I was at the church on the slab on I30 and Rosedale this past Sunday. The "Slab" is a church for the homeless which is assembled and disassembled each Sunday. There is a regular preacher who comes from a Pentecostal tradition. During the sermon the preacher went on and on (even in the form of a call and response with the community) about how those gathered there were going to give more in 2009 than in 2008. I was struck by this because these were homeless people with nothing. I mean these folk are having to settle at the end of the worship service for size 9 shoes when they wear a size 10. They do not have much at all.
I understand the importance of giving no matter how much you have. I have no problem with preaching that we should give. The issue is with the word and concept of giving MORE.
When I look at the story and message of Jesus, when he encountered people and told them to give more it was always those who had a lot to give. He commended the widow who gave a very small amount. I cannot recall a time when Jesus encountered a poor person and said to them, "You are poor, sick and without a family. You need to give more."
I guess it made me think. I cannot preach to every community and so perhaps this makes sense to this community. Getting the homeless to give more is something that does not make sense to me.
So if you are homeless and you are reading this on the Internet (probably on a community computer at a library or something), you need to give more in 2009 than you did in 2008. Hopefully that makes sense to you, but you may not want to check the message of Jesus because I think you may be disappointed.
I understand the importance of giving no matter how much you have. I have no problem with preaching that we should give. The issue is with the word and concept of giving MORE.
When I look at the story and message of Jesus, when he encountered people and told them to give more it was always those who had a lot to give. He commended the widow who gave a very small amount. I cannot recall a time when Jesus encountered a poor person and said to them, "You are poor, sick and without a family. You need to give more."
I guess it made me think. I cannot preach to every community and so perhaps this makes sense to this community. Getting the homeless to give more is something that does not make sense to me.
So if you are homeless and you are reading this on the Internet (probably on a community computer at a library or something), you need to give more in 2009 than you did in 2008. Hopefully that makes sense to you, but you may not want to check the message of Jesus because I think you may be disappointed.