Gordon E. Ellis
March 28, 2004
MORE GOOD NEWS FROM LAKE MOORE: Mrs. Jensen’s Extravagant Gift
Well, it’s been a QUIET week in my hometown, Lake Moore, that tiny village of 300 that sits on the MAP where Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire all CONVERGE into a single DOT. SPRING is springing, and pretty soon, the ICE will be gone from the lake. The BIRDS are coming back too, and the days are getting longer. Of course, spring ALSO brings the annual SALAMANDER migration, especially on RAINY nights. In fact, it happened just the other night. The McKnight family was coming over the MOUNTAIN from the spring concert at the high school, and Betsy Johnson flagged them down. She ran over to their car and said: Slow down and watch out for the salamanders. They’re crossing the road just ahead. There must be HUNDREDS of them, maybe THOUSANDS, and SOME are quite LARGE. Well, sure enough, just up the road, they came upon HUNDREDS and hundreds of bright orange salamanders crossing the road. Now, they aren’t IGUANAS or anything, but SOME of them ARE 6 or 8 inches long. And it’s QUITE a SIGHT. THAT’S why, every year, WHOEVER sees the annual salamander migration is supposed to CALL around and let people know. Apparently, Betsy Johnson DID, because it wasn’t LONG before CARS started coming up the hill and parking across the road. Not only do townspeople enjoy WATCHING the migration each year, BUT they take it upon themselves to PROTECT the poor little critters. After all, more than HALF their population can be wiped out on busy roads each year.
Spring ALSO brings the annual STEWARDSHIP Campaign at the Lake Moore Community Church. And THIS year, they did it a little DIFFERENT. Pastor Peters sent out a Stewardship TEAM, whose JOB it was to go OUT on Stewardship Sunday, EACH with a handful of PLEDGE cards, and VISIT all the members and friends of the Lake Moore Community Church, seeking FINANCIAL pledges for the coming year. And TO their surprise, it DIDN’T turn out to be a CHORE for the Stewardship Team, but a FASCINATING, EYE-OPENING experience. And THAT’S because the ACT of being ASKED for money EVOKES from people their TRUE feelings about the CHURCH and their FAITH. SO, the JOYFUL rejoiced; the self-centered RESISTED; and the UNHAPPY complained. And the Stewardship Team found it INTERESTING to hear people’s TRUE feelings.
Well, Deacon Tom McKnight was ON that Stewardship Team. And when he brought his pledge cards back to Pastor Peters, he said: Pastor, I will NEVER forget the TWO visits I made, back-to-back, on Stewardship Sunday. ONE was to John Little, over on Old Winchester Road. As you know, he’s the Chief Development Officer of a MAJOR charity, and he commutes into BOSTON several times a week. Well, I thought to myself as I got out of the car: “Boy, THIS is going to be a piece of cake. This guy KNOWS the meaning of GIVING, and he’s SURE to respond with the SAME kind of generosity that HE counts on in HIS work.” BUT, to my ASTONISHMENT, he wouldn’t even let me in the DOOR. He opened his front door, I swear, NO more than an INCH. Then, he begrudgingly took the pledge card through the crack, and scribbled this TINY little PITTANCE of a pledge on it. THEN, he SHOVED the pledge card BACK at me, like I was a bellboy waiting for a TIP, and he CLOSED the door in my face. I’m telling you: it was most discouraging experience I EVER had! BUT, thank GOD that my NEXT visit was to old Mrs. Jensen in that dirty little APARTMENT next to the Lake Moore Inn. Now, I KNEW that she was an elderly WIDOW on a FIXED income, so I didn’t EXPECT much from HER. BUT, when I told her that I was from the CHURCH, she said that she was PLEASED to see me. She invited me IN for a chat and some coffee with HER and her CAT. And she told me about her great APPRECIATION for ALL that the church has MEANT to her through the years, and ALL that it DOES for her NOW. Anyway, when the time CAME for me to pass her a pledge card, she TOOK it from my hand with a big SMILE on her face. And do you know that she almost DOUBLED her pledge? I mean: I was SHOCKED, because I KNOW that’s going to mean a HUGE sacrifice for her. But THAT’S what she DID, and I CAN’T get over it. LOOK at that pledge! Pastor, WHAT makes a person GIVE so extravagantly and sacrificially? Well, Pastor Peters THOUGHT for a moment, and then he said: Instead of talking about it NOW, Tom, I’d like to PREACH about it.
Later that day, Pastor Peters went to the NURSING home up in Winchester to lead a COMMUNION service. Now, it had been a BUSY week, and his SERMON still wasn’t done. He had LOTS of PHONE calls to make and PEOPLE to visit. Quite honestly, going to the nursing home was the LAST thing he wanted to DO that day. Well, after leading a brief communion service in the activity room, he took communion, as he always did, to several patients in their rooms. One was Lucille Titus, a woman who is almost blind, and VERY hard of hearing. Lucille has outlived her husband and most of her friends. Her health is failing rapidly. And now, she’s confined to a small room, cut off from the world. Well, IN Lucille’s room, things began quite BADLY. Pastor Peters TRIED to be cheerful, but couldn’t understand ANYTHING Lucille said. SO, he quickly fumbled through the communion service, accidentally spilling grape juice on his pants. THEN, he closed the service with a prayer, patted Lucille on the back and told her that God loved her. And THEN, with a sigh of relief, he started for the door. Well, to his surprise, Lucille THEN began to PRAY, and he could understood every WORD. But he wasn’t sure if it was meant for HIM, or for GOD, or IF, in HER mind, he WAS God. But she said: Thank you, God, for being so GOOD to me. Thank you that I am not forgotten. Thank you for ALWAYS loving me. Well stunned, Pastor Peters walked BACK to his chair and SAT there in silence for a LONG time. Pretty soon, he REALIZED that he actually didn’t WANT to leave. After all, THIS had been his first SACRED moment all week, and he KNEW that this woman had MUCH to TEACH him. She may be BLIND, but SHE could SEE what HE could NOT. (M. Craig Barnes, When God Interrupts, Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996, p. 147.) And IN that chair, Pastor Peters FORMULATED his sermon in reply to Tom’s question: Pastor, WHAT makes a person GIVE so extravagantly and sacrificially?
He decided to preach on John 12:1-8, the story of Jesus having dinner with His FRIENDS, Mary, Martha and Lazarus. And he said: Like MANY stories in John’s Gospel, things happen in this story on 2 LEVELS. Whenever we read JOHN’S gospel, we need to wear BIFOCALS. We need to see what’s happening on the surface, but we ALSO need to try to discern what’s occurring at a DEEPER level. Now, on the surface, it’s the story of Jesus eating DINNER in the home of Lazarus, Mary, and Martha. And suddenly, in the MIDDLE of dinner, MARY takes a bottle of VERY costly perfume and SPREADS it on the FEET of Jesus, then WIPES His feet with her HAIR. CLEARLY, it’s meant as an act of EXTRAVAGANT devotion, because the COST of that perfume was about 300 denarii, or a YEAR’S wages. It would be like US spending a YEAR’S worth of grocery money on a BIRTHDAY present for a friend. And Judas, the group’s treasurer, gets upset. He points out that their MISSION budget has been seriously DAMAGED by this act. This money, he says, COULD have been given to the POOR. Well, that’s the SURFACE story. UNDERNEATH, there’s DEEPER meaning. First, John tells us that Passover is NEAR, obviously a foreshadowing of Jesus’ DEATH. Then, he notes that LAZARUS is one of those eating at the table, and LAZARUS is an AMAZING dinner guest, because HE is the ONLY person, other than Jesus, who ever spent time DEAD and in a TOMB. HE’S the one Jesus RAISED from the DEAD in the previous chapter of John’s gospel. SO, his PRESENCE here is a SYMBOL for death and resurrection. ALSO: the WORD used here for DINNER is used ELSEWHERE in John’s Gospel to refer to Jesus’ LAST SUPPER with His disciples. And when Mary WIPES the feet of Jesus with her HAIR, that VERB is the SAME verb that’s used to describe Jesus WASHING the feet of His disciples. SO, as you can see, things are MORE than they APPEAR to be on the SURFACE. And of course, the most IMPORTANT difference between the SURFACE meaning and the DEEPER meaning is what Mary’s extravagant act MEANS. On the surface, it’s a well-meaning, but EXPENSIVE, act of WORSHIP. Underneath the surface, however, she is ANOINTING Jesus for His BURIAL. She KNOWS that Jesus is ABOUT to enter Jerusalem for the LAST time. And she UNDERSTANDS that, THERE, He will sacrifice His LIFE. But, ONLY Mary comprehends this truth. And THAT’S why she breaks out that COSTLY perfume: to MARK the occasion, and make it HOLY.
You see, said Pastor Peters, I believe that what MAKES people GIVE so EXTRAVAGANTLY, and so SACRIFICIALLY, is that they somehow SEE things more DEEPLY than OTHER people do. They somehow see what’s happening BENEATH life’s surface. They somehow SEE with the eyes of FAITH, which is DEEPER than how we FEEL at any given MOMENT. And that ALLOWS us to LIVE differently, and GIVE differently.
It’s summed up by Gerald Sittser, a professor at Whitworth College. Several years ago, in a tragic auto accident, his wife, his mother, and his daughter were ALL killed by a drunk driver. And IN his book, A Grace Disguised, Sittser TALKS about his pain and struggle, his rage and grief, AND his deep and abiding sense of LOSS. BUT, he ALSO talks of his deepening FAITH. And he writes: Yet the grief I feel is SWEET as well as bitter. I still HAVE a sorrowful soul; yet I wake up every morning JOYFUL, EAGER for what the new day will bring. NEVER have I felt as much PAIN as I have in the last 3 years; yet NEVER have I experienced as much PLEASURE in simply being ALIVE and living an ORDINARY life. NEVER have I felt so BROKEN, yet NEVER have I been so WHOLE... What I ONCE considered mutually exclusive - sorrow and joy, pain and pleasure, death and life - have become PARTS of a greater WHOLE. My SOUL has been STRETCHED. (Gerald Sittser, A Grace Disguised, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998, pp. 179-180.) Friends: when we view our lives from THIS perspective, life takes on a VERY different MEANING, and we are FREED to LIVE more FULLY and GIVE more FREELY. Do you see what I MEAN? People who SEE more deeply than just the SURFACE of life REALIZE that there is MUCH to be grateful FOR, EVEN when our lives have been VERY difficult and trying. But they can somehow see LIFE, and God’s GOODNESS and LOVE, more CLEARLY. And PART of that realization is HOW much JOY and contentment and PEACE can be found in the GIVING of ourselves and WHAT we have. It can be an incredibly MOVING and JOYOUS experience. And THEN, to see the NEW LIFE and JOY that OUR giving offers to OTHERS makes it even MORE precious. SO, WHAT makes a person GIVE so extravagantly, and even sacrificially? I believe it is their ability to SEE things more DEEPLY than others do, and see BENEATH the surface of life.
I had an experience of this recently, said Pastor Peters. Periodically, on Friday mornings, I get a VISITOR at my office door, a member of the AA group that meets in our church on Thursday nights. Now, it’s only a TINY group, 5 or 6 people, but occasionally, they take up a COLLECTION for the use of the room, and one of them will come by my office on Friday with an envelope of RENT money collected by the group. And it’s never a LOT of money, usually only $10 or $15, because, after all, SEVERAL of these people have very difficult lives. Some have lost jobs. Some have lost families. And of course, ALL of them struggle with addiction. BUT, they pass the hat, and toss in ones and fives and change.
Well, ONE Friday morning, back on the week before Thanksgiving, there was a KNOCK on my door, and a member of our AA group was holding an envelope as usual. As he handed it to me, he said: There’s a little EXTRA in the envelope THIS time, Pastor. And sure enough, the envelope was CRAMMED with wrinkled $50 bills, totaling over $2000. And WITH the money was a NOTE. It read: This is for your Capital Fund Drive with thanksgiving to GOD, and to this CHURCH, for the MANY and abundant BLESSINGS that we CONTINUALLY receive. And it was signed: Your Thursday night AA group. And you know: AS I put that money into the safe, I noticed that the ENVELOPE had a VERY fragrant odor, as IF it been ANOINTED with VERY costly perfume..
Well, that’s the Good News from Lake Moore, where ALL the women are strong, all the MEN are good-looking, and all the CHILDREN are ABOVE average. Amen.
With thanks to Thomas G. Long, Holy Adoration, from Pulpit Resource, April 1, 2001.