Digging our dreams: Can generosity grow here?

Gardeners cultivate hope. They imagine a weedy and neglected space full of marigolds and tomatoes. They dig their dreams, putting in the effort to tend their vision. They trust God to provide the growth.

Some organizations have been looking at a plot of poor soil for so long that they can’t envision anything growing there. Assuming that people can’t give, or can’t give more, makes budgeting easier - the same as last year, or maybe less. Stewardship becomes managing scarcity well.

The Reverse Prosperity Gospel

I call the Stewardship = managing scarcity well mindset the Reverse Prosperity Gospel. It’s a belief that resources are limited and diminishing.

In the Reverse Prosperity Gospel, the church/charity will slowly shrink with ongoing cuts to budget and programs. As the church reduces ministry, people give less. And the cycle repeats. Stewardship becomes going down with the shrinking ship.

Churches that would be quick to reject the health/wealth message of the Prosperity Gospel - give and you’ll be rich! - can be committed to the Reverse Prosperity gospel. They watch the garden shrivel up and die.

Cultivating Generosity

Gardeners know there are good years and bad years, but they keep planting. They seek advice from fellow gardeners. Maybe they try a new crop, or use more compost. Gardeners adapt to changing conditions.

Cultivating the spiritual discipline of giving requires dreaming and digging.

Dreaming: What might grow? What seeds do we have?

Digging: Here’s where we get our hands dirty: Do we need to rotate our crops? What resources do we need for our garden? Who can help?

The lectionary reading for today is Hebrews 6:1-12. Verse 11 (NLT) stands out: Our great desire is that you will keep on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true.

Joyful generosity means telling other people about what’s growing in God’s garden and inviting them to water it. Digging our dreams in order to make certain that we we hope for will come true. May it be so!