Giving - because it's good

Remember the verse about 'giving a cup of water in My Name'? What about those who give cups of water, or time, or do an act of kindness not in Jesus' Name? Does he strike those events out of the Book of Life?

I think not.

Giving to others, being kind to others, doing something heroic for another is built into our DNA, I suspect, which rather undercuts Richard Dawkins' idea of the 'selfish gene.' Giving, being kind, being heroic may not be what we focus on, or do very well (either as Christians or not) but it is still there in our system, and comes out frequently. For instance, the anonymous truck driver who rescued a little girl from a blazing car near Milton in the last day or so probably just got on and did what he thought he should. I doubt that there was any particular 'spiritual' motive behind it.

What prompts this meandering is news that a website has been set up in New Zealand called 'Giving for Good: the generosity hub.' You can read stories about giving and helping, and volunteering, and recent news reports of generosity, and you can contribute your own.

You're also nudged to think about giving money to good causes, and shown some examples of how this might be achieved. There's nothing churchy or spiritual about any of it - not that I've noticed so far - but it's great that the groups putting it together think it's worth emphasising generosity within our society.

Paying it Forward in a Different Way

I'm not sure how the following fits into mission, but I have a suspicion that there's a seed of an idea here:

Located inside the Urban Design Center Kashiwa-no-ha (in Kashiwa, Japan), the Ogori cafe looks innocuous enough, but holds a surprise in store for its patrons. In a nutshell, you get what the person before you ordered, and the next person gets what you ordered. Thus, if you’re in on the game, you can choose to be either a generous benefactor, and treat those that come after you – or try your luck at being cheap. Either way, it’s an interesting experiment that explores surprise, kindness and encourages interactions.

You can read the rest of the story here.