Ecclesiastes 11:1-8
March 24, 2013
Send out your bread upon the waters,
for after many days you will
get it back.
Divide your means seven ways, or even eight,
for you do not know what
disaster may happen on earth.
When clouds are full,
they empty rain on the
earth;
whether a tree falls to
the south or to the north,
in the place where
the tree falls, there it will lie.
Whoever observes the wind will not sow;
and whoever regards the
clouds will not reap.
Just as you do not know how the breath comes to the bones
in the mother’s womb,
so you do not know the
work of God,
who makes
everything.
In the morning sow your
seed, and at evening do not let your hands be idle; for you do not know which
will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.
Light is sweet, and it is
pleasant for the eyes to see the sun.
Even those who live for
many years should rejoice in them all; yet let them remember that the days of
darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity.
That opening phrase from our passage is powerful:
Send out your bread upon the
waters,
for
after many days you will get it back.
Divide your means seven ways, or even
eight,
for
you do not know what disaster may happen on earth.
It’s a passage that tells us that one of the most
important things in life is learning to be generous in everything. The passage
guides us by saying, in a poetic way, that if we cast what we have out into the
world, it may even come back to benefit us. And when we give, give broadly so
that we can make a difference in places that we didn’t even know needed our
help. In essence, we need to take what we have and share it all around—seven or
even eight ways—so that we give in time, effort, attitude, speech, and money.
What does it mean to have this kind of spirit of
generosity in all of life? It means to be ready at all times and in all
situations to give how God calls us to give. Back in World War II, a badly
wounded B-17 bomber sputtered over Germany, trying to make it back to the coast
after being terribly damaged by heavy artillery. Half the crew on the plane was
wounded, and one was dead. The pilot, 21-year-old, former West Virginia farm boy
Charles Brown, and co-pilot, Pinky Luke, looked out the left side windows of
their plane in horror. There, flying three feet above their wing, was a German
Messerschmitt ready to pull back and open fire. They were certainly going to
die.
Luke said, “My God, this is a nightmare.” Brown replied,
“He’s going to destroy us.” Then something odd happened. The pilot of the
Messerschmitt nodded to them and motioned for them to follow. Brown and Luke
were dumbfounded.
Rewind to fifteen minutes earlier. German Luftwaffe air
ace, 2nd Lt. Franz Stigler, stood by his Messerschmitt, smoking a
cigarette, when an odd noise caused him to look over to his right. An American
B-17 bomber flew by, barely scraping the treetops. Flicking his cigarette away,
and saluting the ground crew who looked on in stunned silence, Stigler climbed
into his plane, started the engine, and taxied to the runway. His mind was on
three things: avenging his younger brother, August’s, death a year earlier;
taking down a dreaded bomber like the ones that had killed friends and family
on bombing runs; and getting his last remaining “kill” that would earn him the
Knight’s Cross, a medal officially recognizing him as one of the top pilots in
the Nazi Luftwaffe.
He gunned the engine, as the plane climbed, so he could catch
up to the B-17. There it was in his sights. He drew closer, finger on the
trigger of his guns. One little squeeze and the plane would plunge in a
fireball. He readied to open fire, but then became slightly puzzled. Why wasn’t
the tail gunner on the B-17 firing back? As he drew in closer he realized that
the tail gunner was dead. He then wondered why no other guns were firing. He
pulled up alongside and could see into the plane through its shredded sides.
The crewmen were ignoring him as they desperately tended to their crewmates’
wounds. Pulling up to the front, he looked at the pilot and co-pilot, and saw
terror in their eyes. Stigler realized that if he shot this plane down, it would
be murder, not duty.
Holding his rosary in his hand, and praying for guidance,
he motioned for the pilot to follow him. Slowly he led them through German
territory toward the North Sea, protecting them from German artillery. It
wasn’t as odd a sight as you might think. The Germans had regularly repaired
downed B-17s for training. It would have looked to soldiers on the ground as
though the Germans were flying a downed American plane to a Luftwaffe base.
Still, if anyone decided to report Stigler for this, or even investigate it, he
would be court-marshaled and mostly likely shot. What became clear to Stigler,
though, was that protecting these American soldiers was his duty, a duty given
by God.
Eventually he got the plane to the coast, and with
salutes back and forth, managed to send them off with a prayer of blessing. The
plane did make it back to England with only one of its four engines working, a
shot off tail-rudder, and one landing wheel. Brown, Luke, and the rest of the
crew would be grateful for the rest of their lives to this mysterious German
pilot.
Fast-forward fifty years. Charles Brown had always
wondered what had happened to this brave German pilot. Had he been shot down in
battle? Did he get court-marshaled? Was he still alive? Periodically he had
tried to find out through veteran’s groups, but could get no information. In
1990 he got an idea. He put an ad in a German paper, looking for information on
the pilot. A surprised and delighted Stigler eventually saw the ad and
responded.
After the war, Stigler had moved from Germany to
Vancouver, B.C. He had become a successful businessman there. Upon receiving
the ad from friends in Germany, he contacted Brown by letter, suggesting that
they meet in the summer in Florida. He had also always wondered whether the
plane had made it back to England, and, if so, what had happened to that pilot.
Brown couldn’t wait and called Stigler immediately. Eventually they did meet
face-to-face in a Florida hotel, and from there became best friends.
Their families vacationed together, the two of them
played golf together, took fishing trips together, and they also managed to
have a reunion together of the remaining B-17 crewmembers. Stigler often said
that the only good thing that came out of World War II for him was his
friendship with Brown.
What makes this story so remarkable is that Franz Stigler
gave when he was expected to take. He put his reputation, his rank, his career,
and even his life at risk because he had a generosity of spirit. Despite the
fact that his job was to take lives, something inside him pushed him to give
life no matter what the threat to his own life was. That something inside of
him was the Spirit.
Giving, generosity, charity, kindness, altruism,
selflessness, self-sacrifice, benevolence, and love are all words that are
central to the Christian life. Unfortunately these aren’t always the words
people outside of Christianity use when they complain about Christians.
Instead, they often say things like, “Christianity has caused more wars than
anything else…” I do have a pet peeve about this statement. Each time I hear
this statement I wonder if these people think that humans are naturally
peaceful, loving, and non-violent in their basic nature. I wonder if they think
that human nature has no role in all of those supposedly “religious” wars. I
wonder if it ever crosses their minds that those wars are started for human
reasons, and religion is simply abused to justify them.
I also hear people say that, “Christians are
superstitious and weak, and that religion is a crutch.” If you pay attention at
all to what Bill Maher, on HBO’s “Real Time,” consistently says about
Christians and religious people, you hear comments similar to this. I also hear
that “Christians are ignorant and unenlightened,” that “Christians are judgmental,
hypocritical, and too political,” and that “the world would be better off
without Christianity and religion.”
What’s funny, and ironic, about these statements (especially
the last one) is that while they sound true, they obscure that fact that
perhaps the greatest gift of Christianity to the world has been our generosity.
If you look historically at the world, especially at the changes made
culturally once Christianity has come into the culture, you notice a gradual
increase in generosity—not only financial generosity, but of people being
willing to lift up those who are struggling, disabled, and impoverished. I
won’t pretend that it happened overnight, or that there haven’t been struggles
over time. But if you look at the history of the world, Christianity’s imprint
is that it has made the world better through an ever-increasing generosity. And
when Christianity has been stamped out, such as in communist Russia or China,
generosity has similarly been stamped out.
Giving, generosity, charity, kindness, altruism,
selflessness, self-sacrifice, benevolence, and love have all grown in the world
because of Christianity. When you look at the largest charities in the world,
they are dominated by Christian charities, or Christian-rooted charities, that
make a major difference. For example, just look at the top ten charities in
this country:
- The United Way—while this is not a Christian charity, per se, it is a charity started in the 1800s by a Denver laywoman, along with a Catholic priest, two Protestant pastors, and a rabbi: Frances Wisebart Jacobs, Msgr. William J.O’Ryan, the Rev. Myron W. Reed, Dean H. Martyn Hart, and Rabbi William S. Friedman. It was begun to help fund local health and welfare agencies.
- The Salvation Army—this is actually a Christian denomination that is committed to helping anyone in need.
- Catholic Charities—an arm of the Roman Catholic Church that offers counseling, tutoring, food, healthcare, emergency care, and so much more.
- Feeding America—this organization oversees 1500 food cupboards, like ours, across the country.
- The Red Cross—the name says it all, as does it’s symbol, a red cross.
- Food for the Poor—this organization oversees efforts throughout Africa and the third world to feed people in poverty
- American Cancer Society—this is obviously not a Christian charity, although I suspect Christians are major contributors.
- World Vision—this organization provides blankets, clothes, and all sorts of services to impoverished areas worldwide.
- The YMCA—otherwise known as the Young Men’s Christian Association
- Goodwill—this is an organization started by a Methodist minister in the early 1900s to clothe the poor.
In addition to all of this, 15 of top 25 charities are
Christian or Christian-rooted. That’s our legacy. We Christians have a
worldwide legacy of generosity. We have a legacy of compassion, care, and love.
We’re not always given credit for it. In fact, often this aspect of us is
ignore. What many people don’t know is that when disasters hit, among the first
responders are always disaster relief organizations of most Christian
denominations, such as Presbyterian Disaster Relief. And what people really
don’t know is that Christians are the ones left when governments and the U.N.
leave. If you go to Haiti, New Orleans, Southeast Asia, Japan, Joplin, and so
many other places struggling to overcome disasters, you will find Christians
still there. Calvin Presbyterian Church is part of that, having had members of
our church help with cleanup effort mission trips to Joplin and Indiana. This
is our legacy.
This is a legacy emphasized throughout the Bible, and in
our passage for today: “Send out your
bread upon the waters,
for after many days you will get it back.” This
is rooted in the idea that if you are giving, you create a gifted culture that
comes back to you. When we are generous in the world, we enhance the world’s
generosity.
To be Christian is to be generous. Albert Lexie
understands this. Do you know Albert? You may have seen him. For the past
thirty years he has been shining shoes at Children’s Hospital for between $3
and $5 a pair. He has lived a very humble life. But what most people don’t know
about him is that over the past thirty years he has contributed every tip he
has received, and 1/3rd of his earnings, to Children’s Hospital’s
Free Care Fund. He has spent his life helping children. His contributions have amounted
to more than $200,000.
“Send out your bread upon the
waters,
for after many days you will get it back.” We are called to
be a generous people, whether it means giving to this church, giving to a
charity, giving $1 or $20 to a homeless person on the street, or giving in a
way that improves life. It’s not so much a matter of where you give to, but that
you give to. I’m a big believer in giving. It’s important when the church is
part of that, but we’re not the only place to give. I believe in tithing 10% of
income, as the Bible says, but I also believe what Ecclesiastes says, which is
that you should "Divide your means
seven ways, or even eight,
for you do not know what disaster may happen
on earth.” In other words, the church should be part of your giving,
but so should that homeless person, those charities that I listed before,
friends who are in need, and everything else. When we divide our means, we give
to many places, knowing that in doing so we care for disasters that take place
even in places we have no awareness of.
As a final comment, one of the things that impresses me
about the generation coming up is that they’ve internalized much of this
Christian message. When I look at most senior projects today, they are almost
always efforts to help a charity or charitable organization. For instance, Zoe
Dilts hosted an art show several weeks ago here at Calvin Church. Originally it
was just supposed to be just a few pieces by her and some friends. It turned
into a large art show that included the hidden (from us) talents of many of our
members. We had paintings, crafts, sculptures, intricate baskets, cartoons, and
so much more. And in the process Zoe raised $578 for the Zelienople Pre-School.
That is Christian generosity!
All of us are called to be on the constant look-out for
ways to be generous, so that we can let God’s grace grow and flow.
Amen.
