The other night we were watching a rerun of "Friends" and there was an interesting debate that arose. Joey suggested that there was no truly selfless good deed, only selfish. Phoebe spent the episode trying to prove him wrong by attempting to do something completely selfless. The defining argument was that when you do a good deed you feel good about yourself having done it and therefore it is not selfless, but selfish.
Now, I don't totally agree with that argument, but it is interesting to note how self-centered we tend to be in our giving. How quick are we to get receipts for our donations so we can write them off on our taxes? It is incredible to watch how important it is for families to have memorial moneys go to something specific that can have the family name on it. What ever happened to giving it to the church and allowing the leadership to decide how to best use the money to make ministry happen?
The problem develops, then, that our memories get tied up in the stuff. You see it on the organization shows on HGTV, TLC, etc. You see it in the church when it comes time to make changes to the physical space and it effects the light, window, or other item given in memory of Grandma Myrtle. Which brings it back to being about what the individual wants for what they gave...a self-centered act.
I wonder how we got this way?
Thanks for visiting my BLOG. I am the pastor at St. Luke Lutheran Church in Rome, WI. I hope to share with you here some of the things that I am thinking about, that I'm challenged by, that I'm curious about. I hope this can be a place for us to encourage and challenge one another in our faith, so please add your comments.
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