The Cure for the Common Cold Heart

November 10, 2009

Dear St. Paul’s Family,

It’s rare that Hollywood movie releases coincide with a church sermon series, but last weekend’s number one film was the debut of A Christmas Carol. This latest version of Charles Dickens’ classic features Jim Carrey as the “squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner” Ebeneezer Scrooge. And in preparation for watching the movie this week, I re-read parts of the book. Once again, I was struck by Dickens’ vivid wordsmithing in describing the crusty main character:

The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice…. External heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge. No warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him. No wind that blew was bitterer than he, no falling snow was more intent upon its purpose, no pelting rain less open to entreaty.

Feel the chills yet? Scrooge was one cold customer. Of course, by the end of the story, old Ebeneezer discovered that the only antidote to his cold heart was a warm dose of generosity. After confronting the ghosts of his past, present, and future, he chose to live a life of self-giving love.

Dickens’ classic makes it clear: Generosity is the cure for the common cold heart.

It’s a point reinforced by our scripture passage for this Sunday. Consider how Proverbs contrasts the Scrooge inside each of us with a life transformed by generosity and love:.

Some give freely, yet grow all the richer;
others withhold what is due, and only suffer want.
A generous person will be enriched,
and one who gives water will get water.
Whoever diligently seeks good seeks favour,
but evil comes to the one who searches for it.
Those who trust in their riches will wither,
but the righteous will flourish like green leaves.

There is an old Jewish story about two brothers who were in the flour milling business. One was married with children, the other was single. As equal partners in the business, they made an agreed that at the end of each day, they would take any extra flour that had been milled and divide it into equal shares, with each brother taking his share into his storehouse.

But one day the single brother thought, "Here I am, unmarried with only myself to care for and my brother has a wife to support and children to feed. It isn't fair to divide the flour evenly. My brother should have more of the flour. So that night, under the cover of darkness so as not to embarrass his brother, he took a bag of flour from his own inventory and secretly left the flour in his brother’s storehouse.

But at that very moment, the other brother thought, "Here I am with the richness of a family. I have a wife. I have children, and my brother has no one to take care of him when he gets old. It's not fair to divide the flour evenly. My brother should get more, so he too took some of his flour and slipped it into his brother's storehouse. Every night, unbeknownst to the other, each brother did this, always amazed the next day that the level of flour in their storehouses appeared never to diminish.

Then, one night, their arms laden with sacks of flour, they met each other in the darkness and realized what had been happening all along. With tears of loving joy, the two brothers embraced. And according to the old tale, when God saw this, God touched that spot on the earth and said, "This is where I will build my house. For my house must always be a place of great joy."

Over and over again, the scriptures are clear. If you want to experience real, full joy, you must live a life of generosity. It is no wonder that a tenth of the gospels and a third of the parables deal with our relationship with money, for there are few greater obstacles to God’s joy than selfishness, greed, and an unhealthy relationship with money.

Join us this Sunday as we continue our stewardship sermon series “Enough: Experiencing Joy through Contentment and Generosity.” We’ll learn practical ways to get our financial world ordered around God’s values and open our hearts to God’s promise and provision. And if you weren’t in church last Sunday to pick up your stewardship packet, one is coming to you by mail. Or, you can stop by the church office to pick one up.

Together, let’s discover the cure for the common cold heart, and experience the warmth of real joy.

Grace and Peace,

Magrey

The Rev. Magrey R. deVega
St. Paul's United Methodist Church
531 W. Main St.
Cherokee, IA 51012
Ph: 712-225-3955
http://www.cherokeespumc.org



Proverbs 11:24-31
24 Some give freely, yet grow all the richer; others withhold what is due, and only suffer want.
25 A generous person will be enriched, and one who gives water will get water.
26 The people curse those who hold back grain, but a blessing is on the head of those who sell it.
27 Whoever diligently seeks good seeks favour, but evil comes to the one who searches for it.
28 Those who trust in their riches will wither, but the righteous will flourish like green leaves.
29 Those who trouble their households will inherit wind, and the fool will be servant to the wise.
30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, but violence takes lives away.
31 If the righteous are repaid on earth, how much more the wicked and the sinner!