Paul is writing to the good people of Philippi. He’s thanking them for their support; they began their support of him long before others did, and continue to do so. The reflection in advance of the mission trip I’m taking in January talks about how inviting support from others accomplishes two important things. First, it destroys that sense of self-sufficiency, creating a sense of humility better than nearly anything. Second, it invites others into the journey through their support.
This reminds me of when my husband took a leave from his city job, to go do government rebuilding in Iraq in 2003. He and I’d both been approved to work with a city management organization. But by the time we received word that our applications had been accepted, conditions had deteriorated to the point that it was an unaccompanied assignment; if we were both going to go, we needed to find something to do with our kids.
We momentarily thought about shipping them to the grandparents for 6 months, but decided that we couldn’t do that to our recently-adopted-formerly-abandoned child. So he went, and I stayed. And by that time our eldest child had returned home while her husband was deployed. Me, the German Shepherd, and three kids, and a demanding day-job.
Neighbors offered to help and originally, I brushed them off. No thanks. I’ve got this. But within a week, I realized I could really use the help. So when the offers came to help, I parsed out little, but really helpful things people could do. One neighbor brought up my trash cans, because it was a day with late night meetings for me. Another walked the dog 2 days a week. And another picked up kids. Eventually I had a whole army assisting. And in return for their help, they wanted to know what was going on in Iraq, how it was going.
My husband’s assignment ended early, after his office was destroyed in car bomb. I realized our family’s experience of his assignment now involved my army of helpers; they were absolutely part of his story, as they helped me manage in his absence. Upon his return, I’d organized a big welcome home party, and invited everyone who’d done anything to help. My house wasn’t big enough, so I even enlisted a neighbor to host the party at their house! We had a spectacular evening, with food and wine and stories and slides. It was a Eucharistic Feast!
I originally organized the party because I felt we owed all of these folks in return for their contribution. After the party, I realized that it was a mutual blessing for them to be able to help. They were able to contribute and be a part of his story. When his ‘reports from the field’ were printed in the local paper, they read the articles, knowing they were a part.
When we act self-sufficient and don’t let others in to help, we obliterate the community that is created from the economy of helping. We walk around as if everything depends on us. We don’t engage others in our worlds, We don’t let them help. After months and years of rugged individualism or self-sufficiency, we look around and wonder at the lack of community, when we’re the ones destroying it.
This is what Paul is talking about, when he talks about the benefits to your account. In Eugene Peterson’s book, The Message, he translates this passage, “Not that I’m looking for handouts, but I do want you to experience the blessing that issues from generosity” I can relate to Peterson's translation; it was a blessing to my army, to allow them to be apart of our story.
This morning, I’m thinking about ways to invite generosity from others in to my upcoming trip. To begin with, I’d ask your prayers for the team members: Michelle, John, Jack, Evan, Katherine, Kaitlyn, Amanda, Shane, Cindy, Judy, Jan, Betsy, Bethany and me.
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