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The Practice of Alms Giving According to the World Vision website, next weekend, 22% of all young New Zealanders will be joining in the 40 hours Famine. Some are going without food for that time, some are going without their cellphones, some are going without T.V and some are even going without talking! The purpose of all this is not only to raise funds for the poor, to combat injustice, and to help the needy and those without food – and many of your will no doubt be sponsors – but it is also to give the young people some inkling of understanding of what it might be like to live without having food – and other resources, immediately available. About 15 years ago I visited some Anglican parishes in Papua New Guinea to help forge closer relationships through our N.Z.Anglican Board of Missions. That was the first time I had visited a country which we would commonly call “Third World”. I can still see vividly in my minds eye the small communitites I visited in the bush clearings where houses were made of local materials – trees , thatching, some occasional corrugated iron, plastic sheeting and cardboard. I saw their nutritional needs and their health needs, as well as their spiritual needs. I had seen photos of small native communities before, but now I saw it with my own eyes, and in the evening I smelt the smoke of their fires as they cooked their meager meals. From that moment on I had a major change in my thinking towards the poor. When we can personally identify with the poor and needy, - then we are more likely to be motivated to do something to help. This act of helping the poor and needy is what is called almsgiving. The word comes from old English, Latin and Greek words which mean pity, charity and compassion. To be technically correct then, when we give alms we are giving to the poor and needy as an expression of our compassion, our empathy, our love for them. We give because we don’t want to see them continue in that state. Now I want to digress for just a moment and say that there is a lot in the Bible about giving! There are basically TWO types of giving mentioned in the bible. ONE kind of giving is to enable the church to continue its work of spreading the good news of Jesus Christ through this community throughout the world.- and each Sunday when the Offertory plate is passed around we encourage you to give generously for this important work. Many of you have already decided prayerfully about this and give automatically every week or month through a Bank Transfer and automatic deductions – and that’s terrific! And we encourage you to do that if you don’t already. There are some large envelopes by the Front door marked “Christian Giving” which contain information for that purpose- please take one. The church is the only body entrusted with this work of proclaiming God’s Kingdom and able to carry it out. And it requires money – and we want to give you the privilege and opportunity of sharing in that work through your giving- your tithing. . The Second form of giving is what is called Almsgiving. And this is the direct giving to the poor and the needy.We don’t often talk about Almsgiving. Today we may not be confronted directly with people on our doorstep – but we know that there are many, many people in our society who are in need – and there are a lot of organizations which are set up to help them. Giving to those organizations or charities is what we call almsgiving. In the gospel reading today, Jesus draws attention to three activities which had long been part of the Jewish tradition, namely — prayer, fasting and almsgiving. It’s worth noting that Jesus doesn’t have to exhort people to pray, fast and to give alms. He takes it for granted that these things are already being done, and talks about how we should do them. The Old Testament is full of words of concern for the poor and the needy, and of how God expects and intends us to help those in need. “Defend the poor and fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and needy” Ps82:3, “You shall open your hand wide to the poor and needy” Deut 15:11. “Happy are those who consider the poor ..” Ps.41:1. Jesus said “Give to him who asks of you” Mtt.5;42. “Sell what you have and give to the poor” Lk12:33. There was plenty of evidence in Jesus day of the poor and the needy – they would be on the streets begging – the blind, the lame, orphans and widows – those who had suffered through life’s unfortunate accidents and those who suffered through the injustice of others, and they were the ones whom Jesus helped. Our hearts are to be moved with compassion towards them – just as Jesus was. And Jesus – in the reading today – reminds us again of a few basic facts about Almsgiving. 1/ Firstly, Jesus says “When” you give – not “If”! Giving to the poor and the needy is not an optional extra for His disciples. If we pray – “Your Kingdom come – your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” – then caring for and helping the poor is a way of bringing that prayer into reality. There’s no point in praying it if we aren’t committed to doing it. Every month we have a special Mission focus – and quite often it is to support some Christian work in helping the poor or needy. That’s almsgiving. This month it is for Anglican Care – an umbrella Anglican Organisation which supports the Auckland City Mission, the Anglican Trust for Women and Children, the Selwyn Foundation and other parish initiatives where those in need are helped. That’s almsgiving- helping those in need. 2/ Secondly , we are to give privately, secretly, without a show – compared with the hypocrites of Jesus day who sounded a trumpet when they gave. Almsgiving is not for public pronouncement. As a spiritual discipline its between us and God – first and foremost– and when its done that way – then God will remember it. 3/ Why do we give? We give firstly – and very practically, to simply help others in their time of need; It’s a way of showing in practical terms that we have a love and compassion for others. Almsgiving may take the form of money, it may take the form of practical goods such as food or clothing or shelter. Our harvest produce today will be given as part of our almsgiving to those in need. Secondly we give as a response to God for all that He has given us. In other words – it’s a demonstration of our love for God also. The Bible says “When we help the poor we lend to the Lord… and He will repay”. Prov 19:17. It doesn’t says “When we help the poor we give to the Lord! It says we “lend” to the Lord. ” In other words , when we give to the poor we haven’t lost those goods.- we haven’t really seen the end of them! The Bible says we have,in effect, just loaned those goods to God. If we have lent or loaned something, then it will come back to us. So God is promising that when we give to the poor – He will repay us for what we have given. We can never outgive God. That’s amazing isn’t it. But that’s not the reason we give. We give because God has given so freely and abundantly to us, and we want to help others also. We pray – “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” In heaven there are no needy, no poor, no sick people. When we give to the needy and are alleviating their need, then we are helping to usher in God’s Kingdom, God’s rule and reign here on this earth. I am confident that most of you are very generous when it comes to giving alms. As a parish we give generously to helping others, and we have plenty of opportunity to do so privately too, don’t we? I want to say “Well done” for your generosity in this matter – and keep it up. It is one of those spiritual disciplines which is intensely practical – and a means and by which we grow in our Christian walk. Well done to those who are on the 40 Hr famine – I hope we can support them well. Song: Lord you’ve been good to me. |
