Fourth Tuesday in Lent

Romans 12.9-18; Matthew 6.2-4,19-21

Having thought about condemnation of our own sin, forgiving our enemies and prayer, we come next in St. John Chrysostom's five paths of repentance to 'almsgiving'. My dictionary defines 'alms' as 'relief given out of pity to the poor; a charitable deed'. We tend to think of almsgiving in the Church as giving of money and especially in this season of Lent at St. Andrew's we focus on collections for USPG. The collection plates we use in our Sunday services are properly known as alms dishes and at one time there would have been an alms chest, somewhere in the church for offerings which would be for the poor of the parish.

The dictionary definition though helps us to begin to think of a wider context with relation to alms. We may still think in terms of the poor to begin with but we see also that in alms meaning 'a charitable deed' we don't have to think specifically in terms of the poor, but in fact charity extended towards anyone. I think too we can sometimes put a particular emphasis on the word charity by meaning help given to the poor, or less fortunate in some way, than ourselves. But the word charity has in our English language here and there been exchanged with the words grace or love. And so we are beginning to see as we look at the word 'almsgiving' that it can have a much wider meaning than simply giving money to the poor, in that it can mean any good deed either involving the giving of money or not, done to or for any other person.

So in this season of Lent as we focus on almsgiving as a Lenten discipline or path of repentance, I think it's good to think of it in terms of what sort of disposition it demands of us, the almsgivers, and why giving should be an act that helps us repent or be part of the discipline of Lenten reflection.

I'm using for most of these reflections, some of the references that St. Theophan the Recluse gives us as suitable reading, to ask ourselves how much we measure up to what God demands of us as Christians in our day to day life. In this part of St. Paul's letter to the Romans, which St. Theophan recommends we here St. Paul telling us what sort of general demeanour or disposition we should have personally and towards one another as Christians. And within that he says 'contribute to the needs of God's people, and practise hospitality'. There is the obvious notion of giving to others in that. And you will remember that in another letter St. Paul reminds us that we should give gladly, from a generous heart, because God loves a cheerful giver. We are often told in the Church that we should give sacrificially. But I think we need to be careful when we use such a term because the word 'sacrifice' usually conjures up an image of something that is going to be hard on us in some way, something not very nice. But in the Church the word sacrifice can mean any offering as in the eucharistic prayers we sometimes say that we offer our 'sacrifice of thanks and praise'. So yes, we give sacrificially because we do it with joy and with an attitude of thanks and praise to God.

In this letter to the Romans St. Paul goes on to say, 'Call down blessings on your persecutors - blessings not curses....live in agreement with one another. Never pay back evil for evil...live at peace with all'. All of these, I think require a spirit of giving. They call for that disposition in us which is in fact charity or love. It's a giving of ourself to others in some way that makes the lives of others better. And that's what giving alms is all about. So almsgiving is not just about charitable deeds but about a charitable disposition, a disposition that is in obedience to God's command to us to love our neighbour as ourself.

Jesus tells us how we should do these good deeds, and that is without ostentation, in secret if possible. And again we are reminded that St. Paul says that love is not boastful or arrogant or rude in 1 Corinthians 13. Jesus pushes the point home by telling us that if we do these acts quietly and without ostentation then we will God will reward us. And we reminded there too that any giving comes back to us in some way, full measure, pressed down and running over.

So we are beginning to see I think how this outward act, even though much of the time in secret becomes a path of repentance, because what we give and how we give comes from who we are. We can't give in God's way without love, we can't give without thanksgiving, we can't give without being grateful ourselves for what we have. We can't give without a heart whose treasure is love of God and neighbour and a following of God's will and living of His commandments. The more we turn to God, the more we love God, and the more we want to do His will and live His commandments. So the more we turn to God, the more we turn to our neighbour in love in charity, in almsgiving.