Thinking About...Generosity in the Time of Coronavirus
Over the last several weeks I’ve heard myself saying the same thing repeatedly but in different contexts: “It’s just so hard to plan anything right now given all the unknowns.” You’re probably saying or feeling the same thing. It’s hard to plan out your next couple of weeks of work. It’s hard to plan for what your summer might look like. It’s hard to plan tonight’s dinner.
Envisioning the future is a primary function of leadership (whether for a family, a business, or a church), making its difficulty confounding. While we may not be able to plan effectively right now, we can reach back into the core of who we are and emphasize guiding principles amidst uncertainty. In charting City Church’s way forward, I’ve been reaching back to our core value of generosity. We want to be a church that gives generously, sacrificially, and cheerfully.
In my Bible reading lately, I’ve focused on a section of Luke 9. It tells the story of the feeding of the five thousand, and is found in each of the gospels. That scene informs our understanding of generosity.
The Scene
Crowds press around Jesus, eager for his healing and teaching. But it’s late in the day and the place is desolate. Jesus’s disciples implore him to send the people away. Understandably, they see a volatile situation—a lot of hungry and tired people, darkness closing fast.
Instead of capitulating to their request to send the crowds away, Jesus turns to his friends and says, “You give them something to eat.”
They respond, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish.”
In a harrowing time Jesus instructs his disciples to give, to be generous. But they resist. I get the disciples’ hesitation. I really do. Stressful times—those times where need appears greater than the resources at hand—cause me to hold more tightly to what I have.
As the story continues we see that Jesus and the Kingdom he inaugurates operate according to a different sort of calculus. While Jesus’s friends may correctly assess the significant needs they are facing, they lack the right perspective on what they have and who they have.
The scene of the feeding of the five thousand offers a model of generosity: Take what you have. Let Jesus bless it. Give it to others. During the time of coronavirus, we should strive to live generously in three areas by taking what we have, letting Jesus bless it, and giving it to others.
Be Generous with Yourself
I have an allergic reaction to advice that may come across as self-helpy or overly-therapeutic. But being generous with yourself (especially right now) is wise. As you juggle work from home, home-schooling, absence of embodied time with friends, hard news about a spreading disease, and everything else, you must be generous with yourself.
Counselor and neuroscientist Curt Thompson wrote a super helpful piece about this time when our mobility and embodied interaction is constrained. He offers helpful and practical suggestions of how to avoid “draining our batteries."
Give yourself a break. From another Zoom call, from the demands of productivity, form cajoling your child to complete one more assignment. Some of the best advice I can give you right now is: Go for a walk. Take a nap. Be generous with yourself.
It may seem strange for me to urge you towards self-care. Isn’t it a given that we would take care of ourselves? After all, Paul writes in Ephesians, “No one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it.” (Ephesians 5:29) Except some of us are well-versed in hating our own flesh. Somewhere along the way we’ve picked up the habit of berating self-talk, we keep circling back to social media and its unending swipe of comparison that leaves us wanting.
Have you told yourself recently (or ever), “That’s good enough”? "I prepared a good enough meal for my family.” “This room is clean enough.” “That completed assignment for school or work may not be my best work, but it is good enough.”
Be Generous with Each Other
I’ve been so encouraged to see all the ways that you have already been generous with others within our church community. Keep it up.
People have delivered groceries. People have volunteered with Richmond Public Schools food distribution or have driven others to the grocery store. People have sewn masks and handed them out. People have dropped off flowers for neighbors as a reminder of beauty in the midst of pain.
In the face of great need it can be easy to wonder if we have anything of value to give. It can be easy to conclude that our generosity won’t make a difference. The disciples felt the same way. Staring at a crowd of thousands of people and the measly lunch of a boy in the crowd, they wondered, “What are they for so many?” (John 6:9). What is my offering in the face of such enormous need? What are my gifts when others could do more?
Blessed by Jesus and given away to others, even our modest offerings have significant impact. Too often we think about the absolute size of a gift, rather than the relative impact it will make. Too often we’re distracted by the bravado of some public generosity and we miss the understated, unfussy kindnesses flowing from a heart close to God.
Be Generous with Our City
A spirit of generosity that begins with ourselves and cares for one another also extends to our city.
We’ve got to avoid a hoarding mindset. I’ve got to avoid a hoarding mindset. If you’ve been reading the news as incessantly as I have, a scarcity mindset develops. We’re inundated with messages saying, “There’s not enough.” Not enough toilet paper. Not enough personal protective equipment. Not enough meat. Not enough money. In so many ways we’re echoing the disciples, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish.”
Friends, we have enough. We have so much. We have more than a few loaves and a couple of fish. We have Jesus. And with Jesus, there is always enough.
One way that we practice generosity to others and to our city is by giving generously to City Church. I’m overjoyed to say that, so far, through April you’ve done this. City Church hasn’t seen a marked dip in giving over the last eight weeks. If anything, we’ve seen a slight increase. And for the year to date, we are at 102%? of our budgeted pace for giving. That’s great news. It makes it easier for me to write about generosity without sounding needy or desperate.
I want to remind you that when you give to City Church, you are giving to our city. City Church has committed to give away 21% of all that we receive to our ministry partners. Next month our Missions Giving Team meets to make final allocations for the fiscal year. With joy and sacrifice that team will practice generosity with those in need right now.
The positive status of City Church’s current giving trends notwithstanding, experts predict that charitable giving will be down anywhere from 15-60(!)% over the next 12-18 months. Out of prudence, not fear, the City Church Finance Team is developing multiple budget scenarios for the next fiscal year so that we can be prepared for whatever economic reality comes.
Lavish Generosity
Whatever downstream effects the COVID-19 pandemic has on our economic life, in this moment we have the opportunity individually and collectively to live out the principle of lavish generosity. May the church of Christ be known for giving extravagantly. Let us start now living in a new season of extended generosity; resetting our expectations of what is enough to have, to consume, to give.
Some of us recently received or soon will receive stimulus checks. What will we do with that money? Pay down debt? Spend it as your part in supporting the local economy? Save it as a hedge against what is coming in the next year? All of those have merit.
Part* of what we should do with a stimulus check is to give to God’s work in the world. Give to City Church or to another ministry in need. Support a local nonprofit working to help those most affected by the pandemic. It’s hard to plan right now, but it isn’t hard to be generous. With Jesus we already have so much.
Now excuse me, I need to go write a check.
*For a more aggressive viewpoint, read this piece that suggests giving away all of your stimulus check.