Extravagant Living and Giving

My class last night totally messed me up! I had in mind a way the sermon should go, and they totally sidetracked it/me. I was thinking of backing away from text, talking about it and leaving it there for everyone to see. Then I was going to talk about altar and table. Because of an altar we are invited to the table. The sacrifice of Jesus allows us to eat at the table with God. The altar is about death and sad, and the table is about life and joy. I think it could have been a pretty good discussion, but it will have to wait.

The class ended up engaged in a wonderful discussion about extravagant giving. The woman in the first part of Mark 14 gives a gift that is worth nearly a year's wages. The disciples see it as a waste, but Jesus describes it as a "beautiful" expression of love. The woman is likely poor and could be pouring out an inheritance. She does it as an act of adoration and worship. My class did a masterful job of tying this with Jesus and the institution of the Lord's Supper, found a little later in chapter 14, pointing out a couple of words in common: broken and poured out. The woman's gift reflects what Jesus is about to do in his death, the very thing he is asking his disciples to remember in the future with the bread and wine.

All this has me thinking about extravagant giving/living. (It's similar to what I mentioned on Monday about a faith that looks way beyond what I can do.) What do I do in and with my life that is an over-the-top expression of gratitude, adoration, and worship? How do I give, from time to time, in a way that is extravagant? In such a way that might even makes others mutter about silly it is?