aspect of generosity, but certainly a small part. There are so many ways to be generous. Money sometimes confuses and complicates what generosity really is. It can sometimes get in the way. When I think of generous people who have influenced my life, very few if any that I can remember ever gave me money. I have certainly received some things, but what they represent is more than the thing or any monetary value.

 As I think about it, not many of the people who I think of as generous were people you would consider to be rich or wealthy. They for the most part were or are just average in terms of how much they had or the kind of lifestyle they lived. They were people who liked to give, it was part of who they were. They gave time. They gave compliments. They gave encouragement. They gave a listening ear. They gave an example that I admired. They gave friendship.

 You cannot be a generous person without giving. Generosity is measured by what we give. The great thing is that generosity is not only measured by giving money and things, but by giving who you are. It is those people who give as an expression of their lives, their concern for others, their desire to help that I think of as generous. I have Sunday School teachers in my church who are incredibly generous people. The time they devote to teaching and making a difference is amazing. I know people who spend time with people who can't get out much but just like to be a friend or help out a little. I have a number of people who encourage me often, they may not realize it at the time, maybe they just show up or express something that they may not realize the significance of to me.

I want to be a generous person. I continually have to think beyond myself, my own needs, wants and desires and remind myself that generosity cannot come without giving. I must give part of myself, I must give what others need, I must give what God tells me to give, but I must give. It's a journey that many people are much further along than I am, but I am inspired by what they do and I want to be like them.

Cut and Paste

Recently someone handed me a copy of The Jefferson Bible. If you don't know what that is, you can of course "google it", but is essentially Thomas Jefferson's attempt to "cut and paste" parts of the Bible, specifically what he considered "only the actual words of Jesus" into one volume. All else was deemed fit for the "dunghill". Notions of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, miracles, rampaging through the temple upsetting the money changers tables were all rubbish to Jefferson. It was interesting that I received a copy of this effort because there has been a lot in popular media of late about The Jefferson Bible. Apparently the actual Bible that Jefferson neatly used his razor on to cut out and re-paste the portions he deems authentic to Jesus is currently on display again, after many years, on the second floor of the National Museum of American History in Washington D.C. which is probably why it has once again gotten some attention.

It comes at a time when the present dominating generation, the millennials, is coming to center stage in American culture. Forget baby boomers, we have passed from the scene and as our collective purchasing power and bank accounts dwindle in retirement, we no longer have the influence and attention that was for so long ours alone. The millennials have overtaken us as the largest generation in history and with that our influence.

One of the characteristics of this millennial generation is they take a very eclectic view of life. They are not loyal to any particular brand or system, but take from each what they like and leave the rest. They cut and paste life as they see fit. If it "works for me", it is adopted as their worldview and woe be the one who suggests otherwise.

You can see why The Jefferson Bible would fit this generation so well. If you can cut out the parts of the Bible that you like, leaving behind the offensive and unpopular teachings that are no longer welcome in the current public discourse, and paste them into a much smaller, less offensive package, why not? Don't think it will stop with just selectively lifting favorite Bible passages, but add to that any other attractive notion religious or not and meld it all together. Why not? You aren't breaking any laws, at least civil ones, and if it "works for me", so be it. The millennials are pragmatists if nothing else.

If all this seems silly to be writing about, you just have to follow the ramifications of this worldview a little ways to find out it is in fact, not silly. Read Andrew Sullivan's: Christianity In Crisis, http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/04/01/andrew-sullivan-christianity-in-crisis.html if you want a sample of how this plays out.

To be honest, Andrew Sullivan makes some valid points. The boomers have fumbled the Christianity ball badly at times and we have made some horrific hypocritical blunders that pretty much has shot us in the foot while it was in our mouth too many times. So we look pretty weak insisting that we are still right and that the whole Bible is still the only way to go. In the eyes of the millennials, we have tried to keep the whole law and have broken all of it. We are kicked to the side of the road while they march on without us.

The problem is, the cut and paste approach doesn't work no matter how attractive it is. An analogy might be to select your favorite puzzle pieces from as many different puzzle boxes and attempt to meld them into one coherent picture. I may have just described modern art in general, but it really doesn't make a picture that works because the pieces just don't fit together.

We know this, but our breath is wasted it seems trying to warn those who take that approach to assembling a worldview. Truth be told, they are OK with the pieces not fitting together. They don't need to. You just switch from one favorite segment to another when the situation calls for it. You don't want everything to connect because that would keep you from rearranging the individual parts when needed or discarding them when no longer popular.

So, to close, I offer up that patience is needed. Sooner or later it will become evident that the cut and paste approach is a failure. Compassionate responses to those who have embraced this flawed approach to worldview will be necessary to win the refugees back. The "I told you so" approach will only turn them away again. Maybe in this both boomers and millennials can find redeemption.