WHAT DO I GIVE? Sermon for November 12, 2006
Scripture: 1 Kings 17:8-16 and Mark 12:38-44
Today is Stewardship Sunday, the Sunday that we hope all of our members and friends have sent in a gift or pledge for our 2007 budget. I do hope that this sermon will not make you too restless. I heard about one little girl that was getting very tired of the minister’s long sermon. She leaned over to her mother and whispered, “Mommy, if we give him money now, will he let us go?” How convenient that our lectionary today has two scriptures that address giving! But before we get into the scripture, I’d like to have you look at the word Stewardship with me. Did you ever notice all the words contained in the word Stewardship? First there’s “Stew”. Now that’s what a congregation can get into after a sermon on financial giving. Then there’s “war”, which is what can take place in a budget discussion with the Trustees. Ship is the third syllable. Like the Titanic, if there’s a hole in church giving, it can sink pretty fast. Finally the word “hip” is a reminder that total stewardship is about the whole body of Christ and that means all of us. Now to our scriptures, that talk about two different widows. I want to start off by talking about the status—or lack of it—of widows in Old Testament times and to a lesser extent in New Testament times. You have heard me say before that widows and orphans are the code word for poor and vulnerable in our Bible. They represent all who are weak and marginalized. In the olden days a woman was nothing without a man. If a widow had a son she might be able to live with him and that would give her some help. The eldest son was the family member to inherit the patriarch’s wealth. You see Hebrew inheritance laws did not include women. So any resources they had were meager or non-existent.
In our first scripture reading the location is Zarephath of Sidon, a town on the Philistine coast. The people on the coast were worshippers of the god Baal—prosperity religion that worshiped fertility gods that promised prosperity to their followers and rain for their crops. The prophet Elijah has come abruptly upon a land that has been witnessing one king after another killed for disobedience to God. Just before our reading Elijah has been given food by the ravens, whom God promised would bring him meat and bread. There is a drought and Elijah as well as the others is affected with no crops and little water. Next God tells Elijah to go to the Sidonian widow to receive sustenance. Now this is like God telling a Jew in Israel to go over to Palestine and be fed by a Muslim. And we are told that this widow who has only a handful of flour and a little oil in a jug is blessed by God so that she can feed Elijah, her son, and her self as much as they want and still have plenty left over. (We see the forerunner of Jesus and the feeding miracles in this scripture.) It seems to me that the willingness of this widow, so poor she thought she was about to have her last meal and die, to share what she had is the model that not only Jesus taught in the Gospels but that the God of Israel instructed his chosen people to follow.
In our Gospel lesson we have two stories tied together by the word widow. In the first story Jesus criticizing the scribes (professional interpreters of the Law) for walking around seeking attention in public places and prestige in the synagogues and taking the seats of honor at banquets. Then we have the widow sentence: “They devour widows’ houses…” In some of my commentaries the explanation is that some scribes were legal trustees of a widow’s estate and charged such exorbitant fees that there was little left for the widow to live on. The scribes would take their fees and buy fancy robes and give big banquets while the women were left broke. Jesus is warning his disciples to not be like these scribes, who will receive God’s condemnation.
After condemning the scribes’ hypocrisy, Jesus goes into the temple treasury where voluntary offerings were received. He observes what folks are putting into the donation box. In most churches today there is great secrecy about who gives what. Traditionally only the Financial Secretary and maybe the chair of Stewardship have this information. Not only do we keep the pledges secret but we have even provided envelopes in which you put your check for further privacy. Some stewardship consultants think it is important for the pastor to know members’ pledges. About the only time Suzanne, our Financial secretary, tells me about an amount is if a guest gives a particularly generous donation and she wants me to write a letter of thanks. I can ask questions when appropriate such as if a certain member has given in the past year; for example our bylaws state that if a person who no longer attends church wants to keep his or her membership active, he or she must have a personal contact as well as make a financial contribution each year. Some churches are much more open with their giving. A Japanese church that I interviewed in my search process printed the pledges/donations of their members in the bulletin—and they had a much higher level of giving then most UCC churches.
As Jesus was sitting there observing, he noted that many rich people put in large sums of money, and then a poor widow came and put in two small coins, worth less than a penny. As we know from the scripture, Jesus commented to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”
Are you aware that nowhere in the New Testament is tithing mentioned? Luke asks for 50% for the poor; for Mark 100% is mentioned as in the rich young ruler. Elijah demanded that the poor widow share what she had; Jesus commends the widow for giving her mite—rather than making fun of her for giving so little. Her act of giving was an act of worship. These two poor widows are held up for us today as models of generosity. Even if they did not have much to live on, they were willing to share. It reminds me of what our brothers and sisters in Zimbabwe have taught us about their joy and faith in spite of their worsening financial situation.
I do not believe that Jesus is expecting or asking us to be like the widow in that we give everything we have to God. This is not the kind of “sell all you have and give to the poor” kind of passage that we might expect to find in Luke’s gospel. Rather Jesus is inviting us to have inner hearts like this widow, being willing to give our whole being to God, our heart and soul and mind, and to keep in mind our dependence on God from whom we have been so richly blessed. There is a story about a group of scientists who claimed they had developed a way to create life out of dirt—just as God had done in the first creation. “They invited God to the unveiling of their accomplishment, and God shows up. God says, “Go ahead, let me see what you can do.” So one of the scientists reaches down to pick up a handful of dirt. Whereupon God says, “Oh, no, no! You get your own dirt!” The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.[1] I wonder how many of you think about how everything that is or has been made, is possible because of that great divine Spirit; therefore, all we have belongs to God and has been lent to us for awhile.
Let’s get back to financial wealth and take another look at the difference between the poor widow who gave all she had and the rich who give only a small percentage of their wealth. In all truth the poor widow who has so little knows that those two coins are not going to change her life. When you have so little, a penny or two certainly isn’t going to move you from welfare to work. This situation may have made it much easier for her to give, helping her feel a sense of joy and peace that she gave what she could to God. With most of us--who are rich compared to the majority of the world—our money gives us independence and freedom and we don’t want to lose that by putting our whole paycheck in the offering plate. The widow could not be independent by her own wealth; therefore, it was easier to depend on God. It’s harder when you have disposable income. I think it’s important to look at what money means to us. Is it our heart, our security, our source of power or is one of the tools we use to be a good steward? Do we depend on our money or God to make us rich in the things that really matter? Our culture tends to teach us to become like the honored scribes; however, Jesus counsels us to hold up the dishonored widow rather than to aspire to the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Jesus promises us that dependence on God will give us joy and true freedom in this life and rest and peace after death.
Now I would like to make a confession; I can’t help but think how much pastors, including me, are like those scribes that go around in long robes and pray in public places. When some of us from here marched in the Declaration of peace march on September 30th, the clergy were suppose to lead the parade and were encouraged to wear their stoles. I understood the reason for making the leadership of the church more identifiable in the peace movement; yet I didn’t feel that good about marching in the front without the others from my congregation. As it was I had Laura march with me and I was kind of at the back of the clergy and I didn’t wear my stole—but that was only because I had forgotten to bring it! When is it important to be noticed and when is it best to be humbly part of the crowd.
I have so many doubts and questions in my mind and heart about my relationship to money. The other thing I want to confess is that I did not raise my pledge this year as I have done in other years. In the past year my adjustable rate mortgage plus additional escrow payments increased my monthly mortgage payment over $700 a month. Most of us make our donations from money that is left over after other things have been paid and not all of these things are necessities, such as entertainment, eating out, going on vacations. So I cut my pledge $25 a month. After writing this sermon, I have decided to raise this pledge a little over $2 a week to $10 more per month, and I’m going to ask each of you to consider raising your pledge a little more, maybe a $1 a week, maybe $10 per week, whatever feels right for you. For those of you that have not made a pledge, maybe you feel that you cannot afford to give, please consider giving at least $1 per week. . So what do you give and what do I give? The more of us that pledge, the healthier this church will be and I don’t just mean financially. If you don’t have a pledge card with you, just write on the blue card or any piece of paper you have, how much you want to pledge or increase your pledge and sign it and put it in the offering plate.
Theses stories today and this sermon are uncomfortable to talk about. There’s a saying that as a pastor we need to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable. If I have disturbed any of you today, let me say Amen! One of the sermons I read to prepare for today was entitled “two cents, a jar of meal and a jug of oil”.[2] The preacher explained that these gifts wouldn’t fund a world changing ministry; however, the hearts behind these gifts can change the world. It is very possible for those of you listening to me right now to be transformed and by your example, to transform others. Remember that stewardship is not just about money but how you share your gifts and your time. The important task is to reorder our lives according to the things that impress God and not society. My prayer is that we will all support each other to find and do God’s work. Amen
[1] Dick Craft, Stewardship Bible Study.
[2] John Jewell, online.
Today is Stewardship Sunday, the Sunday that we hope all of our members and friends have sent in a gift or pledge for our 2007 budget. I do hope that this sermon will not make you too restless. I heard about one little girl that was getting very tired of the minister’s long sermon. She leaned over to her mother and whispered, “Mommy, if we give him money now, will he let us go?” How convenient that our lectionary today has two scriptures that address giving! But before we get into the scripture, I’d like to have you look at the word Stewardship with me. Did you ever notice all the words contained in the word Stewardship? First there’s “Stew”. Now that’s what a congregation can get into after a sermon on financial giving. Then there’s “war”, which is what can take place in a budget discussion with the Trustees. Ship is the third syllable. Like the Titanic, if there’s a hole in church giving, it can sink pretty fast. Finally the word “hip” is a reminder that total stewardship is about the whole body of Christ and that means all of us. Now to our scriptures, that talk about two different widows. I want to start off by talking about the status—or lack of it—of widows in Old Testament times and to a lesser extent in New Testament times. You have heard me say before that widows and orphans are the code word for poor and vulnerable in our Bible. They represent all who are weak and marginalized. In the olden days a woman was nothing without a man. If a widow had a son she might be able to live with him and that would give her some help. The eldest son was the family member to inherit the patriarch’s wealth. You see Hebrew inheritance laws did not include women. So any resources they had were meager or non-existent.
In our first scripture reading the location is Zarephath of Sidon, a town on the Philistine coast. The people on the coast were worshippers of the god Baal—prosperity religion that worshiped fertility gods that promised prosperity to their followers and rain for their crops. The prophet Elijah has come abruptly upon a land that has been witnessing one king after another killed for disobedience to God. Just before our reading Elijah has been given food by the ravens, whom God promised would bring him meat and bread. There is a drought and Elijah as well as the others is affected with no crops and little water. Next God tells Elijah to go to the Sidonian widow to receive sustenance. Now this is like God telling a Jew in Israel to go over to Palestine and be fed by a Muslim. And we are told that this widow who has only a handful of flour and a little oil in a jug is blessed by God so that she can feed Elijah, her son, and her self as much as they want and still have plenty left over. (We see the forerunner of Jesus and the feeding miracles in this scripture.) It seems to me that the willingness of this widow, so poor she thought she was about to have her last meal and die, to share what she had is the model that not only Jesus taught in the Gospels but that the God of Israel instructed his chosen people to follow.
In our Gospel lesson we have two stories tied together by the word widow. In the first story Jesus criticizing the scribes (professional interpreters of the Law) for walking around seeking attention in public places and prestige in the synagogues and taking the seats of honor at banquets. Then we have the widow sentence: “They devour widows’ houses…” In some of my commentaries the explanation is that some scribes were legal trustees of a widow’s estate and charged such exorbitant fees that there was little left for the widow to live on. The scribes would take their fees and buy fancy robes and give big banquets while the women were left broke. Jesus is warning his disciples to not be like these scribes, who will receive God’s condemnation.
After condemning the scribes’ hypocrisy, Jesus goes into the temple treasury where voluntary offerings were received. He observes what folks are putting into the donation box. In most churches today there is great secrecy about who gives what. Traditionally only the Financial Secretary and maybe the chair of Stewardship have this information. Not only do we keep the pledges secret but we have even provided envelopes in which you put your check for further privacy. Some stewardship consultants think it is important for the pastor to know members’ pledges. About the only time Suzanne, our Financial secretary, tells me about an amount is if a guest gives a particularly generous donation and she wants me to write a letter of thanks. I can ask questions when appropriate such as if a certain member has given in the past year; for example our bylaws state that if a person who no longer attends church wants to keep his or her membership active, he or she must have a personal contact as well as make a financial contribution each year. Some churches are much more open with their giving. A Japanese church that I interviewed in my search process printed the pledges/donations of their members in the bulletin—and they had a much higher level of giving then most UCC churches.
As Jesus was sitting there observing, he noted that many rich people put in large sums of money, and then a poor widow came and put in two small coins, worth less than a penny. As we know from the scripture, Jesus commented to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”
Are you aware that nowhere in the New Testament is tithing mentioned? Luke asks for 50% for the poor; for Mark 100% is mentioned as in the rich young ruler. Elijah demanded that the poor widow share what she had; Jesus commends the widow for giving her mite—rather than making fun of her for giving so little. Her act of giving was an act of worship. These two poor widows are held up for us today as models of generosity. Even if they did not have much to live on, they were willing to share. It reminds me of what our brothers and sisters in Zimbabwe have taught us about their joy and faith in spite of their worsening financial situation.
I do not believe that Jesus is expecting or asking us to be like the widow in that we give everything we have to God. This is not the kind of “sell all you have and give to the poor” kind of passage that we might expect to find in Luke’s gospel. Rather Jesus is inviting us to have inner hearts like this widow, being willing to give our whole being to God, our heart and soul and mind, and to keep in mind our dependence on God from whom we have been so richly blessed. There is a story about a group of scientists who claimed they had developed a way to create life out of dirt—just as God had done in the first creation. “They invited God to the unveiling of their accomplishment, and God shows up. God says, “Go ahead, let me see what you can do.” So one of the scientists reaches down to pick up a handful of dirt. Whereupon God says, “Oh, no, no! You get your own dirt!” The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.[1] I wonder how many of you think about how everything that is or has been made, is possible because of that great divine Spirit; therefore, all we have belongs to God and has been lent to us for awhile.
Let’s get back to financial wealth and take another look at the difference between the poor widow who gave all she had and the rich who give only a small percentage of their wealth. In all truth the poor widow who has so little knows that those two coins are not going to change her life. When you have so little, a penny or two certainly isn’t going to move you from welfare to work. This situation may have made it much easier for her to give, helping her feel a sense of joy and peace that she gave what she could to God. With most of us--who are rich compared to the majority of the world—our money gives us independence and freedom and we don’t want to lose that by putting our whole paycheck in the offering plate. The widow could not be independent by her own wealth; therefore, it was easier to depend on God. It’s harder when you have disposable income. I think it’s important to look at what money means to us. Is it our heart, our security, our source of power or is one of the tools we use to be a good steward? Do we depend on our money or God to make us rich in the things that really matter? Our culture tends to teach us to become like the honored scribes; however, Jesus counsels us to hold up the dishonored widow rather than to aspire to the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Jesus promises us that dependence on God will give us joy and true freedom in this life and rest and peace after death.
Now I would like to make a confession; I can’t help but think how much pastors, including me, are like those scribes that go around in long robes and pray in public places. When some of us from here marched in the Declaration of peace march on September 30th, the clergy were suppose to lead the parade and were encouraged to wear their stoles. I understood the reason for making the leadership of the church more identifiable in the peace movement; yet I didn’t feel that good about marching in the front without the others from my congregation. As it was I had Laura march with me and I was kind of at the back of the clergy and I didn’t wear my stole—but that was only because I had forgotten to bring it! When is it important to be noticed and when is it best to be humbly part of the crowd.
I have so many doubts and questions in my mind and heart about my relationship to money. The other thing I want to confess is that I did not raise my pledge this year as I have done in other years. In the past year my adjustable rate mortgage plus additional escrow payments increased my monthly mortgage payment over $700 a month. Most of us make our donations from money that is left over after other things have been paid and not all of these things are necessities, such as entertainment, eating out, going on vacations. So I cut my pledge $25 a month. After writing this sermon, I have decided to raise this pledge a little over $2 a week to $10 more per month, and I’m going to ask each of you to consider raising your pledge a little more, maybe a $1 a week, maybe $10 per week, whatever feels right for you. For those of you that have not made a pledge, maybe you feel that you cannot afford to give, please consider giving at least $1 per week. . So what do you give and what do I give? The more of us that pledge, the healthier this church will be and I don’t just mean financially. If you don’t have a pledge card with you, just write on the blue card or any piece of paper you have, how much you want to pledge or increase your pledge and sign it and put it in the offering plate.
Theses stories today and this sermon are uncomfortable to talk about. There’s a saying that as a pastor we need to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable. If I have disturbed any of you today, let me say Amen! One of the sermons I read to prepare for today was entitled “two cents, a jar of meal and a jug of oil”.[2] The preacher explained that these gifts wouldn’t fund a world changing ministry; however, the hearts behind these gifts can change the world. It is very possible for those of you listening to me right now to be transformed and by your example, to transform others. Remember that stewardship is not just about money but how you share your gifts and your time. The important task is to reorder our lives according to the things that impress God and not society. My prayer is that we will all support each other to find and do God’s work. Amen
[1] Dick Craft, Stewardship Bible Study.
[2] John Jewell, online.
posted by Sermons given at Deering Community Church @ 11:18 AM
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