Who is going to be first in line to give up all your possessions? You? How about you? You?
I only ask because we have heard many, many times in the Gospels, quite recently, that this giving way of our stuff - this is the cost of discipleship. And we know the reasons - our stuff, our collections, our accumulation, cannot hold power over us, cannot be the reason for the decisions we make. Cannot stand between us and God and most of all our stuff is not God.
When we have to choose, I’m pretty sure we will always be divided over this reflection – What is God’s, what is mine? What have I earned? or what has God given me? What shall I keep, what shall I give away?
This is more than an exercise with Maria Kondo, i.e.,
does this object give me joy?
This is your life beloved – does your life give you joy?
Really, I often wish discipleship was like a set of questions: if we choose option A over option B, there will be a light that turns off or a bell that rings or maybe even a sense of peace, but I don’t think there is any guarantee any of that will happen.
Perhaps then, it might be better if we consider we do get
a lot of choices in our lives. If we remember that for many in our world there are no choices, there are no options A or B – it’s not what kind of soup do we want to eat, it’s can we eat today? The Gospel reminds us beloved, the perspective on this side of poverty is very different than from the other side.
So then, when we talk about wealth and privilege and what we are to share out of abundance -- our giving must be
sacrificial. There is no way around it. Why? We need to identify clearly with those who are suffering for want of anything: possessions, food, love, freedom and peace. That is the cost of discipleship. That is following Jesus. Sacrificial giving is what keeps us honest, vulnerable and humble, the basic qualities of discipleship.
Alison Schultz+
Priest in Charge
