FROM THE MINISTERS

Rev. Kelly Crocker, Co-Senior Minister

It's easy to find stories of generosity. It's the photo on Facebook from the coffee drive-thru window with a "pay it forward" latte. It's a six o'clock news story about a local child who made blankets for the animal shelter. Sometimes, the story is on a grander scale—the funding for cancer research or paying off the mortgage for a family at risk of becoming houseless. Generosity, it seems, is what makes for feel-good stories.

We need these stories. In a world where wars rage on, where loneliness is an epidemic, where bitter ideology tears us from each other, where fear makes us hoard resources, we need the simple and grand scale of generosity. But more than stories, we need the spirit of generosity--to give without feeling entitled to a return on our investment. It is no coincidence that nearly every major spiritual tradition promotes a life of generosity because, at a fundamental level, we understand that we need each other.

In an essay on generosity, author Marilynne Robinson attempted to define the term only to conclude that it “must be not to destroy. On a large scale, what is not to be destroyed includes the peace of those who are deprived and exploited. It includes the health of individuals and populations whose share of the earth’s good things is wasted or corrupted because of gross inequalities of wealth, and also the health of the earth itself. It includes the integrity of any culture, especially our own, which is presently afflicted with a crude and pointless cynicism, to the detriment of the whole world.” Generosity, it seems, isn’t just found in giving but also an act of preserving.

There is a story of a wise woman who travelled all through the mountains. One day, she found a precious stone in a stream. She was so happy, and grateful. It could change her life. The next day she met a man traveling just like her through the mountains. He was hungry, and she was happy to share her food. But as she opened her bag, the man saw the stone and he knew with this stone he would be able to eat all his favorite foods. His mouth watered imagining all the incredible flavors, all the ways his life would be filled with so much goodness.

“Instead of the food,” he asked, “can I have that stone?” The woman looked at him: “of course.” And just like that, it was his. The man was so happy! He ran quickly away, afraid she would change her mind. A few days later, however the man appeared again, carrying the stone in his hands. “Take it back” he said. “Instead, I hope you can give me something even more precious than this precious stone. I hope you can give me whatever it is within you that made it so easy for you, when I asked, to just give it away.”

As Unitarian Universalists, generosity challenges us not only to give from a place of abundance, but to take a kinder and more compassionate approach in a harsh world. We are trying to learn how it is – when we are asked – to trust, to love, to give of ourselves, to share our blessings, that we can say an easy and great yes, to each other, to ourselves, to this life we share. As the spoken word poet Andrea Gibson writes:

“I know most people try hard to do good and find out too late they should have tried softer.”

May the spirit of generosity soften our hearts and spread like wildfire in this hardened world.◊

My cats are not very good at sharing. Iris and Athena are sisters, so you might expect some familial generosity, but you would be wrong. When we distribute an even number of treats, one cat inevitably eats hers as quickly as possible and then starts on the rest. They always seem to be worried that there is not enough to go around. That food will run out and they will surely starve.

Panic sets in when food and water bowls become empty overnight. They wake us up with urgent meows and lead us to their overturned dishes. After we fill the dishes, the alpha cat of the two, Iris, parks herself for a leisurely breakfast, hissing periodically to remind her sister Athena to keep her distance.

Cats have a reputation for being mostly self-interested, but other members of the animal kingdom regularly demonstrate generosity. According to the report The Science of Generosity by Greater Good Society at UC Berkeley, species including ants, bees, birds, and monkeys regularly engage in behaviors that benefit others, often at their own expense. Researchers suggest that generosity has evolutionary and biological advantages. By helping others, animals can support the survival of their species. The same can surely be said of humans.

Unlike cats, humans appear to be hard-wired for generosity. Acts of generosity light up reward