Consider with me today Flagrant, Fragrant Philanthropy.  That’s a tongue-twister, I know.  And when I say “philanthropy,” you immediately think of someone who’s rich — say, Bill and Melinda Gates or Warren Buffett — who can afford to give MILLIONS away to (say) hospitals and museums, and for fighting AIDS in Africa, and to combat global warming.

    But that’s not the real meaning of “philanthropy” at all!  Language scholars tell us that the term comes from the Greek philos (“love”) and anthropos (“man” or “human being’).  So “philanthropy” simply means “love to other people.”  And in a Christian context a “philanthropist” is one who demonstrates love to OTHERS—and, thereby, of course, to Jesus Christ.

    How? –Through our GIFTS –our gifts of money, to be sure.  That’s ESPECIALLY what we emphasize at this time of year.  But “philanthropy” involves ALSO the gift of your TIME and ABILITIES.

    And please consider with me FRAGRANT philanthropy -–SWEET-SMELLING.  Because SOME philanthropy, falsely so-called, STINKS TO HIGH HEAVENS!  Yes, whenever we (say) give aid to a brother or sister who is poor but do it in a condescending, patronizing manner, that’s terribly ill-smelling philanthropy!

    How can you and I be sure that our gifts to others, and to Christ, ARE fragrant? –Look with me briefly at one of the very best examples of sweet-smelling philanthropy.  It’s from our Second Lesson today, from Matthew.  You know the story practically by heart:  the woman who pours precious ointment from an alabaster flask onto Jesus.  Interestingly enough, the Gospel writer doesn’t give her name.  Matthew simply tells us that Jesus is in Bethany, a village just outside Jerusalem, enjoying dinner in the home of one Simon the Leper.  Who is Simon? –Perhaps a man whom Jesus has CURED of that dread disease.

    Now right in the middle of dinner, while Jesus is relishing the good food, wine, and conversation, the woman walks up to him.   She’s holding a goldish-white JAR, made of Egyptian alabaster.  The jar has a long NECK, or STEM.  INSIDE it is a glorious PERFUME!  And, according to custom, the woman BREAKS OFF the stem—and suddenly POURS IT ALL OVER JESUS’ HEAD!   This is why I call it FLAGRANT philanthropy!  WOW! –To be instantly COVERED in a cloud of (say) Chanel No. 5!  No doubt Jesus CHOKES, can hardly BREATHE!

    “HOW STRANGE!,” you and I say.  But in Jesus’ day, if you invited a very special guest home for dinner, you might well choose to HONOR him or her in just this manner.  Later, our Lord declares, “She (the woman) has performed a good service for me!”  In other words, she’s done something beautiful! by her flagrant, fragrant gift.

    Friends, are YOUR gifts to God equally fragrant because they’re BEAUTIFUL?  --That’s an odd question!” you may be thinking.  “There’s nothing particularly beautiful about that pledge card—either my monetary promise to Christ, or my commitment of time and talent for 2010.  There’s nothing especially attractive about those filled-out cards that I’ll be dropping into the baskets later in this service.” “There’s nothing aesthetically pleasing about that personal check I write to the church each week, or that CASH that I put into the offering envelope on Sundays, or the volunteer time I put into preparing food for fellowship time.”

    But, friends, YOUR offerings—your gifts of substance and of service to God, to God’s Church, ARE beautiful—if you offer them out of LOVE FOR CHRIST.  Yes, regardless of how LARGE or how SMALL that BILL you drop into the offering plate may be, regardless of how ORDINARY, how MUNDANE, your WORK in this church may seem to you — standing at the Sanctuary door and greeting visitors to worship, passing out bulletins as an usher, loading dishes into the washer after a fellowship dinner in Briggs Hall — REGARDLESS, your gifts are BEAUTIFUL if they genuinely reflect your GRATITUDE and LOVE to Jesus Christ!

    Years ago my mother died suddenly — in fact, while Kay and I were on our honeymoon.  It was a full 12 months later before we found the time — perhaps I should say before we found the courage — to go through the drawers of an old bureau that was hers, that stood in a room of her home, in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.  In one of the drawers we found things that AMAZED us—things I’d long FORGOTTEN — things I hadn’t even SEEN in over 20 years!  I held them — objects made of cheap construction paper and paste and caked-on crayons.  I, a little boy in kindergarten and early grade school had MADE them and brought them home to Mother.  The ditto-outline of flowers, drawn by the teacher, and the words, “Happy Mother’s Day!”  The mimeographed figure of a bunny—and “Happy Easter, Mother!”  I, a little boy with grimy fingers, had caked on four or five of the brightest colors—and had colored way beyond the lines so carefully drawn by the teacher.

    You know, by almost every standard of human value, the objects in that bureau drawer were worthless.  Mother SHOULD have thrown them away LONG AGO—instead of dragging them from manse to manse in her moves as a pastor’s wife.  Yet she’d carefully SAVED every one of them!  To my mother, of course, those cheap, paper things in that drawer WERE beautiful! –Beautiful because of the LOVE they represented:  the love of a CHILD.

    And, friends, YOUR offerings — your gifts of money to Christ and God’s church, even though the mundane work that you do on “clean-up” day in this place — are to God BEAUTIFUL, even though you may not be able to pledge as much as you’d LIKE to, and even though you may not be able to work in our programs as much as you would like to.  -– Your pledge is beautiful if it REALLY IS an expression of love to CHRIST —instead of merely a payment to keep the church operating for another year, or a task that no one else seems to want to do!

    But let me ask you a second—and final—question, to see if your gifts are really FRAGRANT philanthropy:  DO YOUR OFFERINGS TO GOD COST YOU?  In other words are they really FLAGRANT as well as fragrant? Tell me, where do you think this woman in our lesson GOT this flask of perfume that she pours here on Jesus’ head –It isn’t just a common, ordinary kind of toilet water, you know.  No, the Gospel writer calls it “very costly ointment.”     There’s no evidence here that the woman is rich.  ON THE CONTRARY, Jesus’ most frequent companions were the simple, ordinary folks.  This woman can’t go down to the Bethany village Wal-Mart and buy a new flask of ointment any time she FEELS like it!  In fact, it’s possible that what she pours on Jesus’ head is the most PRECIOUS THING that she owns!  --Perhaps it had been a wedding gift to her, years before.  Maybe it was even a family HEIRLOOM, passed down lovingly from generation to generation.

    But then JESUS appears in Simon’s home.  And the woman, out of an abundance of LOVE and GRATITUDE to him, pours it over him.  Yes, hers is SACRIFICIAL giving!  What about YOURS?   Do YOUR gifts to Christ really COST you something?

    My wife, once or twice a year, will go through her closet and carefully remove the old clothes she no longer uses.  And she’ll have me take them to the Salvation Army on Copans Road — or some other helping agency — and leave them. SOMETIMES I find, to my SORROW, that she’s gone through MY old clothes as well—and my favorite, old pair of pants —the ones with the holes in the seat, that I love to lounge around the house in — THEY have ALSO ended up at the Salvation Army without my KNOWING it!

    Now it’s GREAT to give old clothes to the Salvation Army.  But, in all honesty, that doesn’t really COST us anything, does it?  Yet I’m afraid that FAR TOO MANY of us never get beyond the “Salvation Army, old-clothes” style of contribution when it comes to giving to GOD!  How many of us figure out the entire rest of our budget FIRST—and then just use any PITTANCE that happens to be left over, to give to Christ’s Church?

    How many of us CRAM our calendars FULL of OTHER responsibilities—clubs, sports, travel—and then WAIT to see if we’ve any time left over, before we commit ourselves to work in the Church?

    Friends, if you SHRINK from making a pledge until your financial situation improves, you’ll NEVER make one!  If you DECLINE to accept a job (for which you have the talent and gifts) –I n the Sunday school, in your women’s circle, in the choir, on the church Session or Diaconate -- because it’s inconvenient, believe me, you’ll NEVER find a convenient time to serve Christ!

    Yes, how fragrant—indeed, how flagrant-- is YOUR philanthropy?  How beautiful, how sacrificial, are YOUR gifts to the Lord?

    Some years ago I came across a marvelous little poem, by an unknown author.  Its title is simply, “Now What?”  LISTEN:

    
    How, indeed? – Friends, the REAL meaning of this THANKSGIVING SUNDAY, of this COMMITMENT Sunday, is (to put it simply), TELLING JESUS THAT WE LOVE HIM!
 
Prayers:
    Gracious Lord, for the beauties of the world all around us, for the riches of farm and factory, the fruits of honest labor, the freedoms that we know in our lands of liberty, with hearts over-flowing:
    For human life, for common hopes and challenges shared by all in our family of many nations and peoples worldwide, with hearts over-flowing:
    For love and marriage; for mutual forgiveness and burdens shared; for secrets kept in devotion, with hearts overflowing:
    For family and friends, for mutual support and strength, for joys and burdens shared with one another, with hearts overflowing:
    For children; for their energy and curiosity; for their brave play and their startling frankness; for their sudden sympathies, with hearts over-flowing:
    For the youth of the world and of this community; for their high hopes; for their irreverence toward worn-out values; their search for freedom; their solemn vows, with hearts overflowing:
    For growing up and growing old; for wisdom deepened by experience, for rest in leisure, and for time made precious by its passing, with hearts overflowing:
    For your help in times of doubt and sorrow; for healing our diseases, for preserving us in temptation and danger; with hearts overflowing:
    For the Church into which you have called us; for the good news we receive through Word and Sacrament; for our fellowship and life together in the Lord, with hearts overflowing:
    For your Holy Spirit, who guides our steps and brings us gifts of faith and love; who prays in us and prompts our grateful worship, with hearts overflowing:
    Above all, for your Son Jesus Christ, who lived and died and lives again for our salvation; for our hope in him, and for the joy of serving him, with hearts overflowing:

    Hear also, Lord, our prayers for all your children who are in need; for the sick and those who mourn, that they may know your healing;  for those who suffer from warfare, from hunger, and from cold; that they may, through us, know your plenty; for the lonely, who during these holidays, can especially feel friendless or abandoned; that they may know, through us, your companionship; for those in this holy place today who hurt in any way; that they may find release.

    Finally, O God, accept our thanks for those who, at this season, once sat with us at our hearths and boards, but who now enjoy a place at your heavenly banquet.  Keep us in fellowship with them, until, in your grace, we join them there. For we make these and each of our petitions, in and for the strong name of Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord.  AMEN.