Sermon given by Sarina Ryan, August 14, 2024.

We all love to receive gifts, don’t we? Whether it’s for birthday, holiday, or “just because.” There’s nothing like receiving a beautifully wrapped package with a big bow on top. It makes us feel special and provides an element of mystery and surprise as we are opening our present. And giving a gift to someone else fills us with joy. It warms our hearts to see the expression on the faces of the recipients. The process of giving and receiving is wonderful.

However, there are so many other important gifts that do not require wrapping. In fact, nature is a phenomenal giver:

The sun provides warmth sometimes - a little too much lately - and helps trees and plants to grow, which in turn provides food and shelter.

Rain also helps the plants grow, maintains our water supplies, and provides hydration for insects and animals. 

Certain wildflowers and herbs also gift us with food and have valuable medicinal qualities. In fact 25% of all drugs are derived from rainforest plants – a very impressive fact considering less than 5% of Amazon plant species are studied for the potential medicinal benefits.  Nature is so generous to us and only requires that we pay this gift forward with gratitude and generosity and that we take care of our earth.

Each one of us has a special gift or gifts. Our job is to discover those gifts and to use them. Children gift us with hugs and kisses and giggles. And sometimes their gifts show deep wisdom.

Many years ago, I had a four-week-old baby boy and a 3 1/2-year-old son.  Needless to say my days were sleep deprived and very often frazzled. One morning, I had to bring Christopher to the pediatrician for his four week checkup. Everything that could go wrong that morning did. I was running late and couldn’t find the keys. 

I was frantic. I looked on all the counters, on the floor, in the baby’s diaper bag. The keys were nowhere to be found. Jay kept saying, “I can help.”  And I finally said – as only a mother walking the tight rope ready to fall into an abyss can say – “No, you can’t, how could you help?” Jay looked at me and said, “God gave me good eyes to find things!” He walked over to the trash container and pulled out the keys. What a moment! My little boy had discovered his first gift. Good eyes. He used his gift and I, with humility, received those keys.

Mr. Rogers said “all of us at some time or another need help. Whether we are giving or receiving, each one of us has something valuable to bring to this world. That’s one of the things that brings us together as neighbors – in our own way, each one of us is a giver and receiver. “

Giving and receiving is an extraordinarily beautiful slow dance. That give and take creates balance and abundance,. In the Eighth Pillar of Joy, the Dalai Lama expressed the importance of this process with a very concrete example:

“The Dead Sea, in the Middle East receives freshwater, but it has no outlet so it doesn’t pass the water out. It receives beautiful water from the rivers  and the water goes dank. I mean it just gets bad. And that’s why it is the Dead Sea. It receives it does not give. In the end, generosity is the best way of becoming more, more, and more joyful.”

So let’s explore this process a bit more. I would like to introduce you to Jeff Hansen, who changed the world through art. This is a story about one kid – the story of one visually impaired kid from Kansas. At age six, Jeff was diagnosed with neurofibromatosis – a cancer that produce tumors anywhere on or in the body. In Jeff’s case the tumor was on his optic nerve. While he was in the throes of chemotherapy at age 12, he learned to paint. He painted on notecards. This visually impaired boy found he had a gift for painting – wild abstract paintings. And at that young age, he decided to use his gift for good

He had two goals: 

1. One was to raise money to buy a comfortable chair to sit in while he painted. He went to a furniture store, found a chair and put it on layaway.

2. The other was to earn money to donate to CTF - children’s tumor foundation. Once a week he set up a stand at the end of his driveway. He called it The Bistro. He sold his note cards and coffee and muffins prepared by his mom.

Each week half of his money went to the layaway for the chair. The rest for the children’s tumor foundation.

One week a man named Mike came to the bistro and gave Jeff the chair he had been making payments on. The store owner told Mike about Jeff: Mike was moved and bought it for him. He would not take any money for the chair and in fact gave back all the money Jeff had put down on layaway. He challenged Jeff to use that money to help someone else: someone who needed the money more than he or Jeff needed it. Turns out Michael was visually impaired, too. He told Jeff – “generosity begets generosity.”

Jeff‘s bistro became an ongoing fundraiser for the children’s tumor foundation. He made so much money he began offering the coffee and pastry for free. Jeff’s gift of a muffin and coffee became a gift to CTF. One Saturday, the last customer of the day, a man named Dennis, drove 45 minutes to get to the bistro and gave Jeff a check for $1000. By the end of the summer, he made $15,000 for the children’s tumor foundation. “Generosity begets generosity “

Shortly after, the Make-A-Wish foundation contacted Jeff and asked him to make a wish request. He decided he wanted to meet a famous person and Jeff, being Jeff, made a list of criteria his choice must meet:

They had to have a big heart, 
they had to be respected for their good deeds, 
they had to be compassionate, 
and someone newsworthy for their good deeds and philanthropy and profession. 

12-year-old Jeff picked Elton John.

Elton John founded the Elton John AIDS foundation in 1992, AIDS in Africa foundation, and supported orphanages in Africa. While Jeff was waiting to meet Elton John, he switched from watercolors to acrylics and from painting notecards to canvases. He donated his paintings to charity auctions.

When he finally met Sir Elton John, he gifted him with a package of his note cards. He told Elton John that he now donated canvases to charity auctions with the proceeds being donated to various children’s organizations. And then - he gave Elton John a check for $1000 for his AIDS foundation.

Jeff, the eighth grader at Kansas State school for the blind, Make-A-Wish kid and artist told him that  generosity was fun. Indeed, Jeff was defined by generosity. Elton John sent Jeff A check for $5000 for the children’s tumor foundation.

Generosity begets generosity.

By age 17 Jeff had donated $200,000 to charity and vowed to raise $1 million by age 20. And, he did it. He said being charitable giving gives you a purpose – a mission - a calling. By 2010 he was named a global ambassador for the Make-A-Wish foundation. And he was featured in a CNN series, “leaders with a heart.“  In his 17th year, he met with 101 children and talked about giving. Jeff’s art is in homes and in museums all over the world and he wanted his words to “move people to be kinder and more giving.”

In October 2020 Jeff’s optic nerve glioma returned, and he died on December 20, 2020 at age 27. He had donated $6.5 million to charity.

 One visually impaired kid from Kansas learned to give and receive throughout his short life. We can give our time, our money our words, and our actions every day. Pablo Picasso was spot on when he said: “The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.”

Generosity begets generosity.