![\"\"](\"http:\/\/thegatheringcincinnati.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/sharing.jpg\" "\\"sharing\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nClick here to listen to the message. \u00a0You can read along below.<\/p>\n\n
Most of us know the real story of the first Thanksgiving.\u00a0 After surviving a starvation winter when over half of Plymouth colony died and, after reaping the benefits of a summer harvest due mostly to Native-American help and instruction in new world farming techniques, Miles Standish called for a three day feast of Thanksgiving.\u00a0 He invited a few Native-Americans and their families to join the Pilgrims.\u00a0 Not knowing how large Wampanoag families were, over 90 Native-Americans showed up for the meal.<\/p>\n
But the pilgrims had a pitiful amount of food available for such a large crowd.\u00a0 The Wampanoag Indians returned to their villages and came back with what was the majority of food for that first Thanksgiving.\u00a0 What is notable about the Native American gift of time, resources and food to the European invaders is that the Wampanoag – like all Indians – did not consider what they offered to be a gift.\u00a0 Indeed, they had no need to give or share with 50 pitiful intruders whom they could easily have defeated in any battle or simply have allowed to starve to death.\u00a0 Their charity, as we might perceive it, was not charity at all in their view.\u00a0 It was extending<\/span><\/strong> portions of their lives, wisdom and harvest to other humans – NOT as gifts or as charity but as simply sharing what was not theirs to begin with.<\/p>\n This idea of sharing is common to all Native-American cultures.\u00a0 All of life – the earth, the sun, water, plants, animals and humans – are a part of what they call the \u201cSacred Hoop\u201d.\u00a0 The universe and all life within it is interconnected in a great cycle of giving and receiving, birth and death.\u00a0 Native-American culture did not think in terms of amassing wealth and resources.\u00a0 Everything they reaped was, to them, a loan from the Great Spirit – theirs to use, share and then pass along to others in the Sacred Hoop of life.\u00a0 The well-being of the community as a whole was far more important than any individual success or wealth.\u00a0 In this regard, sharing their food with the Pilgrims was simply a part of coexisting within the web of life and was done for the benefit of humanity as a whole.<\/p>\n As we conclude our Thankfulness in Action November series, I\u2019ve purposefully titled today\u2019s message of \u201cGiving Back\u201d with question marks. \u00a0\u00a0While an attitude of thankfulness encourages us to give away portions of our blessings in gratitude for what we have received, a holistic spirituality <\/span><\/em><\/strong>of wealth rejects the motivating premise of giving back<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 Indeed, western thinking falsely leads us to believe that giving is essentially a transactional response.\u00a0 We give back<\/span><\/strong> in return for what we have been given – even if it is because of our gratitude.\u00a0 Ultimately, this is a false way to think about sharing and giving.<\/p>\n If we reorient our thinking, we find that a spiritual understanding of wealth sees sharing as a natural act \u2013 something done to strengthen our communities and thus our own lives.\u00a0 More important than giving back because we are grateful or because we have compassionate hearts, we share because we are part of a greater whole.\u00a0 We are a part of one human family that is spiritually and practically called to support and insure the success of the whole.\u00a0 The health and well-being of all people are vital to our own<\/span><\/strong> individual well-being.\u00a0 We are not islands unto ourselves – achieving and succeeding by ourselves.\u00a0 We each thrive because others have mutually shared, worked and created the conditions so that ALL can thrive.\u00a0 And we too are called to give, share and work with the same motivation.\u00a0 This is a mind-shift for many of us – to think not in terms of giving as charity or as pay-back for our blessings, but as a means to preserve and strengthen the communities to which we belong.<\/p>\n That is the ethic not only of Native-Americans but also of many Africans as we discussed a few weeks ago.\u00a0 The African philosophy of ubuntu<\/span><\/em><\/strong> elevates the community over the individual.\u00a0 People are not unique and beautiful all alone but because they are a part of something greater than themselves.\u00a0 In this sense, the well being of the groups to which we belong should be our primary focus.\u00a0 If the community succeeds, then ironically the individual does too.\u00a0 Ubuntu<\/span><\/em><\/strong> and Native-American thinking do not diminish the importance of individuals but rather sees people in their proper context – members of the human family which is great and wonderful precisely because of its many diverse members.<\/p>\n In writing to the terribly divided churches in ancient Corinth, Paul wrote in one of his letters to them, which is in the New Testament, that an ideal Christian community should see itself as similar to a human body.\u00a0 A body is made up of many parts that may seem to operate on their own but which, in reality, are vitally connected to the other parts and thus operate as a systemic whole.\u00a0 He wrote, \u201cBut God has put the body together…so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.\u00a0 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Paul\u2019s analogy was a warning to the Corinthian people to stop treating various members – those who were poor or who lacked certain spiritual abilities like speaking in tongues – as less than others.\u00a0 All are equal before god and all are essential for the well-being of the community. <\/strong><\/p>\n The implication of Paul\u2019s words for us today is to see one another not as separate individuals but as vitally connected to each other.\u00a0 And that has a profound impact on how we approach our sharing.\u00a0 It is not giving.\u00a0 It is extending what belongs not to me or to you but to all people and all life.<\/p>\n Jews understand giving in much the same way.\u00a0 Giving is not a voluntary act.\u00a0 It is compulsory if one is to even think of oneself as a genuine person of faith.\u00a0 Giving is not a form of compassion but an act of justice<\/span><\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 All money and all resources come from God.\u00a0 Giving is simply a way of extending to others not what is ours but what is God\u2019s.\u00a0 God\u2019s intention was that all justly<\/span><\/em><\/strong> share in life\u2019s gifts.<\/p>\n This religious view of giving was secularly expressed by economists Kenneth Boulding and Michael Moody who, in 1981, coined the term \u201cserial reciprocity\u201d to describe their vision of an economy and social structure which gives and shares material resources as a way of paying forward.\u00a0 Individuals extend resources to third party strangers in a future focused effort to advance humanity in general.\u00a0 In their view, resources have come to us from people in our past, we use and borrow the resources for a time, and then instead of hoarding wealth, we pay it forward so that others can also use and borrow for a time.\u00a0 What we share and do for others is passing along what was passed to us.<\/p>\n Serial reciprocity is fundamentally part of what I have spoken about before in terms of universal moral imagination.\u00a0 It sees cooperation and unity as a persistent trend in human evolution.\u00a0 It contrasts against competition, survival of the fittest and rampant individualism.\u00a0 Humans increasingly realize that competition is a zero sum game.\u00a0 Competition for limited resources creates a world where nobody wins.\u00a0 Life is one hard slog to get ahead and beat out the next person.\u00a0 Increasingly, however, humanity recognizes that cooperation helps insure that there are no losers in life.<\/p>\n Importantly, an economy based on serial reciprocity and paying forward is not socialist but has been called, instead, \u201cmoral capitalism.\u201d\u00a0 It is a form of economic thinking made famous by Henry Ford who, in 1914, paid his workers the unheard of salary of $5.00 a day.\u00a0 Ford understood that if he and his company were to succeed, there had to be enough people who could afford to buy his cars.\u00a0\u00a0 If he paid his employees high enough wages, not only would they be better off, they would buy his cars and he would also reap greater benefits.<\/p>\n Fundamentally, Ford was not giving away high wages as a form of compassion.\u00a0 He was a clear eyed capitalist who understood that the well being of himself, his customers and his shareholders was intrinsically tied to the success of his workers.\u00a0 Higher wages for others was a way for Ford to practice serial reciprocity.<\/p>\n This ethos is today practiced by the Whole Foods company which famously pays its entry level employees significantly higher wages – $15.00 an hour – nearly double the minimum wage.\u00a0 While this earns a full-time employee $30,000.00 a year in wages, Whole Foods combines its pay with medical insurance benefits and stock options.\u00a0 A typical entry level worker at Whole Foods thus earns over $50,000.00 a year in wages, benefits and stock options.<\/p>\n The mindset of Whole Foods is that each of the stakeholders<\/span><\/em><\/strong> in its business must share equally in its resources if it is to succeed as a company.\u00a0 Shareholders, employees and customers must be equal at the table.\u00a0 If shareholders prosper at the expense of employees, the company will have less motivated workers and, in the long term, fewer customers to buy its goods.\u00a0 Ultimately, over the long haul, shareholders will also lose.<\/p>\n What Henry Ford and now Whole Foods understood is that paying forward for the betterment of all is not a socialist concept of redistributing wealth.\u00a0\u00a0 It is both a wise economic strategy and a spiritual practice to help the human family.\u00a0 All must do well in order for ALL to do well.\u00a0 Wise capitalists pay forward as a way to assure the success of the capitalist system itself.\u00a0 It is, ironically, a very conservative ideal.<\/p>\n As I said earlier, this economic understanding of sharing wealth turns on its head many of our beliefs and long held ideas about charity.\u00a0\u00a0 No longer do I give based on what I have been given or will be given.\u00a0 No longer do I feel, with an implicit sense of superiority, that I bestow what is mine on others out of some sense of charity or kindness.\u00a0 I share because I believe in the well-being of everyone, because I don\u2019t really own anything and because I\u2019m a part of a greater whole.\u00a0 I help insure my own survival by making sure the community in which I am a member survives and thrives.<\/p>\n What I ask us to consider, myself included, is that we see the time and money we share here at the Gathering, with family and with others\u2026.in a new light.\u00a0 What we share with others are not gifts.\u00a0 What we share here and with other organizations and individuals are investments<\/span><\/em><\/strong> in humanity.\u00a0 At the Gathering, we pay forward not to benefit me, one another or even the church – but all<\/span><\/em><\/strong> people.<\/p>\n When a Gathering member volunteers to help one of our outreach partners, all of humanity benefits.\u00a0 When a member makes new friends and builds new relationships with other members, he or she feels better about life – and all of humanity is better off.\u00a0 When a member is encouraged and strengthened by the support and love of others, all of humanity is better off.\u00a0 When any of us are challenged by Sunday messages to be more open, true and whole, that extends outward to others in our lives.\u00a0 All humanity is better off.\u00a0 And, ultimately, we are each individually also better off.<\/p>\n Let us share with the church and with others as fully<\/span><\/em><\/strong> as we possibly can, not just because of gratitude or a sense of charity.\u00a0 Let us pay forward to the Gathering and to others because that\u2019s who we are as people.\u00a0 We share for the sake of our world. \u00a0We share so that people who hurt and struggle might find a place of comfort and relief \u2013 like the Gathering.\u00a0 We pay forward so that people who feel different or unaccepted can find a place to fully express who they are.\u00a0 We share so that all people can love whom they wish without shame or guilt.\u00a0 We share so that homeless kids might be helped – hopefully breaking a cycle of poverty in their lives and thus benefitting all society.\u00a0 We share so that all of us and ultimately all in our community can spiritually grow \u00a0– finding ways to be more forgiving, humble, generous, content, joyful, aware, strong, gentle, devoted, courageous and hopeful people – to name just a few of the message topics we\u2019ve considered over the past year.\u00a0 In paying forward for each of these things, we are not helping something as small as the Gathering or any individual person.\u00a0 We help improve the world.<\/p>\n And this faith community is a perfect place to engage in the work we are called to do.\u00a0 Ultimately, we share here to express our deeply held beliefs that people matter and that it is up to each of us – rich and poor alike – to do our part to help build a vision of heaven where none are hungry, where all are celebrated equally, where each can live joyfully and in peace.\u00a0 The Gathering not only stands for those ideals, it actively works to practice them.\u00a0 Let us not<\/strong> give back<\/span><\/strong> but, instead, pay forward<\/span><\/strong> to a better and happier future for all humanity.<\/p>\n I wish all of us a joyous, blessed and generous Thanksgiving holiday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Message 113, \u201cThankfulness in Action: Giving Back or Paying Forward??\u201d, 11-18-12 (c) Doug Slagle, Pastor at the Gathering UCC, All Rights Reserved Click here to listen to the message. \u00a0You can read along below. Most of us know the real story of the first Thanksgiving.\u00a0 After surviving a starvation winter when over half of Plymouth […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1806\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}