Extravagant Generosity

Life is busy as evidenced by the lack of blog posts over the last two weeks. I'm currently in a three week cycle of preaching every Sunday. It's good for me to see what real "pulpit preachers" do every week - and the pressure that comes with the fact that Sunday is looming. I wanted to take time out, however, from this week's sermon prep to comment on generosity (or lack thereof) and its effect on our health, wellness and wholeness (HW2). Extravagant generosity is lacking in our current "me centered" world. Charity, philanthropy, giving with no strings attached, is rare nowadays (says the guy who's trying to run a small 501c3). ;-) In the Christian tradition, the parable is told of the "Good Samaritan" (Luke 10: 30-37). A man travels a road from Jericho to Jerusalem and is robbed, beaten and left for dead. Two notables from the temple heirarchy pass by and do not stop to help (a Priest and a Levite). The man who stops and helps is an outcast in Jewish society - a Samaritan. The Samaritan not only stops, but tends the man's wounds and takes him to an inn where he can continue to heal. The Samaritan pays for his "hospital" stay and tells the innkeeper that he'll cover any extra expenses on his way back through. Look at the current healthcare debate through the lens of this parable. We have more than 46 million persons in the U.S. without access to health care (many of them children). We have many more "working poor" who have inadequate insurance coverage. Preventative medicine is not a standard, but rather it is an after thought in many situations. Free clinics are seeing budget cuts and restrictions on the care they can provide. My local free clinic uses a lottery system to provide care as they do not have the resources to tend to all the people who need their services. Our current system is not extravagantly generous. It is extravagant and way too costly in the way it provides the care for those with insurance, but it is not generous - even considering the non-reimbursed care given by many institutions. Extravagant generosity...is it possible to be like the "Good Samaritan" especially when we so bound up in insurance regulations and capitated payment systems? I think that it is, but it is going to take a drastic and courageous series of changes in order to get there. The carnage in the current system would be extreme, and it would be very painful in the short term (5 or so years). The long term benefits of such a change are what is envisioned (in some ways) by the "Obama Care" legislation. The mindset change would be from our current "priestly" view of "what happens to me if I help the beaten man" to "what happens to the man if I don't help him". Our current system is predicated on the continuation of the institution, not on the caring for all people. It is focused on using the newest technology and creating a market share for my institution/group practice/health system rather than on looking into the needs of the community I/we serve and doing the hard work of societal change - becoming change agents. So this week, think about extravagant generosity. How can you in your life do one thing each day (or week) that is extravagantly generous and truly helps another person with their life? How can you change your midset to the Samaritan viewpoint? I'd love to hear your stories. Peace for the journey, Dan