Hello SUMC … it’s LentBlog Editor Rob here, reporting in from just about the midway point of our current Lenten season, with a couple of thoughts about one of our upcoming Lenten-programming sub-topics: generosity.
SUMC’s Lenten devotional writing effort, whether it’s the current incarnation, this here online blog, or the classic paper-booklet version, has honestly depended upon the generosity of SUMC members and (on occasion) friends.
Annually, we make our appeal: write for the Lenten Devotions! It’s fun! It’s an opportunity to Be A Writer!
It’s also unpaid.
“For our purposes,” wrote1 the etymological researchers of the University of Notre Dame recently, “we use the word generosity to refer to the virtue of giving good things to others freely and abundantly.”
Our Lenten (and Advent) writers have historically been very generous with their time and effort. As much as we advertise the idea that “you don’t have to be a Great Writer to do this,” it still is an activity which many people see as daunting — particularly when they also interpret the activity as requiring great knowledge of theology, which (I will attest) isn’t necessarily the case. So, time and effort, yes; but also a perceived revelation to the world about how many advanced degrees in theology they don’t have.
Like singing, devotional writing can seem a very vulnerable thing. So anybody who attempts it is indeed being generous of spirit, yeah?
“Generosity, to be clear, is not identical to pure altruism, since people can be authentically generous in part for reasons that serve their own interests as well as those of others,” continued1 the Notre Dame researchers. “Indeed, insofar as generosity is a virtue, to practice it for the good of others also necessarily means that doing so achieves one’s own true, long-term good as well.”
Quite often during my four Lents as the compiler of these online Devotions, our writers have submitted pieces that express their thoughts about jobs they work at, projects they’re involved with, experiences they’ve had, or other topics which are meaningful to them. (I confess to writing a thing or two myself which has doubled as a gentle recruitment drive.)
Happily, they’ve utilized those meaningful personal topics in such a way as to amplify either the Lenten-programming theme of the moment or a Biblical passage that can speak to all of us. I’ve heard the term enlightened self-interest used in a slightly arched-eyebrow, “yeah but it’s not absolutely altruistic is it?” kind of way … so imagine my relief when I read the Notre Dame researchers’ conclusion1: “And so generosity, lke all of the virtues, is in people’s genuine enlightened self-interest to learn and practice.”
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This Lenten season, I’m missing three people in particular. Not nearly so much in the I don’t have writing from them this time around sense as the I don’t get to see them, hear from them, reap the benefits of their contribution to the world sense.
In the last year, the SUMC congregation has seen several of its own — long-time members and friends — go to be with God. Of these, Pastor Hakyung Cho-Kim, Jackie Kessler, and Janet Johnson have populated our Lenten devotions with their wisdom, humor and vision in written form.
I have delighted in telling the story of how Janet would immediately reply to my LentBlog PR effort with the first of half-a-dozen small essays, always accompanied by an eMail note that said, in essence, “feel free not to use this if it’s terrible”; “this may not be what you’re looking for”, etc.
Which always made me chuckle, since [a] objectively it was never terrible, and [b] any devotion written by any SUMC person comes from a very personal place and who am I to label such things that way?
And then I would chuckle as a second item, then a third, then the rest!, would arrive in my eMail inbox. The Spirit had moved Janet, and she had responded with yet one more gem. And I would always get at least one eMail from someone else who had read Janet’s writing and had been especially moved by it.
In this year’s LentBlog PR pleas for writing, I have worked hard NOT to include the undeniably crass and guilt-laying sentiment, “we’ll be missing our usual pack of contributions from Janet, and Jackie, and Cho-Kim, so please help us out all the more!” — since I’m not heavily into guilt-laying. Guilt can be an effective recruiting tool in the short-term, but all the leadership clinics I’ve ever attended or taught have suggested to me that it’s a great way to poison the well.
And yet, here I am, eulogizing Janet anyway. I prefer to think of it as one more way I can remember her fondly, and appreciate what she did for the Lenten Devotional effort that much more.
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All this is, similarly, to express my appreciation for everyone who has helped out with this cause. In 2019, I lamented the 2018 absence of a Lenten Devotions booklet and then volunteered to head up the project … and immediately several people smiled at me and said, “…ya sure ya wanna do that?” Lots of work, etc., and you’re a busy guy, and YES. That was my intention, and I knew very well that I was going to be beating the bushes and encouraging written submissions from people who were at least as busy as I was, with work and family obligations, not to mention other church-related commitments! But, well, I thought maybe I’d felt the Spirit move me, and ya gotta answer that call, right?
I haven’t regretted it.
All this is, also, though, to amplify my current LentBlog-editor condition: with just shy of half the Lenten season to go, I’m about to be out of written submissions to include in this space … to the tune of every day between this Wednesday and Easter Sunday is available!
Living on the edge, I guess.
So: if you’re feeling generous … please do consider jotting down a thought or two that may be occurring to you. Or let the remaining Lenten-programming subtopics rattle around in your head (“Generosity: the cycle of grace” … “Evangelism: sharing our stories” … “Service: finding our roles in church and the world”), and see what they inspire.
Thanks as always; and as always — keep in touch; keep the faith … :)
-Rob Hammerton
1https://generosityresearch.nd.edu/more-about-the-initiative/what-is-generosity/
[See, Zack, I can do the footnote thing, too. ;) ]
Sudbury UMC Lenten Devotions 