MONEY AND SUCCESS October 8, 2006

Stewardship Sermon,
Scripture: Exodus 35: 4-5, 20-29; 2 Cor. 9:6-15, Lk 12:13-21

It gives me great delight to step up to the challenge of another Stewardship sermon. Did you know that many pastors rather not preach to their own congregation about money so arrange to swap pulpits for the Stewardship kickoff sermon? I believe strongly that not only on special occasions but very frequently it is important to preach on how we can be good stewards of all that God has given us. You who attend worship here frequently know that I often say at the offering that it is not just your money that God wants but the dedication of your whole self. When talking about stewardship we pastors often stress the 3 T’s: talents, time and treasures; however, today I’m going to talk about the part that is most difficult: money. One of the biggest complaints from church goers is that the church is always talking about money. When I first came to Deering, I was trying to sort out who the people were on the membership list, so I called a lot of the names that I had not already met. I remember how angry one man was about the letters he received from this church asking for money, saying that he didn’t want any thing to do with this church anymore. So I know that this whole subject area is a sensitive even a dangerous one. Not only do church goers disdain hearing about money, but pastors themselves in general hate to talk about money. In church we struggle with profound topics: life, death, justice, peace, the existence or non-existence of God. Yet the subject of money is seldom brought up-even sex seems to be an easier topic to discuss in church. I don’t know about you, but some of my greatest anxiety is about money: not having enough, having more than others, how to make money and then what is the right thing to do with the money that you do have. What is our responsibility to the poor and those in crises? How much stuff is okay to have—maybe 2 tv’s but not 4, maybe two bicycles but not 20. How much money should we save for our retirement years? Are we like the foolish farmer that accumulated so much that he had to build more barns and silos and that very night he died? Jesus says that the important thing is to be rich towards God, not to save up treasures for ourselves. But what about that rainy day? Money is a very hard subject for me. I struggle too much to even pretend that I have all the right answers; however, I don’t mind sharing my thoughts with you; however, I don’t want it to be too grim so let me tell you a couple of stories before we get any deeper into this topic.

In our Corinthians passage today is that famous quote about how God loves a cheerful giver. One Sunday morning a father gave his son $5 for the offering and 3 one dollar bills so that he might get an ice cream on the way home. Well the ice cream shop was closed so when the boy got home the dollar bills were gone but he still had the $5. His father asked him what happened, why he hadn’t put the $5 in the offering. “Well, it was like this,” the boy explained. “The preacher said that God loves a cheerful giver. I could give the dollar bills a lot more cheerfully than I could the $5.”

Then there was this minister of one our neighboring churches who announced to his congregation that he had bad news, good news, and bad news. “The bad news is, the church needs a new roof, the congregation groaned. “The good news is that we have enough money for the new roof.” The congregation cheered. Then the pastor said, “The bad news is, the money is still in your pockets.”

So brothers and sisters the money the church needs to meet our financial obligations for 2007 may not be in your pockets; however, it is in your bank accounts, in your paychecks, in your social security deposits, or in your creative ability to raise funds for the church.

The offering is an ancient religious rite, performed in nearly every human society. We heard about the ancient Hebrew people’s offering in today’s Hebrew scripture: gold, silver, bronze, purple yarn, acacia wood, spices and oil and fragrant incense. We’ve read about the sacrifices of goats and lambs. Even the poorest people gave to the offering—remember the widows’ mite. Today our offerings are less tangible, dollars and checks instead of livestock and jewels. We come to worship not just to heal our own souls but to bring our gifts for others who have needs.
This year the Stewardship Committee has asked you to fill out a brief survey to see why you give and what you would like to have happen in your church if money were no object. Most people said they give because they have been blessed so richly that they want to share with others; or just because they love the church or love the Lord. A couple of respondents even said that the Bible passage about tithing, giving a tenth of all you earn to God, was the reason for their giving. In 2004 in the United Church News reported that the top 3 reasons why people give to their church are 1)Because they feel connected to what the church believes in and stands for; 2) Because they believe the ministry is producing changed lives—either their own or observable changes in other members’ lives; 3)Because they want to improve their communities—the outreach aspect. In our survey many of you said if money were no object that they wanted to do more outreach in the community, welcoming new residents, reaching out to invite folks to worship or help with special needs. Others said they wanted to see more Christian Ed opportunities for children and adults. Several responses mentioned wishing the church would have a full time minister—which was your major goal the year that I came at ½ time. There were also a considerable # of answers that stressed the need to take care of the building to bring it up to a solid and attractive structure, repairing rot, painting and so forth.
This same article in the UCC News said people are more apt to give to a church that they see as successful, having meaning and vitality; churches that are struggling to find direction or just barely surviving are not so likely to inspire great giving. This statement made me start thinking about what is success for a church. If you read my Pastor’s corner in this months’ newsletter, you read about a whole list of things that have been happening in our church that I was pleased to report. At the same time our attendance the last two (3?) Sundays has been extremely low, we have lost many members and the new members that have joined over the last 3 years are not very regular in attendance. Often times in Sunday School there are only 3 to 5 children, plus we have lost several teachers and are finding it difficult to recruit new teachers.

What is success in a church? What is God’s definition of success? One of the sermon summaries I saw on the Internet[1] said that the first part of God’s success is to answer the call of Christ in our lives; secondly, we must be accountable for what God has given us—storing up treasures in heaven instead of stuff in our house and bank; and thirdly, we must realize that we are not self-sufficient, that all we have comes from God, who wants our obedience, and it is out of our relationship with God that generosity will flow. Another Internet sermon, one by the Rev. Gary W. Charles was particularly interesting to me. He started out with saying that throughout Mark’s Gospel, Jesus tries to teach his disciples that whatever society counts as success, the church should say much the opposite. According to this contrarian theology, the successful church lives among the poor and the dispossessed, doesn’t worry about how it will make ends meet today or tomorrow, instead trusts in the presence of the risen Jesus. If you and I believe that our whole life is a God given gift, then money is a theological matter; it matters how we earn it, account for it, and give it away, both individually and as a church.

For me a successful church is one that shares the good news with others. I believe strongly that participating in worship and other activities of the church can be transformational, can change lives; therefore, a successful church gets members and others involved. Increasing attendance and membership is a theological matter; it matters that we have all ages involved in Christian education and participating in mission trips. It matters that you and I invite others to join us on this great journey of faith, that we talk to others about what we believe and why we do what we do. And it is important for us to ask others to come to church with us, no matter how difficult it is and how many people say no. Another area that is clear to me is that God throughout the Bible is holding followers accountable for caring for the exploited, the vulnerable, and the marginal; therefore, social justice is a theological matter, an outgrowth of our religious beliefs. If we are blind to things such as AIDS, wars, economic imbalance, we are not following Jesus. We need to demand more of our governments and corporations and individuals, more mercy and justice.

I believe that a successful church has to care about numbers, both financial figures and membership. It’s not so much that numbers are important as a measure of accomplishment but that these numbers represent women and men created in God’s image. They are the people that Christ has commissioned us to go and tell the Good News. The financial numbers are important because they signify how this particular church will be able to do the work of Christ. Dollars have to be given for mission work if we are to follow Jesus’ teachings. Salaries have to be paid to the minister and the organist/choir director in order for there to be worship and administrative leadership. Bills have to be paid to keep the building repaired and the utilities on.

It’s hard to go against our upbringing. Most of us were taught to be frugal. I have heard many arguments about how giving money away is not prudent or responsible for then we may be a burden on others in our old age. I wonder how much the real reason for this frugality is that we don’t really believe that God will take care of us. Is all that talk about lilies of the field and birds of the air is just poetry? This whole stewardship business, how much money will I pledge, how much money will you pledge, is a choice offered to each of us about how we are going to approach the world. We can continue living in a scarcity mode, fearing we will never have enough, that we have to keep saving more. Or we could try our darnest to shift into an abundance mode, recognizing our incredible blessings already given to us by God—the amazing people in our lives, the meaningful experiences we have had, the opportunities to worship and commune with the Divine Spirit that have already happened as part of our life with Deering Community Church. Then sharing ourselves and our gifts, including money, becomes just another way of praising our awesome, loving, gracious God. And that my church family is SUCCESS.

In closing let me quote from today’s scripture, Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, “Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.” ( 9:7-8) Amen and Amen



[1] Jesus the Revolutionary: Implications for Christ-Centered Stewardship .Joseph Stowell. Sermon preached at the annual Generous Giving Conference, Phoenix, Ariz., March 1-3, 2001.

OUTSIDERS October 1,2006

Sermon for World Communion Sunday
Scripture: Numbers 11 Mark 9: 33-41

Throughout the world today Protestant and Orthodox Christians are gathering to eat bread and drink wine or grape juice in memory of Jesus who said, “This is my body which is given to you and this is the cup that is poured out for you, the new covenant in my blood.” Some of these millions of people will be in churches like ours in countries like ours; however, most of them will be in places like Africa, the Philippines, South and Central America. Many of them will be worshiping in single room schools like I saw in Nicaragua, made out of sheet metal, wood scraps and cardboard or outdoors in village squares with chickens, dogs and pigs surrounding them. Although there will be many in magnificent cathedrals with great pipe organs and huge choirs others will be in humble dwellings where a simple wooden cross identifies it as a church and where the music is drumming and tambourines, like Rimbi, our partner church in Zimbabwe. There may be dancing and shouting or there may be a quiet worship similar to ours. In all of these places with the great diversity of men, women, and children, God’s name will be praised and Jesus will be honored. There’s another thing that I bet is true of all these places: some folks feel like insiders and others feel like outsiders, on the margins. I bet there are people in all of these places that want to be special, Jesus’ favorites in the same way that his disciples argued about who would be the greatest.

In our gospel passage we are told that the disciples are upset because they saw some unknown person casting out demons in Jesus’ name. Whoever this exorcist was, the disciples were very unhappy that he was infringing on their turf. This man was an outsider; he didn’t have a membership card. The disciples tried to stop him but could not do so. Just to give you a little background on this Mark passage, just a few verses earlier the disciples had been unsuccessful in healing the young boy who had a spirit or demon that made it impossible for him to speak. Jesus was able to cast out the demon and heal the boy. They were very perplexed at why they had not been able to be successful in healing him. When the disciples complain to Jesus about this outsider who is healing in his name, Jesus responds to their complaint by saying, “Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us.” He goes on to say even someone that does as simple a thing as give a cup of water in the name of Christ will be rewarded.

We have a similar situation in our Hebrew Scripture lesson. Moses has had it with all the complaining and whining of the Hebrews. He goes to God and shares how burdened he feels and God directs him to choose 70 elders and God will take from Moses some of the spirit that is on him and put it on these 70 men. When the spirit rested on these men, we are told they began to prophesy. Two men, Eldad and Medad, who had remained in the camp and had apparently also felt the spirit come to them, also began prophesying. A young man ran and told Moses what he had seen and heard. Joshua, one of Moses chosen men, said, “My lord, Moses, stop them.” And Moses response is very much like Jesus’ response to his disciples, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!” It seems to me that in both the case of Jesus’ disciples and Moses’ elders, the men desired to have the exclusive rights to tell others about the good news.

Let’s look some more at the disciples of Jesus. What might they be feeling? Jealousy, a threat of not being as good as someone else? A little earlier in this Mark gospel, Jesus has told the disciples that he is to be betrayed and killed. We are told that they don’t really understand what he means and are afraid to ask him. They are probably feeling that their security is threatened. Whenever we are threatened with loss and insecurity, it is popular to gather the clan together to resist outsiders. Things such as ethnic cleansing, heretic hunting and other exclusions as well as 911 lead to reactions of fear and insecurity. So when the disciples say they tried to stop this unknown man because he was not following them, were not part of the in group, it is similar to what happens among Christians today. How often do we hear folks labeling other Christians as conservative, fundamentalist, liberal, radical, evangelical, social activist, and so on! How often do you and I do the same thing! I have heard it said that the greatest differences in the world are never between people who believe different things, but between people who believe in the same things but differ in their interpretation. This is just another way of excluding or rejecting people that don’t believe or act exactly the way we do. These labels can be used if describing someone like yourself in a positive way; however, they are often used to discount persons and ideas. Once a journalist asked Carl Sandburg, “What is the ugliest word in the English language?” And his response was “exclusive”. Now we well know that it depends on whether you are in or out how ugly this word becomes. Many Christians pride themselves on being members of exclusive churches and living in exclusive neighborhoods. If you are an insider, there is a sense of pride and security. When you are among the rejected, the different, the marginal, exclusive hurts. I can remember when in the late 60’s I first came to LA from Hawaii, married to an African American. At that time the Black is Beautiful movement was very big. We lived with my husband’s cousin in the beginning and most of the people we associated with were black. Even though I did not feel that they were purposely excluding me, I remember feeling on the outside. If Black was beautiful and I was not black, I was not beautiful. You can imagine if I found this hurtful as a member of the dominant group in our society, how much more hurtful it must be for those who have lived as part of the minority, less powerful group!

How can we apply Jesus’ response to the disciples and Moses’ response to the elders to our own situation? First of all these situations say to me that many are called to do God’s work in this world. Those called may not even have a designation of importance or a certain academic degree, or a license or a certificate of ordination. I know several people that are doing fantastic work for God without any of the above. I also know situations where God calls a particular person to teach and preach, but the human representatives of the church do not recognize or approve this call. What is such a person to do? My hope and prayer is that this person would continue to do God’s work in whatever way seems possible and right in his or her community. There is more than one way to follow Jesus; the proof is in the pudding, in the work accomplished by the follower, not in any degree or certificate. As this Mark passage points out, even when the disciples, the men that were called and certified to be Jesus’ apostles, told the uncertified person to stop his healing work, he did not stop. He continued to heal in the name of Jesus and his ministry was effective.

Jesus said, “Whoever is not against us if for us.” Now I don’t see this as blessing anything and everything that is not actively working against God’s will and mission. Rather I believe this means that anyone who is accomplishing the work of God, whether a part of our particular group or not, is in reality in partnership with us and is to be blessed for her work. Remember there are many paths to God. We don’t all have to have the same credentials or do it the same way. What a wonderful and important thing to remember on World Communion Day! We are all called to celebrate God’s great love for us by loving each other as well as those that are in different places, celebrating in different ways. Maybe prophets that are not of our faith are speaking God’s love in another way, just as I heard yesterday in Concord when the representatives of Jewish and Islam faiths spoke about peace. There are men and women are healing and prophesying in the power of God’s love even though they do not call themselves Christian. Remember that Jesus, the very incarnation of God’s power and presence, did not live by the divisions and rules of his time. He called those that were outsiders to be part of his ministry: he welcomed tax collectors, prostitutes. He touched untouchables such as those with leprosy; he talked with those that the rules said he should not speak to: women, Samaritans. And of course, he called Saul, a zealous persecutor of Christians, as the first missionary of our faith. Throughout history God has called and acted through outsiders: remember that Moses was a murderer, yet God chose him to deliver the Hebrews to the Promised Land. If we confine the good news that Jesus brought to us to our own kind, the insiders, instead of reaching out in mutual respect to the outsiders, we would definitely not be following Jesus’ final commission: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always to the end of the age.” (Mt.28:19-20). Let each of us go forth, remembering Jesus’ command and bringing about the Kingdom of God here and now, wherever we may be. Amen

Blessed Are the Peacemakers Sermon for 9-24-06

Scripture: Micah 4:3-7; Romans 12: 14-21, Mt. 5:1-10, 43-48.

Today I want to follow up on some of the things we talked about last Sunday. I know for some of you nonviolence, either personally or nationally as in considering war, is quite a challenge. I’m aware last week we had a lot of tears in worship but we haven’t had any jokes lately. Also some of my sermons have been a bit on the long side. That reminded me of a minister who was known for his very long sermons. One Sunday he noticed a man get up and leave during the middle of his message. The man returned just before the conclusion of the service. As the man walked out of the church the pastor asked the man where he had gone." I went to get a haircut," was the reply. "But," said the pastor, "why didn't you do that before the service started?"
"Because," the gentleman said, "I didn't need one then."

Getting back to nonviolence, most all of our religions believe in peace and compassion. A Western Buddhist woman was in India, studying with her teacher. She was riding with another woman friend in a rickshaw-like carriage, when they were attacked by a man on the street. In the end, the attacker only succeeded in frightening the women, but the Buddhist woman was quite upset by the event and told her teacher so. She asked him what she should have done - what would have been the appropriate, Buddhist response. The teacher said very simply, "You should have very mindfully and with great compassion whacked the attacker over the head with your umbrella."

Keeping in mind that it will soon be time for a new stewardship campaign, I thought I would share 4 things we never hear said in church: 1. Hey! It's my turn to sit in the front pew!2. I was so enthralled; I never noticed your sermon went 25 minutes over time. 3. I love it when we sing hymns I've never heard before! 4. Nothing inspires me and strengthens my commitment like our annual stewardship campaign!

Well, that’s my best effort for the funny side today. Now let’s turn to one of my favorite parts of the Bible, the Beatitudes. One day I would like to do a sermon series on each of them; however, today I am going to focus on Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth and Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God.

I’m sure most of you know that the body has two main reactions to a threat: fight or flight. Physiologically, in the early stages of our human development, things happened to help us to protect ourselves. Even now when a threat appears, our bodies go into a fight or flight response: such as increases in heart rate, blood pressure, and blood glucose, and a change in hormones, all initiated by the sympathetic nervous system to mobilize body systems to respond, to either stay and deal with a stressor by fighting or to take flight/run away. However, there is a third way to respond when we are threatened, either individually, as a group, or as a nation. Sometimes this is called anawim, taken from the word translated meek in the Beatitudes. This is the way that Jesus chose to respond, and a way that we also can choose. Jesus did not deny the unjust treatment or violence that he saw, neither did he try to run away from it. Instead he identified with those who were suffering and said things such as Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. As I read Jesus’ words I have no doubt that he wants all of us who follow him, who call ourselves Christians, to join him on this path of solidarity and love. He says just a little bit later in this famous Sermon on the Mount, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” When Jesus refers to the meek, he is not endorsing some type of timidness or saying it’s nice to be nice and good to be good. It’s a much stronger command to recognize that we are all brothers and sisters, that as we do good or harm to one of the least of these we do it unto Christ.

Sometimes you will hear people refer to the New Testament, especially the Gospels, as the teaching of peace and the Old Testament or the Hebrew Scriptures as being the justification for war. There’s no doubt that the history of the Jewish people is filled with violence and wars; however, do you know that shalom, the Hebrew word for peace, occurs roughly 350 times in the Hebrew scriptures. Peace is the result of right relationship with God, which yields right relationship with others and the world. There are plenty of passages in the Hebrew Scriptures that condemn violence and advocate concern for the good of others. In Leviticus 19:17-18, we see a call to love one’s neighbor as oneself, which is later taken up by Jesus as the second greatest commandment. In Isaiah as well as the Micah passage that was read this morning, it is urged that swords be beaten into plowshares. Micah says “nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” Dr. Peter Gathje, Director of Peace Studies and Assistant Professor of Religion at Christian Brothers University in a lecture for the Gandhi Institute concluded that in the Judaic tradition, peace comes through God’s justice, which is right relationship between God and God’s people.

One of the most prevalent attitudes since 9/11 is the attitude of fear. We are always being cautioned about the next great horrible thing that may happen to us. The level of danger goes up according to a color code. Bishop Arthur Walmsley gave be a most interesting book last week, titled Hell’s Abyss / Heaven’s Grace: War and Christian Spirituality written by Lawrence D. Hart, an Episcopal priest. (Notice our thought for reflection in the bulletin) I highly recommend this book. Hart says that “our fear fuels the engine of anger which turns the gears of vengeance. Without the fuel of fear the whole mechanism grinds to a halt…. But it is easy to see where fear and anger lead: Nazi Germany subjects Jews to unimaginable horror and death; Israel in turn oppresses and brutalizes Palestinians (with American knowledge and support, even with massacres such as at the refuge camps of Sabra and Shatila); some Arabs then resort to global terrorism, with the attack on the World Trade Center as their most heinous assault; America responds by defying the rest of the world, fabricating evidence, and attacking Iraq. Matters of cause and effect are certainly more complex than this; nevertheless there is a relationship here that is set off by fear.”[1] I agree that this sounds too simplistic; however, it does have a ring of truth in it for me.

Throughout the gospels we are told, “Do not be afraid.” As Henri Nouwen says we are called to move out of the house of fear and into the house of love. He says that each time we move out of the house of fear toward the house of love, peacemaking starts. If we keep our eyes fixed on this Jesus we just may be able to let go of fear and become free enough to live in a world without borders and be able to truly bring and receive good news throughout the world. He sees this as happening through three things:1) prayer—which puts us in the intimate presence of unconditional, unlimited love; 2)resistance to the things that lead us or others to death and destruction such as prejudice, greed, militarism; and 3) building community where we dare come together and get to know each other, forgive each other, share joy and sorrow, celebrate a vision of peace that will overcome all fear.[2]

Let me tell you a couple of true stories in closing. First, how many of you remember Ruby Bridges, an African American first grader who integrated the public school in New Orleans back in 1960. Each day Ruby had to enter and leave school through a howling mob. Robert Coles, a child psychiatrist, was fascinated by her ability to do this. He went observed as well as interviewing Ruby and her parents. Ruby told him that she was praying for the people that were yelling at her because her parents and her minister said that such people needed praying for. So Ruby prayed for these raging men and women every night before she went to bed as well as when she walked to the school. She said this to Coles, “Because if you go through what they are doing to you, you’re the one who should be praying for them…The minister said that Jesus went through a lot of trouble, and he said about the people who were causing the trouble, ‘God forgive them, because they don’t know what they’re doing.”[3] This is the faith and trust of a first grader, truly one of the blessed meek that will inherit the earth. Glory be to God. If evil and violence are to be overcome by good, we the body of Christ must be like him, emptying ourselves of fear and anger and filling ourselves with God’s love. Can we like Paul say, “It is no longer I who lives, but it is Christ who lives in me.? It’s not easy my friends but it is part of the joy and cost of discipleship.

The other story is from Muriel Lester,[4] who worked until her death in 1958 with the Fellowship of Reconciliation. She tells of a family in Vienna who believed in nonviolence and yet were initially fearful when they realized that the Russian soldiers were on their way to march into their home. They had a son who had been killed by the Russian military in the war and were left with a second son and a beautiful teenage daughter. The custom of the soldiers after winning a war was that they were allowed to do whatever they pleased for a few days. The family thought about hiding their valuables, maybe sending the daughter away. They all prayerfully considered what they should do. They decided not to hide or bury anything, not to send the daughter away, but to prepare their house for guests—thinking of the soldiers as young men far from home, conscripted into the Russian army. Let me now read to you the rest of the story:
Sometimes it is hard to imagine that there is a third way, a way of love, not hate; forgiveness and hospitality, not fear and revenge. Our speakers last Sunday talked about some of the amazing things that happen through the Peace and Reconciliation trials in South Africa. I have shared other stories with you today. If you join me on Saturday at the Peace Rally at the statehouse in Concord, you will hear many more stories of hope and promise, not just from Christians, but other faiths as well as people who consider themselves with out a faith but as people of conscience. Let us grow together in peace with justice for all. Amen and amen.

[1] Lawrence Hart, p. 43.
[2] Henri Nouwen, The Road to Peace, edited by John Dear, pp.58-64.
[3] Robert Coles, “The Inexplicable Prayers of Ruby Bridges,” Christianity Today, August 1985.
[4] “Tales from Vienna”, in Peace is the Way, edited by Walter Wink, pp. 260-1.