March 8, 2009
by Rev. Emma Chattin
First Reading
~ from Matthew 25:29
“To those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance;
but from those who do not have, even what they have will be taken from them.”
Second Reading
~ from “On Giving”, in “The Prophet”, by Kahlil Gibran
Then said a rich man, “Speak to us of Giving.”
And he answered:You give but little when you give of your possessions.
It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.For what are your possessions but things you keep and guard for fear you may need them tomorrow?
And tomorrow, what shall tomorrow bring to the over-prudent dog burying bones in the trackless sand as he follows the pilgrims to the holy city?And what is fear of need but need itself?
Is not dread of thirst when your well is full, the thirst that is unquenchable?There are those who give little of the much which they have-and they give it for recognition and their hidden desire makes their gifts unwholesome.
And there are those who have little and give it all.
These are the believers in life and the bounty of life,
and their coffer is never empty.And there are those who give with joy,
and their joy is their reward.
And there are those who give with pain,
and that pain is their baptism.And there are those who give and know not pain in giving,|
nor do they seek joy, nor give with mindfulness of virtue:
They give as in yonder valleythe myrtle breathes its fragrance into space.
Through the hands of such as these God speaks,and from behind their eyes
[God] smiles upon the earth.
I bring you greetings from the Williamsburg UU. I spoke there a week or so ago, and had a wonderful time. If you would like to actually HEAR your greeting, Pat worked her magic, and I think you can locate it on your own discussion website. Their first shout-out was right whimpy, but I got a good loud greeting out of them on the second try.
(moment of prayer & reflection)
Loving spirit of community, generosity, and life, open our minds, our hearts, and our hands. Inspire us as we celebrate the abundant gifts all around us this day. We ask for the wisdom to perceive them and to receive them. Grant us an awareness of your presence here among us today, moving in us, around us, and through us. In your many holy names we pray. Amen.
There is a story told about how native tribes in South America and Africa trap monkeys – spider  monkeys, which are generally quite intelligent and difficult to trap. They take a large gourd, hollow it out, tie it to a tree, fill it with peanuts- a delicacy to the primate -and make the hole just large enough for the monkey to insert an open hand, but not large enough for the monkey to remove a fisted handful. The monkey will reach in, grab the nuts, and will not release them, even when the monkey knows it has been had. Even when the monkey sees the human hunters happily coming to retrieve their own prize. The monkey will not release the nuts. The jungle forest is a place of great bounty and blessing, and yet… the monkey looses its freedom, and its life… for peanuts.
Wow. The universe is a cosmic classroom, and I think our primate relative is teaching us a lesson there, at his own expense. An important lesson. A spiritual lesson. And one with great application to our own daily lives.
There are some truths and some practices that all religious traditions share in common, and giving is one of them. Giving as a spiritual practice. It is often linked with money, but not exclusively so.
In Buddism, Dana is a sanskirit and pali word, meaning “giving”, generosity. I love learning new words, and I learned this one by way of your Dana offering. Even more, Dana means the active practice of cultivating generosity. The perfection of this process is eventually an unconditional giving, an  unattached and almost unconscious generosity….. a “”letting go”.
In the Abrahamic faiths (Christianity, Judaism, Islam), there is the concept of giving, and often an amount or percentage is offered or suggested. In Islam, Zaket is the giving of 2.5 % of one’s savings, and 5-10% of one’s harvest, to the poor. In the Hebrew writings, something called tithing surfaced. In English, Greek, and Hebrew, the word tithe is rooted in the number “10”, and relates to a giving of 10% of one’s harvest, or income. The giving of 1/10 of one’s income to one’s church or synagogue is preached and practiced in both Judaism and Christianity, and it is also equally debated by many folks within those faith traditions.
I think it’s interesting to point out here that most conflicts within marriages and relationships root in two primary sources: Sex & Money. And since religious institutions are primarily all about relationships (assorted relationships – a web of relationships), then it comes as no surprise to me that religious communities spend A LOT of time and energy hashing about issues of sex and money. But it’s almost always background chatter, rather than constructive community dialogue; private whispers rather than public discussion.
People will say… “Oh… no… we can’t talk about sex in our pulpit.”  Then it becomes a festering splintering schismatic issue of conflict in the community. “Oh…. no… we can’t talk about money from our pulpit. That’s embarrassing.” And so it becomes a source of embarrassment and shame, and an issue that causes pain, while the community itself withers in its own avoidance and fear of speaking about the issue.
While the institution of Christianity often suggests tithing, some Christian communities do so strongly, almost to the point of missing the point, and creating de facto “church dues”, the actual substance behind the practice may be less clear. Yet it has become so ingrained that it is often accepted without question. I know that growing up, my family practiced it, tithing 10% of our earnings (and 10% of my allowance) to the church; that was where our giving began. Additional gifts were called offerings.
There is also the aspect of giving of one’s time to the community. This contribution is all too often presumed, taken for granted, and underrated. Yet time is the most valuable of all, I think. We can give it, We can lose it, We can invest it, We can waste it, but we can never make any more of it. It is a truly limited resource.
The gift of the time… of the people who listen…. is one of the things that keeps me on my toes whenever I speak. I try to be a good steward of the time invested by others, and i try to make wise use of it. You have given the precious gift of your time to this place and this space in time today. You have chosen to be here, and we are blessed by your presence. For my part, I am mindful of the precious nature of the time you have invested here, in this moment, and I seek to make it a worthwhile investment. Time is to be cherished.
And talents. Skills. Gifts. Some folks give of these freely and frequently, and happily share them with the community. I will tell you, there is not a time when our cat, Teddy, goes digging into his toys for his catnip bag- and yes, we call it his dope bag, and yes, he does self medicate….. There is not an occasion when I see him do this that I don’t think of Elizabeth Scott, the maker of that bag, and this community, where I bought it at a Craft fair. There is a mindfulness that comes with a gift that can keep on giving and continually be a blessing. It can cultivate within us an awareness of the beauty of our surroundings, and the people around us.
The open hand that freely offers is also open to freely receive.
The passage from Matthew today used to really puzzle me. Was it like some kind of ancient and horrible trickle down economics? But eventually…. I got it.
It’s like Day Light Savings today. Another lesson from the great Cosmic Classroom. We’re giving up an hour. A whole our of our lives.  Sleep. Play. I gave it up, and it is gone. I grumble. Of what little of the time I have on this earth…. even this has been taken from me!  I grumble.
And yet… that hour will return to me in November. And wait…. There are now nearly countless hours in the evening that I am able to enjoy well into the summer and fall. Days- with daylight hours! -that span well past 9pm and even close to 10pm at peak. All that day time I gain in abundance and more. If only I am willing to open my fist, and stop grasping my time so tightly.
And then… the blessing of lessons return to me upon blessings, because I see in my own simple  illustration the very heart of my very existence:
Life – that if I hold it too tightly, if I am not willing to risk it on occasion, I will never fully experience it.
Love – if I embrace it too tightly, I risk squeezing the life from it.
And money – if I hold it too tightly, I may loose everything. Over what? Over peanuts.
If you feel you have you will never want!
If you feel you have not you will never want enough!
You will never have enough!
This is not about money, but about open hands, hands open in offering, and hands open to receive. The vessel of our hands used to hold and fill, and then to carry and offer, just like the vessels of our being. We live in the tension in between breaths, the in and the out, the drawing in, the letting go. If we try to hold our breath… we eventually pass out. If we try to hold our breath…. the every thing that gives us life…. then we will loose our life.
There is much to be said for the letting go.
Ask any good Buddist, or Taoist.
For it is in the letting go, the giving up, that we prepare ourselves to receive again. Greater gifts. Blessings in abundance. Not pie in the sky, but real live beauty… in our open minds, in our open hearts, and in our open hands.
For those who have, for those who realize that they have-and this often begins with the simple act of giving from what we have –then for those… there is abundance. For those who do not have, who grumble over what they have not, and who hold tight to what little they feel they DO have… then those folks will lose everything. And that is the message of Matthew 25:29 for me.
It is also the truth of which the Lebanese American poet, artist, philosopher, and theologian Khalil Gibran speaks of in his work, The Prophet.
In another passage from the same poem, Khalil chides and reminds us to “give it while we can”…
To the open-handed the search for one who shall receive is a joy greater than giving. And is there anything you would withhold? All you have shall some day be given: Therefore give now, that the season of giving may be yours and not your inheritors’.
Wow. Wisdom. You bet’cha. Give what is yours while you can brothers and sisters, because someday it will be given away anyway. Might you ought to enjoy the giving while you can?
He closes with this stanza:
For in truth… it is life that gives unto life-while you, who deem yourself a giver are but a witness.
And you receivers- and you are all receivers-assume no weight of gratitude, lest you lay a yoke upon yourself and upon the one who gives. Rather rise together with the giver on the gifts, as on wings: For to be overmindful of your debt is to doubt the generosity of the one who has the free-hearted earth for mother, and the generous Creator for father.
Open your hands to give while you are able, friends and neighbors. So that you might also be open to freely receive.
I realize that this is subversive concept in a capitalist society, and especially in an age where money is being made (printed, not earned) and lost at an unimaginable rate, and at a time when people have lost so much … and yet, I think, subverting the system, giving of ourselves, is indeed a response, an answer, if not even a solution.
Open handed giving, offering…
In closing, I must point out that the little illustration at the foot of the insert page is an ancient symbol. It is a hamsa. It is an Arabic word, with a similar and corresponding Hebrew word, nearly identical in pronunciation. It means “five”.
Yes, the hamsa was the original high five, the ancient slap five, gimme five, the open hand of offering, receiving, and affirmation. An ancient symbol of an ancient dessert people. You will find it in both Arab and Jewish cultures (although the conservative religious branches of both do not approve). It likely predates both religions, and was probably used by the Phoenicians. It is an amulet, sometimes seen bearing an eye in the palm (to ward off the evil eye), or a heart, to symbolize love. It has been called variously”, the hand of hospitality, the hand of Miriam (sister of Moses), the hand of Fatima Zahra (Peace Be Upon Her, daughter of Mohammad, PBUH), “the hand of Abraham”, the hand of God…..
Middle east activists have begun using it as a symbol of a connection and commonality between two cultures practically at war now. The open hand. Not the clenched hand. The offering of friendship, not the weapon of the closed fist.
Don’t be held captive by the things you hold onto. Don’t be trapped by that which you grasp. Do not surrender your life and freedom while tightly holding peanuts, when the great bounty of creation surrounds you.
Open your hand… and give… Give as freely and as abundantly as you wish to live.
May it be so