Generosity – JBU Chapel Presentation
By Joe Walenciak
March 14, 2023
INTRO
Thank
you. Good morning. It is good to be with you today. My name is Joe Walenciak, and I teach in the
College of Business here at JBU, currently completing my 41st
year. Here is a picture of the guy who started
here over four decades ago. That naïve
young teacher could not conceive of the concept of a lifetime of work, of so
many amazing people he would meet, or of the hundreds of trips he would make
into Central America for service projects and education programs…something that
would indelibly mark his life, heart, and character.
Chaplain
Keith asked me if I would be willing to speak about I Timothy 6. This is the passage that talks about the love
of money being the root of evil. I have
to confess that I am not a theologian or a gifted preacher, but as a business
professor, I guess I know something about money and evil. As I prayed about this talk and read the
passage, I believe that God helped me to see a message to share. Let’s read the passage.
SCRIPTURE
AND GENEROSITY
I Timothy 6 tells us…
These are the things you are to teach and
insist on. 3 If anyone teaches otherwise and
does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly
teaching, 4 they are conceited and understand
nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about
words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions 5 and
constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the
truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.
6 But godliness with contentment is great
gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and
we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have
food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9 Those
who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many
foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For
the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for
money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many
griefs.
17 Command those who are rich in this
present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is
so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with
everything for our enjoyment. 18 Command them to do
good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they will lay up treasure for
themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take
hold of the life that is truly life.
There is
a lot to unpack here, but each time I looked at this, one thing kept standing
out. This whole passage…all of those do
not’s…come together with Paul’s word to Timothy to “command them to…be
generous.” Generosity is the quality of being
kind and giving, often characterized by giving money, resources, or time to
others in need, but without expecting anything in return. It is an act of
kindness, selflessness, and concern for others.
My focus today is generosity.
Generosity is important for several reasons.
It can bring joy and happiness to the giver and the receiver. It can reduce stress, anxiety, and
depression. Generosity can foster a
sense of community and help build strong relationships. It can promote sense of purpose and meaning. It can address problems of justice and equity
in society. But perhaps most important,
God tells us to be generous. And if the love of money is the root of all
kinds of evil, then I would like to suggest this morning that a love for
generosity is the root of all kinds of good.
In the years that I have worked in Guatemala,
God has allowed me to know many amazing people.
Today, I would like to share two stories about generosity from
experiences I have had with some very special people in Guatemala.
THE MIRACLE
OF THE CHRISTMAS TURKEYS
I call this first story “the miracle of the
Christmas turkeys.” Meet Enrique and Cecy Quiñónez. Enrique
and Cecy are the parents of a JBU Walton student about 25 years ago. In spite of many health issues, they have
continued to be part of JBU teams in Guatemala.
They are not wealthy, and in fact, materially, they have very little,
but they are people of extraordinary generosity. Cecy knows what it means to grow up as a
hungry child in a poor community, so when given the opportunity to give, she
gives in abundance. Cecy is an example
of generosity.
Every Friday night, the good folks of Iglesia
Bautista Cristo es el Camino take a hot meal to the families who live in the settlements
on the edge of the Guatemala City garbage dump.
A typical Friday meal may consist of beans, rice, bread, and something
hot to drink. Between 100 and 150 people
show up to enjoy one of the best meals they will have all week. There is singing and a party-like atmosphere
set against the backdrop of the filth, trash, and mountains of recyclables that
have been recovered throughout the day.
A few years ago, JBU planned a special food
distribution at the dump for Christmas. We bought 20 turkeys and made the world's
largest pot of Russian salad. Along with
the turkey and salad, each person would receive bread, a fresh apple, and a fruit
juice box. The folks at the church said
we should be prepared for 200 people, so we planned for a little bit more than
that.
We bought 400 plates at PriceSmart which we
thought would be enough for Friday night and some other upcoming events. On Friday
about noon we picked up the 20 turkeys, and we spent the afternoon slicing and
deboning. I have never seen turkey
carcasses picked so clean! Cecy reminded
me that the people would probably want the bones to make soup, so we bagged up
the bones with some skin and fat. We had
enough of everything for about 220 portions, plus 20 bags of bones.
When we arrived, it was clear that we would have a large crowd. After a time of prayer and singing, the food
distribution began. Enrique told everyone not to push...that there was plenty of food for
everyone. My faith was not as strong at
that point. We could not see the end of the line. I told Cecy we had a LOT of people, but she
refused to turn around and look. I
encouraged her to cut back on the serving sizes, but if anything, Cecy kept
making the servings bigger and bigger.
The environment was happy. There was music. Children were playing, and everyone was so
happy to receive a special meal in such generous proportions. I seemed to be the only person who understood
that we were going to run out of food.
So Cecy kept filling the plates and refusing to turn around and look at the
line. I still couldn’t see the end of
the line. We kept opening more packages of plates, too, including those we intended to
use for the next two events. Cecy kept
serving what seemed to be bigger and bigger portions. I noticed
that we were down to the last couple of trays of turkey and the bottom of the big
pot of salad. And then it happened. I saw the end of the line. Cecy still would not turn around and adjust
portion sizes. She just kept
serving. Finally, she picked up the VERY LAST serving of turkey and scraped out the VERY
LAST remnants of the Russian salad and put it on a plate which we then handed
to the VERY LAST person in the line.
With only a handful of plates left, we realized that our 200 servings of
turkey had somehow fed nearly 400 people!
The same God who multiplied the loaves and fishes can apparently do the
same thing with turkey and Russian salad!
We stood there amazed, processing what we had just seen. I had seen how the actions of a faithful,
generous woman were blessed by our generous God.
Then we remembered the bags of stripped bones,
skin, and fat. Ladies gathered around,
and once again we gave the last bag to the last woman. Just enough.
We say that all of these things come from God's
hands. We say that, but then we act as
though we are the ones providing. We
plan and take responsibility for outcomes, but the reality is that "God
gives the increase." Why should we
be surprised when God acts? And when God
demonstrates that he loves his children, why do we not expect that? And just about the time we finally think we
have wrapped our minds around the extent of God's amazing generosity, we
realize we have not.
The following Friday night, we returned to the
settlement with a more typical food distribution and a more typical crowd. Suddenly we were approached by one of the
ladies who had taken a bag of bones, and she informed us that we had made a
mistake. "What mistake?" we
asked. She proceeded to insist that we
had given her a bag full of turkey meat instead of bones, fat, and skin. She claimed that there was probably about a
half of a turkey in the bag! I kind of
dismissed that until a second woman approached us a little bit later and
thanked us! She said she arrived to her small
shelter and opened up her bag of turkey bones, only to find about a half turkey
inside.
You explain this as you wish. I choose to believe that generosity is the
root of many good things. Sometimes we
see how God takes our small gifts and makes them big. Sometimes we don’t. What I learned is that acts of generosity in
God’s Kingdom have much greater impact than we will ever know.
THE MIRACLE
OF CLEAN WATER
I
call this second story “the miracle of clean water.” Meet Fredy
Caap. Fredy was the pastor of a church
in a town called Dolores, Petén, Guatemala.
For a number of years, JBU installed water purification systems in areas
of Guatemala where families had serious economic challenges and were suffering
from water- and disease-related health issues.
Our goal was to create a water store…a sustainable way to make purified
water available in a community. We
worked alongside local churches and Compassion International student centers to
create water stores that could sell garrafones of water for 5-7 Quetzales,
instead of the 15-20 Quetzales charged by the water companies. When people learned that drinking clean water
kept them from missing days of work and having to buy medicine, they began to
realize that clean water paid for itself.
Essentially, clean water was free.
We
visited a lot of communities. In some
cases, our potential local partner saw water as more of a revenue generation
tool, and while we certainly had no problem with them making money, our
priority was to make a significant impact on the health of the people. In some communities, our potential partners
were not willing to share water with others but wanted to keep it within a
specific circle of people. Our priority
was to have the broadest impact. We were
looking for communities where people were sick and dying because of the water
and where there was a vision to get clean water to the people who need it,
regardless of church affiliation, location, or skin color. We believe that there would be economic
impact, but we had to start by making a health impact as widely as possible.
Then we met Fredy Caap, pastor of Iglesia de
Dios Evangélico Completo in Dolores, and partner with a Compassion student
center. Some pastors liked to have their
meetings in secret. When we went to the church to talk about a water partnership, Fredy opened the
doors and windows of the room so that everyone could hear and speak. He had a
vision for helping as many people as possible, especially the people in the
poorest villages back in the hills and woods near Dolores. You see,
Dolores was in the heart of a red zone for typhoid fever, a bacterial infection
that can lead to death, especially in areas where malnutrition is common and
access to health care is limited. Fredy
had seen many deaths from typhoid fever.
Children were especially
vulnerable, including some who died during the week that we were there. The situation was very difficult. We had to
walk through open sewers to get to homes and meet families.
Fredy
is a generous man. He was generous with
information, with his time, with the Gospel, and with his efforts to help his
community. He had a vision to get clean
water to the families who needed it the most, and his church was willing to
cover the cost to get the clean water out there, whatever it took. They just needed the clean water.
The installation in Dolores was the most
comprehensive and difficult that JBU did.
We had to drill a well about 3 times as deep as we anticipated, and then
we hit Sulphur water and had to change the purification system. Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into
months. Throughout the process, people
from the community came by and told us we were wasting our time and that we
would never find water. Pastor Fredy was generous with his
encouragement, his defense of our work, and his faith that the project would
succeed. And it did. This is a
picture of Pastor Fredy with the first garrafón of water from the system. A generous pastor inspired generosity in the
church, and a vision of giving and helping was put into action. One year later, we were told that the number
of cases of typhoid fever in the area had dropped to zero. Again, faith and generosity were the root of
all kinds of good for these people.
CONCLUSIONS
ABOUT GENEROSITY
So why did I tell you these stories. I can tell you what I learned from these
people and experiences, and perhaps there is something of value for you here,
too.
First, God tells us to be generous. As Paul told Timothy to tell the church, we
should do good, be
rich in good deeds, and be generous and willing to share. God wants His church to be a generous church
and willing to help where help is needed.
Second, even though we may see an “act of
generosity,” generosity is a lifestyle, not an event. People like Enrique, Cecy, Fredy, and so many
others live a lifestyle of generosity. They
have grown through struggles, and they have learned how to reach back to others
to help them. It is their pattern. More than a belief or value, it is the
essence of who they are. Their
generosity guides their behavior and helps them make sense of their world. They give because they have fallen in love
with a generous God.
Third, generosity is not about money. We often think about money, and Paul
instructs Timothy in this passage to tell others to be generous with their
wealth. A person with a generous heart
will be generous with their money, but also with so much more. We can be generous with our time, our skills,
our compassion, our forgiveness, our hospitality, our acts of kindness, and so
on. We can respect and honor people
generously. We can love people
generously. If we limit generosity to money,
I think we limit the scope and power of generosity.
Finally, generosity can be cultivated. Generosity is a quality of God, and we are
made in God’s image, so we all have the capacity to be generous. If you want to grow in your generosity, start
by asking God to help you grow. Then ask
yourself some hard questions about what you love most…and be honest with
yourself. Practice being grateful. Give things
away. Volunteer your time. Practice empathy. Get out of your comfort zone. Those are some steps.
Thank
you for your time and for your patience with stories from Guatemala. Let’s pray.
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