10-27-2002
Little Chad was a shy, quiet boy. Day after day, his mother agonized when she watched the children coming home from school. While they laughed and talked to each other and hung onto each other, Chad always lagged behind - alone. One day, Chad came home and told his mother that he'd like to make Valentines for everyone in his class. Her heart sank. She thought, "I wish he wouldn't do that! They never include him in anything." Nevertheless, she decided she would go along with her son. So she purchased the paper and glue and crayons, and for three weeks, night after night, Chad painstakingly made 35 valentines. Valentine's Day dawned, and Chad was beside himself with excitement as he started out for school. That afternoon, Chad's mother placed cookies and milk on the table. Then she looked out the window and saw the children coming home from school. There they came, laughing and having the best time. And, as always, there was Chad in the rear, alone. But walking a little faster than usual. His arms were empty. Obviously, he had not received any valentines, and she fully expected him to break into tears when he got inside. She choked back her own tears, saying as he came in, "Mommy has some cookies and milk for you." But he hardly heard her words. He just marched right on by, his face aglow. And all he could say was: "Not a one. Not a one." Her heart sank. And then, he added: "I didn't forget a one, Mommy. Not a single one."--Dale Galloway, Dream a New Dream: How to Rebuild a Broken Life (Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers, 1975), 77-8.How many of us can say the same?
Do you remember several years ago when there was a cranberry scare in the weeks before Thanksgiving? It was alleged that a toxic pesticide had tainted the cranberry crop. The company involved admitted no guilt so there was no recall, but there was a panic as people left their sauce unopened. A good friend of mine, currently a leader in our national church, was a young person then, and her family was the family in one local congregation who always received the annual Thanksgiving basket. The charity of that church went to her home each year in the form of canned goods. She tells the story that that year, her family received, besides the usual turkey and other items, 57 cans of cranberry sauce. Charity is giving away what we do not want and cannot use, to salve something in the human conscience slightly akin to compassion, but missing the mark with a sort of sinful tokenism which keeps the person receiving the charity in their proper place
A long time ago a preacher observed that the only way you can get 500 people to LIE at the same time is to get them to sing a hymn: "Take my silver and my gold, Not one mite would I withhold." Then pass the offering plate.
A teacher asked a small boy a question: "If you have two apples, and I ask for one, how many will you have left?" Without hesitation the boy replied: "Two." This is not mistaken mathematics, but a basic mistaken attitude toward life: What's mine is mine, and sharing is an option. But Matthew 10:8 says, "The gift you have received, give as a gift."
Question….with the present state of economic affairs, many have cut back. But have we cut back on the things that really hurt us, or do we cut back in a way that really only protects our comfortable life style?
It would only take about $65 billion to eliminate most of the world's poverty. If every church member tithed, we would have that much with an additional $17 billion left over, all the while maintaining church activities at their current levels.-- Wesleyan Advocate,October 1994,quoted in Current Thoughts & Trends,December 1994, 30.
Do you remember several years ago when there was a cranberry scare in the weeks before Thanksgiving? It was alleged that a toxic pesticide had tainted the cranberry crop. The company involved admitted no guilt so there was no recall, but there was a panic as people left their sauce unopened. A good friend of mine, currently a leader in our national church, was a young person then, and her family was the family in one local congregation who always received the annual Thanksgiving basket. The charity of that church went to her home each year in the form of canned goods. She tells the story that that year, her family received, besides the usual turkey and other items, 57 cans of cranberry sauce. Charity is giving away what we do not want and cannot use, to salve something in the human conscience slightly akin to compassion, but missing the mark with a sort of sinful tokenism which keeps the person receiving the charity in their proper place
A long time ago a preacher observed that the only way you can get 500 people to LIE at the same time is to get them to sing a hymn: "Take my silver and my gold, Not one mite would I withhold." Then pass the offering plate.
A teacher asked a small boy a question: "If you have two apples, and I ask for one, how many will you have left?" Without hesitation the boy replied: "Two." This is not mistaken mathematics, but a basic mistaken attitude toward life: What's mine is mine, and sharing is an option. But Matthew 10:8 says, "The gift you have received, give as a gift."
Question….with the present state of economic affairs, many have cut back. But have we cut back on the things that really hurt us, or do we cut back in a way that really only protects our comfortable life style?
It would only take about $65 billion to eliminate most of the world's poverty. If every church member tithed, we would have that much with an additional $17 billion left over, all the while maintaining church activities at their current levels.-- Wesleyan Advocate,October 1994,quoted in Current Thoughts & Trends,December 1994, 30.
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