Tod Bolsinger - Astonishing Generosity as Revolutionary Action

If you have read my blog the last few weeks you have seen me mention several times that Richard Pratt was at our church and offered some great sermons (which you can listen to or download here).  One of the things he challenged me to do was to become a regular at the Bistro across the street.  He said I need to go there often and our church members need to go there often.  And, we need to be such excellent guests and tippers that waiters and waitresses want to fight over who gets to serve us.

This is a hot button issue for me.  On more than one occasion I have heard and read people who say that wait-staff in restaurants do not have particularly good impressions of Christians and that for some, Sunday is the worst day of the week because of the church people.  The church people are generally seen to be rude, demanding and poor tippers.  So, Pratt's exhoration to me was to do my part in changing the reputation of Christians in that regard.

So imagine my delight today when I read Tod Bolsinger's blog and found a post that added some theological and exegetical weight to the above.  Tod says (quoting N. T. Wright) that Christians are to be marked by "astonishing generosity."  Here are a few sound bites from Tod's post and let me encourage you to read the rest.

The quote itself was a reference to Matthew 5:38-42, when Jesus tells
his followers “to turn the other cheek” when struck, “give their cloak”
when asked for a coat, or to carry a load an “extra mile” when a person
makes you haul something for one.  He is saying in effect, that even
when people use or take advantage of you, they in the words of Bishop
Wright, “must be met with astonishing generosity.”  (Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God, p. 290)

It’s not enough to be generous, Jesus was saying.  But our generosity
must astonish the people around us, leaving them dumbfounded for an
explanation, flabbergasted for a rationale.  It’s not enough to be good
to the people who are good to us, if we are going to be his followers
are generosity must flow to the very people who we DON’T want to be
generous.

In a section on how so many religious leaders of his day, thought
that the only way the world would change would be through violent
revolution, Wright tells us:

“Jesus
summoned his hearers to the real revolution, which would come about
through his people reflecting the generous love of God into the whole
world.” (p. 507)

Ah, that’s it.   
• This is not just a strategy for adding some kindness to the world.  It’s a strategy for changing the world.  (It's a revolution strategy!)
• It’s not just about making the world better, it’s about making the world new. 
•
Generosity is not just about making people think we are good nice and
kind, it is about helping people see that God is good, compassionate
and responsive to their cries.

It is a central activity of the followers of Christ to reveal God to the world.

Heh - looks like Steve McCoy was also astonished by this post.

Technorati Tags: Religion, Theology, Bible, Christian, Christianity, N. T. Wright, Tod Bolsinger, Generosity

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Comments

[candyinsierras]

Interestingly enough, I have a similar situation. I work for a museum that does spring exhibits for children. For example, the next exhibit is about snakes. Numerous staff and volunteers give tours to groups during these exhibits. I also do nature hikes for families and groups. I mentioned that homeschools were an untapped group for these kinds of tours, but was told that almost all museums in my town dread homeschool groups. They say the mothers talk with each other during the presentations and they bring all of their kids, including screaming toddlers, and don't take them out of the room to deal with them. Needless to say, as a Christian, I am perplexed that this would be the testimony of the homeschool groups. I am presently thinking of talking to various groups to alert them of this situation and see if a better testimony can be accomplished.

[Doc]

Leaving aside the individual experiences, it's interesting to consider how much the Christian values have penetrated our culture. E.g., our country is astonishingly forgiving and generous for a superpower in a world that hates it. Our soldiers put themselves at risk to save the lives of the citizens of a nation with whom we are at war. When a tsunami devastates a part of the world far from us, we are there in force. Altho' many of the very people participating in such acts of generosity are not Christians, the values of selflessness displayed are senseless when viewed from a philosophically materialistic viewpoint.

It's interesting to speculate as to whether the 'nanny-state' welfare system we have inherited from previous generations who should have known better has enervated the Church, draining her both financially and spiritually, resulting in generally lower levels of charity than would otherwise be displayed. This is not a valid excuse, of course.

It is common fare for Christians to be criticized for their lack of generosity, mean-spiritedness, bigotry, hypocricy, etc. We should be vigilant to avoid sin in all forms, including the pettiness that presents a poor witness to the world, and we should be generous in giving. But my perception is that, on the whole, theologically conservative (i.e., believe in the authority of Scripture, take soteriology seriously, etc) Christians tend to be more generous, better neighbors, and more community-minded than unbelievers.

[Catez]

Leaving aside generalisations and the obfuscation caused by trying to turn something that is done by the motivation of the Holy Spirit into some sort of nationalistic one-up manship, let's consider the individual examples. Since the individual examples were what Jesus so often focused on. The widows mite seems perfectly applicable here.

David - revolution is a word that can get bandied about, but in this context I think it's spot on. It is the individual acting from some other motive, in a way that defies "normal" logic and norms. It goes against the grain, and it is astounding.
Most of all I think, it is often the seemingly small things which have the biggest effect. Life's like that I find.

[DLE]

The cause of much of this problem is that Christians in America have succumbed to the American mantra of rugged individualism. The only thing that matters is the individual. Community does not matter. Neighbors do not matter. No one matters but the fortress-like nuclear family. Otherwise, it's every family for itself. That's social Darwinism, not Christianity.

I hate to say it's an example of Jesus' followers being the best reason NOT to believe Jesus is the Christ, but I fear it is.

Case in point:

I had lunch with a well-known pastor who pretty much started the organized idea of servant (or kindness) evangelism, Steve Sjogren. Steve asked our waiter what his least favorite day to work was. The waiter said Sunday. Knowing this is what he would say, Steve asked him if it was due to the lousy tips he got from people having meals after church services. The waiter nodded. Steve told him that we were "Christ Followers" who believe differently than what the waiter may have encountered from people calling themselves "Christians." Steve told him that one of the things Christ Followers believe is blessing people through generous giving. Steve asked the waiter what his largest tip that week had been. The waiter told him, and Steve said we'd easily top that, and commented on the serevr's excellent service (and it was excellent). Then he asked the guy if he had ever been to a church of real Christ followers. The waiter said he'd been to church once or twice, but it didn't stick. Steve then gave him the name and address of a church of "Christ followers."

The tip left behind was 50% of the meal cost.

Think that was effective? I was there. Steve had this guy listening attentively. He talked about Jesus and never lost the waiter's attention. The size of the tip only reinforced everything that came before it. It created a bit of cognitive dissonance in this waiter's thinking. I could see it in his eyes.

That, folks, cuts through the rest of the stupidity we sometimes commit as cheap ingrates. It forces us to think outside ourselves, to the very people we're talking with. Our culture today is so disconnected that this kind of real, human interaction, presenting the Gospel and the love of Christ to people, not numbers or objects, gets the attention of a generation grown hard to the hypocrisy of what Christians say and how they live.

Believe it.

[pduggie]

Christians of an earlier era would have avoided the restaurant entirely so as to grant sabbath rest to the workers there.