THE THIRD SUNDAY of LENT

March 27, 2011

Text: John 4:5-42

Pastor Dale G. Bauer  

As we all have to, I was sitting in an office, waiting. I shuffled through the magazines on the table in front of me and came upon Psychology Today. As I was leafing though it, I came on an article about euphoria. Euphoria, you know, a feeling of well-being or elation. Of being really, really up. It’s a place we’d like to be.

The little article went on to describe the effects euphoria has on us. It has an accumulative strengthening effect on our immune systems. Euphoria elevates the hormone oxytocin, resulting in a feeling of being more open and generous. It produces dopamine, enabling coordination of movement and emotions. It affects the eyes, helping them to focus on the object in sight. It quickens the heart rate to send more blood to the muscles.

Euphoria is such a pleasant place to be that we try to get there almost any way we can. Drugs. Alcohol. Sex. Thrill-seeking.

But there is a better, easier way to get there. It is simply by giving. By sharing. By generosity. I know people who seem to be in a constant state of euphoria. When I hear their story, it is usually a story of giving, whether their gifts, their financial resources, or their time at a soup kitchen.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to us who follow Christ Jesus. It was he who said:

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Therefore do not worry about what you drink, what you will eat, what you will wear. Seek first the kingdom.

It was Paul who said:

Give ... not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

There is glee in giving. Charles Dickens is immortalized by his famous story, A Christmas Carol, built on the premise of taking a self-centered miser named Scrooge and turning him into a gleeful giver, tasting euphoria.

Some of you have heard of Ruth Bach. A real person, now dead, who was a member of the first congregation I served in the mountains of Colorado. At that congregation the president of the congregation, Ferdinand, was married to the financial secretary, Polly. My first years there were tough, as I have told you. One day, after Ferd had a couple of Manhattans, he let it slip that the biggest giver in the congregation was Ruth Bach. I knew her well, because she was there every Sunday. She helped out, from cleaning, to work days, to committee meetings. She had a glee about her and a serene presence hard to describe. But the biggest giver? That surprised me.

My curiosity got the better of me. So I paid her a visit. She lived in the west end of town, not the better part of town, down by the Creek. When I arrived I noticed her little house probably had been a railroad worker’s shack. It was, I believe, a three-room house. The kitchen, where we sat, had a modest sink surrounded by a little linoleum counter top. We had a great conversation, but again my curiosity was running high. So I said, “Ruth, I’ve got a question. I hope you don’t mind. I found out that you are the largest giver at Zion. And that surprised me. How do you do it?” She smiled and said, “I’m flattered that my giving helps Zion so much. What I do is that every time I get my Social Security check, I put it in the bank and write Zion a check for ten percent of it. It makes me feel so good, I think I glow a little.”

I learned that all she lived on was the Social Security check. People in the retirement field tell me that Social Security should only be about a third of your retirement income.

Stewardship isn’t a dirty word. It’s not even a four-letter word. It is a good word. I believe sharing, giving gleefully, pulls us out of isolation into community. I believe that it is literally good for your health, suspecting that it may increase life spans—although disease is what it is: no regarder of persons.

Stewardship: make it simple. Share all you can whenever you can. Experience the kingdom of God and the euphoria that comes with it.

Amen.