Luke 21:25-36
1st Sunday in Advent
Rev. Tricia Dillon Thomas
‘She’s a pastor, you know?’ I overheard one mom say to another after I suggested the children go around and say what they were thankful for in lieu of the forbidden public school prayer during Mason’s 2nd grade Thanksgiving party. ‘Oh, I had no idea.’ ‘Yes, she and her husband both.’ And as the children held hands and one of them said “I’m thankful for God” I started to feel a little smug. Yes, my idea. She’s thankful for God. And other children were thankful for their parents. And Mason was thankful for candy. And then the end. Amen. Time to gorge.
The same thing happened at my family Thanksgiving...I’m thankful for family and friends...time together...hey, this gravy doesn’t have enough giblets in it! Where’s the slotted spoon?
And so this Sunday, the first Sunday of Advent, we wave goodbye to the Thanksgiving festivities of the last few days, and we turn to welcome the coming of Jesus, our Lord. And in all seriousness it is kind of a nice flow...I give thanks for God, and now I’m going to give thanks for the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Up until this first Sunday of Advent, we have been following the Gospel of Mark. Now I know the men’s prayer group has been studying Luke, but for the rest of us let’s take a moment with Luke and Luke’s Jesus.
Luke is written chronologically, starting with the birth of John the Baptist, it follows the birth of Jesus, his baptism, miracles and healings, the calling of the 12, miracles and parables, the transfiguration, many more miracles and parables, and finally the turn back to Jerusalem to face his death. He enters the city triumphantly, but when he is near and sees Jerusalem Jesus weeps. And immediately before our passage, Jesus foretells of the destruction of the temple and of Jerusalem.
Jesus knows what awaits him. He tells them in Luke 18, “See we are going to Jerusalem, and everything that’s written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.” Jesus MUST prepare his disciples for the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem, his death, and his resurrection. The disciples will live to see all of this. And they need to know that his death isn’t some random act of violence; it was part of the plan, they knew it from the scriptures. His death and resurrection are “the turning point of history.”(1) But that’s not the end of the story!
Let’s now hear today’s scripture, Luke 21:25-36:
"There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and
the stars, and on the earth distress among nations
confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves.
26 People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
27 Then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in a cloud' with power and great glory.
28 Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."
29 Then he told them a parable: "Look at the fig tree and all the trees;
30 as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near.
31 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.”
32 Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. 34 "Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly, 35 like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. 36 Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man."
The Word of the Lord, Thanks be to God.
“The sky is falling! The sky is falling!” Have any of you seen the movie Chicken Little?. When Chicken Little sees a piece of the sky fall down, he runs to the town’s tower and begins ringing the bell, which signals to the whole town an emergency is on the way. He’s screaming, “The sky is falling! The sky is falling!” and mayhem ensues. Folks are running around screaming. Fire engines are singing.
Listen to what Jesus says,
“26 People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”
My husband is preaching on this text today as well. His sermon is called “Duck and Cover.” Jesus is talking the end of the world! Apocalypse! He says we’ll see it in the sun, and the moon, and the stars. There will be earthquakes in the heavens. Nations will be distressed. The oceans and seas will roar. The world will be full of emergency! Everything will break loose! “The sky is falling! The sky is falling!”
What comforting words Jesus offers his disciples as he turns toward Jerusalem to face his death. What was Jesus thinking? That he would scare the bejesus out of them...or scare the Jesus into them?!
We Presbyterians don’t often talk about end times. As one scholar writes, we “don’t deny the big booming events such as the second coming, but we don’t think about them very much either.”(2)
But why are we even talking about end times when we’re celebrating the first Sunday of Advent. Isn’t Advent supposed to be a time of preparation for Christ’s birth? The word advent translated from its Latin root “adventus" means ‘coming,’ that is,
the coming of Christ.(3) So while we remember Jesus’ coming for the first time, Advent speaks to both the past and the future coming of Christ. What kind of Christians would we be if we only remembered and didn’t hope? Didn’t hope for Christ’s return?
Most authorities on the Gospel of Luke think it was written around 80 CE. So Luke and Luke’s audience had already seen the Temple destroyed, Jerusalem sacked, and all havoc break loose by the time Luke wrote this text. Listen to this opening part of a poem written by James Lowry:
He was standing knee-deep
in the rubble of unkept promises
when Luke finally took pen in hand
to write it all down...
From the eager anticipation of the birth of Jesus...
the birth of Jesus
and of his cousin John...
all the way to the birth of the church,
Luke saw it all
not so much through the eyes of Jesus
walking headlong into destiny;
but through the eyes of one
standing in the rubble of destiny.(4)
Jesus assures them after the description of the Apocalypse:
“So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. 32 Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”
They had seen these things taking place. Everything around them had fallen. Their Temple, their city, their God. Jesus is talking to people who are in the midst of despair.
Another scholar wrote, “These are Exodus people. These are Passover people. These people have a history of being squeezed by Egypt, Babylon and Rome. To these people, redemption is the longing of their heart. They want Rome off their back. They want Caesar out of their hair. It’s their dream. It’s their passion. The coming of God’s redemption means justice is coming, liberation is coming, the King of all the earth is coming.” (5)
(sing) Freedom, oh Freedom, oh Freedom, Freedom is coming.
Oh yes, Oh yes I know. Oh yes, I know. Oh yes, I know Freedom is coming.
Oh yes, I know.
Freedom! The return of Christ! The dawn of a new kingdom! Righteousness filling the earth!
Luke’s audience had an urgency and hope for more. They were waiting, ‘heads up’ for the return of Christ.
And I can imagine there is an urgency, a hope for more from the destitute. For those like Luke who are waiting for redemption. For those who can’t find a home to rest their head in the harsh winters; for those in regions in the Congo and Sudan who wait and hide in fear for themselves and their families; for those in Israel and Palestine who watch as suicide explosions are received and answered with bombings; for those who are afraid to walk out of their house; for those who are afraid to live in their house. There is an urgency and a hope for more, because and when that day comes there will be freedom, and justice will finally prevail on earth!
But what about us? What about those of us who aren’t living in fear? Where is our urgency?
Will Willimon says, “It’s hard to stand on tiptoe for 2000 years.”
Listen to the rest of Lowry’s poem:
Like leaving the breakfast table in tense silence,
dodging the victims of road rage,
and stepping over the homeless
huddled on the steps of the church
as we make our way to Advent worship,
our telling of the advent of hope
and hearing of the advent of hope
cannot escape...
should not escape
what our eyes have just seen.
and our hearts have just felt. (6)
Where’s our urgency!?! Yes, it’s been a long wait! And even though Paul tells us it will come like a thief in the night, over 200 predictions have been made about the 2nd coming, all 200 of them wrong! But is it better to live our lives under the radar? Is it better to live in apathy? To just sit and wait for nothing in particular?
Jesus tells his disciples: 34 "Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly, 35 like a trap.
Perhaps these words are for us. We have worries. We even worry about things that matter. We worry about economics. We worry about how we’re doing in school. We worry about paying the mortgage. We worry about what will happen if we miss an important practice. We worry about the health of ourselves and loved ones. We worry about what our friends will think of us. We worry about those we love. We worry. We worry. We are anxious. And my goodness, these are all valid things. They are. They truly are.
But are they going to trap us? Catch us unexpectedly, so that when Jesus comes, our heads remain down? Are stuck in the muck of the anxieties that surround us, or are we living ‘in between’ lives?
How do we live in these present times? How do followers of Jesus live “in between” times? How do we live in a time where we have received the salvation of God, but God’s kingdom on earth has not yet come? How do we live urgently awaiting Christ’s coming, without getting bogged down with the anxieties of our lives?
What does it even look like to live a life where Christ has already come and died for our sins, but he has not yet returned to the earth so that the kingdom of God will reign? What does it look like to live into the hope for more?
I think this is a glimpse.
220 years ago the Connecticut House of Representatives was in session on a bright day in May, and the delegates were able to do their work by natural light. But then something happened that nobody expected. Right in the middle of debate, there was an eclipse of the sun and everything turned to darkness. Some legislators thought it was the second coming. So a clamor arose. People wanted to adjourn. People wanted to pray. People wanted to prepare for the coming of the Lord.
But the Speaker of the House had a different idea. He was a Christian believer, and he rose to the occasion with good logic and good faith. We are all upset by the darkness, he said, and some of us are afraid. But "the Day of the Lord is either approaching or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for adjournment. And if the Lord is returning, I for one, choose to be found doing my duty. I therefore ask that candles be brought." And men who expected Jesus went back to their deska and resumed their debate. (7)
To hope for more, isn’t just a frame of mind or internal peace. It is living a life that proclaims with bold conviction, I am not afraid! I will live with the love of God and one another in my heart! Christ died. Christ rose. And Christ will come again!
When these things take place, may we bring in the candles and stand with raised heads because our redemption is drawing near.
(1) Jean-Pierre Ruiz "Lectionary Homiletics",
"http://www.goodpreacher.com/journalread.php?id=1225"
www.goodpreacher.com/journalread.php?od=1225
(2)Cornelius Plantinga Jr. "Between two Advents: In the Interim:
"Christian Century", December 6, 2000: 1270
(3)Howard Rice and James Huffstutler "Reformed Worship", Geneva Press
(Louisville: 2001) 144.
(4)James S. Lowry, "Introducing the Luke Cycle: Advent Preaching for Year "C"
Advent 1997.
(5)Cornelius Plantinga Jr. "Between two Advents: In the Interim:
"Christian Century", December 6, 2000: 1271
(6)James S. Lowry, "Introducing the Luke Cycle: Advent Preaching for Year "C"
Advent 1997
(7)Cornelius Plantinga Jr. "Between two Advents: In the Interim:
"Christian Century", December 6, 2000: 1272
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Living Stones
1 Peter 1:3-5, 22-23,2:1-6
Dedication Sunday
Elizabeth M. Deibert 22 November 2009
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock and redeemer.
We have had our gratitude rocks for three weeks now. Some of us even longer. About thirty years ago there was a new fad – pet rocks. A guy named Gary Dahl invented pet rocks, with their little beady stick-on eyes, after talking to some friends about how much trouble real pets were. What made the pet rock sales soar at Christmas of 1975 was the 32 page book with instructions about how to care for your pet rock. And of course, at Christmas time, when people are looking for useless but cute gifts for people who have everything they need, they often buy the latest silly fad.
Well, the Stewardship team of Peace gave you a pet rock for Thanksgiving. This gift was for the purpose of building your gratitude. And we hope your gratitude rock is alive and well, increasing in your life a renewed sense of God’s presence and power. If the gratitude piles up, the blessings will overflow even more.
(Image of cairn)
Do you know the old hymn, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing“? We sang it a lot when I was a kid, but it’s not so popular any more. One of the reasons is that the language is so dated. “Here I raise my Ebenezer, Hither by They help I’m come; And I hope by Thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home.” Ebenezer is a combination of 2 Hebrew words that literally means stone of help.
The Old Testament story is that of Samuel, Hannah’s son, whom she gave in gratitude to God, to be raised by the priest Eli. Samuel, leader of Israel, who after the powerful Philistines were subdued and did not again encroach on Israel’s land, Samuel set a stone of thanksgiving and named the peaceful spot where he laid that stone, Ebenezer, because of God’s help. Cairn is the Celtic word for such a special spot, where a stack of stones is placed.
We need physical, concrete reminders of our thanksgiving for God’s help. In a visit with Gretchen and John on Friday, I noticed they have a cairn as table decoration, an ebenezer to which may serve to remind them of God’s help and strength. Read the insert today and learn about the gratitude rock that accompanied and encouraged Peter Miller at his dissertation proposal hearing. Read also about the very ordinary stone, full of meaning because of the imprints it contains, a stone which has been on Peggy Donaldson’s dresser for a long time reminding her of the things that matter......Imagine with me that each of these rocks in the cairn on the screen is a person full of gratitude. What a powerful symbol – just as any gathering of Christ’s people should be a powerful witness to God’s goodness. Rocks of all shapes and sizes, rocks from all times and places, made of different materials, each with a history, together making a statement about God’s care.
In our scripture lesson today we are invited to come to Christ, the cornerstone, the One rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious. We are instructed to let ourselves be built as living stones into a spiritual house. “Let ourselves be built” This has special meaning for us, as a recently chartered church. We do not have a church building yet. We struggle even to have a hospitable place in which to meet. But because of all this, we are forced to remember that it is our submitted lives, given over to God, built together on Christ the Cornerstone in which the living Lord dwells, not in a physical structure. We, the people of Peace are a spiritual house, a holy priesthood. We are the temple and the priest. We are the sanctuary and the minister – we, all of us.
When churches falter, it is not because of crumbling buildings but because of crumbling, weak Christian characters, who wound one another. Churches crumble when their congregational identity is built on the shifting sands of culture, not on the Rock of salvation and the blessing of mutual love. When churches falter, it is because Christians failed to grow into their salvation. They just took the cookie (Jesus loves me. This I know) and ran on to do whatever they wanted to do. That’s not Christian faith. True Christians long to grow. They engage the struggle to love one another. They make difficult choices. They sacrifice to follow in Christ’s steps. We do this, knowing it is right and that Christ is on the road with this. We know that in all things, even difficult times, God is working the divine purpose out in our life together.
So hear now about the living hope of our calling in Christ, hear that calling defined as obedience to the truth and genuine mutual love, hear how those of us who have tasted God’s goodness are encouraged to grow into our salvation by allowing ourselves to be built into a place where God’s spirit is pleased to dwell.
Scripture
(image) Impressive rocks. Hard, cold, huge, imposing. But not living stones. A rock of refuge, of safety, yes. Living stones? No. But there were in Meteora, Greece, monasteries and nunneries on built on these rocks. (image of monastery) Emily and I were impressed with the living of these people who dedicated their lives to prayer and service for the sake of the world. The wise man, the wise woman builds her house upon the rock. Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew, “Everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock.” These word of mine, he says. Those words from this sermon to which he is referring are challenging words – words about bearing good fruit or being thrown into the fire, words about the danger of hypocrisy – judging the speck in someone else’s eye while you have a log in yours. Words about the gate being narrow. Words about loving your enemies, turning the other cheek, doing good to those who are mean to you. We thought you were just talking about being sensible, but that kind of house on the rock makes no sense, Lord.
The rock is living a different life, a life set apart by God. And what makes the rock come alive? Hope in the love of God. Commitment to that life of obedience to the truth. Knowing that this calling is to something so valuable, so imperishable, that all the voices of the world are put in their proper place. (Image of Acrocorinth)
In Luke 19 we read about Palm Sunday, when the Pharisees demanded that Jesus silence his followers who were praising him, singing, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” Jesus replies, “If my people were silent, then the stones would shout out.” The truth will come out when Christ is revealed.
When Emily and I walked up to the top of Corinth, where Paul shared the gospel, we were struck by the way the sun caught these rocks and made them glisten as if alive. By comparison to the rocks, the tree appears dead.
You are living stones, my friends, when your hearts are full of gratitude for the new life we have in Christ. (Image of Christ) You are living stones when your gratitude is translated into an obedience to the truth, a sincere commitment to grow toward salvation, disciplining yourself to live in accordance with God’s word.
That means loving one another deeply from the heart, and ridding ourselves of all those negative thoughts and gossiping or hurtful words and bad intentions toward others. This is a high call. A call to holiness and generosity. A call to sacrifice for the sake of others.
These sacrifices are required to “let ourselves” be built into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood. We are called to offer spiritual sacrifices – to give up things for the sake of pleasing God and growing into our salvation.
That, my friends, is what you do when you make promises today to give in 2010 and when you follow through, as much as you are able, on those promises. You are making spiritual sacrifices. When you give of your resources – your money, your time and talent, then you are breathing life into stones, filling them with the heartbeat of gratitude.
You are living into this inheritance that is not perishable and you will never be put to shame for these sacrifices, for no one who puts faith in Christ will never be ashamed. Quite the opposite, you will make difficult sacrifices, giving generously, loving deeply, and will find your lives enriched, fulfilled as you grow into the salvation that God intends, the salvation that makes us together a saving place, a sanctuary of grace and challenge.
So don’t be a dead rock – scared to risk life and breath, scared to trust the One who created this earth and is in the process of saving you. Don’t be a rolling stone – too busy to notice the things that matter. Don’t be a rough hewn rock running roughshod on all who dare to cross your path. Don’t be a silent stone, unable to speak truthfully about what God’s doing in your life. Don’t be a lone pebble along the road, keeping what you think is a safe distance, but easily tossed around by anything that rolls along. Be a living stone – breathing with the love of Christ. Be a gratitude rock – one who gives back to God. Be an ebenezer (stone of help) – one that others can lean upon. And let yourselves be built together into a cairn of hope for this hurting world. Be the generous and loving people of God you are intended to be, built on Christ the head and cornerstone, our secure foundation.
O God, our rock of refuge, we re-commit ourselves to your service today with one of our most precious gifts, the gift of money. Speak to us now regarding these promises we intend to make. You know our particular situations, so speak gently to reassure us or offer us the challenge we need to grow in faith....Bless us with a firm resolve to live the new life to which you call us.... Take us and built of us a spiritual house, a holy people who minister to one another, who care for others with generosity of heart. Remove all fear in us, breathe life into us and make us your living stones, people who make spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to you through Jesus Christ, our cornerstone, we pray. Amen.
Dedication Sunday
Elizabeth M. Deibert 22 November 2009
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock and redeemer.
We have had our gratitude rocks for three weeks now. Some of us even longer. About thirty years ago there was a new fad – pet rocks. A guy named Gary Dahl invented pet rocks, with their little beady stick-on eyes, after talking to some friends about how much trouble real pets were. What made the pet rock sales soar at Christmas of 1975 was the 32 page book with instructions about how to care for your pet rock. And of course, at Christmas time, when people are looking for useless but cute gifts for people who have everything they need, they often buy the latest silly fad.
Well, the Stewardship team of Peace gave you a pet rock for Thanksgiving. This gift was for the purpose of building your gratitude. And we hope your gratitude rock is alive and well, increasing in your life a renewed sense of God’s presence and power. If the gratitude piles up, the blessings will overflow even more.
(Image of cairn)
Do you know the old hymn, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing“? We sang it a lot when I was a kid, but it’s not so popular any more. One of the reasons is that the language is so dated. “Here I raise my Ebenezer, Hither by They help I’m come; And I hope by Thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home.” Ebenezer is a combination of 2 Hebrew words that literally means stone of help.
The Old Testament story is that of Samuel, Hannah’s son, whom she gave in gratitude to God, to be raised by the priest Eli. Samuel, leader of Israel, who after the powerful Philistines were subdued and did not again encroach on Israel’s land, Samuel set a stone of thanksgiving and named the peaceful spot where he laid that stone, Ebenezer, because of God’s help. Cairn is the Celtic word for such a special spot, where a stack of stones is placed.
We need physical, concrete reminders of our thanksgiving for God’s help. In a visit with Gretchen and John on Friday, I noticed they have a cairn as table decoration, an ebenezer to which may serve to remind them of God’s help and strength. Read the insert today and learn about the gratitude rock that accompanied and encouraged Peter Miller at his dissertation proposal hearing. Read also about the very ordinary stone, full of meaning because of the imprints it contains, a stone which has been on Peggy Donaldson’s dresser for a long time reminding her of the things that matter......Imagine with me that each of these rocks in the cairn on the screen is a person full of gratitude. What a powerful symbol – just as any gathering of Christ’s people should be a powerful witness to God’s goodness. Rocks of all shapes and sizes, rocks from all times and places, made of different materials, each with a history, together making a statement about God’s care.
In our scripture lesson today we are invited to come to Christ, the cornerstone, the One rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious. We are instructed to let ourselves be built as living stones into a spiritual house. “Let ourselves be built” This has special meaning for us, as a recently chartered church. We do not have a church building yet. We struggle even to have a hospitable place in which to meet. But because of all this, we are forced to remember that it is our submitted lives, given over to God, built together on Christ the Cornerstone in which the living Lord dwells, not in a physical structure. We, the people of Peace are a spiritual house, a holy priesthood. We are the temple and the priest. We are the sanctuary and the minister – we, all of us.
When churches falter, it is not because of crumbling buildings but because of crumbling, weak Christian characters, who wound one another. Churches crumble when their congregational identity is built on the shifting sands of culture, not on the Rock of salvation and the blessing of mutual love. When churches falter, it is because Christians failed to grow into their salvation. They just took the cookie (Jesus loves me. This I know) and ran on to do whatever they wanted to do. That’s not Christian faith. True Christians long to grow. They engage the struggle to love one another. They make difficult choices. They sacrifice to follow in Christ’s steps. We do this, knowing it is right and that Christ is on the road with this. We know that in all things, even difficult times, God is working the divine purpose out in our life together.
So hear now about the living hope of our calling in Christ, hear that calling defined as obedience to the truth and genuine mutual love, hear how those of us who have tasted God’s goodness are encouraged to grow into our salvation by allowing ourselves to be built into a place where God’s spirit is pleased to dwell.
Scripture
(image) Impressive rocks. Hard, cold, huge, imposing. But not living stones. A rock of refuge, of safety, yes. Living stones? No. But there were in Meteora, Greece, monasteries and nunneries on built on these rocks. (image of monastery) Emily and I were impressed with the living of these people who dedicated their lives to prayer and service for the sake of the world. The wise man, the wise woman builds her house upon the rock. Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew, “Everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock.” These word of mine, he says. Those words from this sermon to which he is referring are challenging words – words about bearing good fruit or being thrown into the fire, words about the danger of hypocrisy – judging the speck in someone else’s eye while you have a log in yours. Words about the gate being narrow. Words about loving your enemies, turning the other cheek, doing good to those who are mean to you. We thought you were just talking about being sensible, but that kind of house on the rock makes no sense, Lord.
The rock is living a different life, a life set apart by God. And what makes the rock come alive? Hope in the love of God. Commitment to that life of obedience to the truth. Knowing that this calling is to something so valuable, so imperishable, that all the voices of the world are put in their proper place. (Image of Acrocorinth)
In Luke 19 we read about Palm Sunday, when the Pharisees demanded that Jesus silence his followers who were praising him, singing, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” Jesus replies, “If my people were silent, then the stones would shout out.” The truth will come out when Christ is revealed.
When Emily and I walked up to the top of Corinth, where Paul shared the gospel, we were struck by the way the sun caught these rocks and made them glisten as if alive. By comparison to the rocks, the tree appears dead.
You are living stones, my friends, when your hearts are full of gratitude for the new life we have in Christ. (Image of Christ) You are living stones when your gratitude is translated into an obedience to the truth, a sincere commitment to grow toward salvation, disciplining yourself to live in accordance with God’s word.
That means loving one another deeply from the heart, and ridding ourselves of all those negative thoughts and gossiping or hurtful words and bad intentions toward others. This is a high call. A call to holiness and generosity. A call to sacrifice for the sake of others.
These sacrifices are required to “let ourselves” be built into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood. We are called to offer spiritual sacrifices – to give up things for the sake of pleasing God and growing into our salvation.
That, my friends, is what you do when you make promises today to give in 2010 and when you follow through, as much as you are able, on those promises. You are making spiritual sacrifices. When you give of your resources – your money, your time and talent, then you are breathing life into stones, filling them with the heartbeat of gratitude.
You are living into this inheritance that is not perishable and you will never be put to shame for these sacrifices, for no one who puts faith in Christ will never be ashamed. Quite the opposite, you will make difficult sacrifices, giving generously, loving deeply, and will find your lives enriched, fulfilled as you grow into the salvation that God intends, the salvation that makes us together a saving place, a sanctuary of grace and challenge.
So don’t be a dead rock – scared to risk life and breath, scared to trust the One who created this earth and is in the process of saving you. Don’t be a rolling stone – too busy to notice the things that matter. Don’t be a rough hewn rock running roughshod on all who dare to cross your path. Don’t be a silent stone, unable to speak truthfully about what God’s doing in your life. Don’t be a lone pebble along the road, keeping what you think is a safe distance, but easily tossed around by anything that rolls along. Be a living stone – breathing with the love of Christ. Be a gratitude rock – one who gives back to God. Be an ebenezer (stone of help) – one that others can lean upon. And let yourselves be built together into a cairn of hope for this hurting world. Be the generous and loving people of God you are intended to be, built on Christ the head and cornerstone, our secure foundation.
O God, our rock of refuge, we re-commit ourselves to your service today with one of our most precious gifts, the gift of money. Speak to us now regarding these promises we intend to make. You know our particular situations, so speak gently to reassure us or offer us the challenge we need to grow in faith....Bless us with a firm resolve to live the new life to which you call us.... Take us and built of us a spiritual house, a holy people who minister to one another, who care for others with generosity of heart. Remove all fear in us, breathe life into us and make us your living stones, people who make spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to you through Jesus Christ, our cornerstone, we pray. Amen.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Giving Back in Gratitude
1 Samuel 1:6-2:2 (selected verses)
Stewardship Season
Elizabeth M. Deibert
Children were for Hannah and the women in their generation prestige, wealth, and security. Barrenness was not just childlessness for her. Childlessness is an acceptable way to live in our world. But in Hannah’s world, it was barrenness in the fullest sense of the word – being without everything that mattered. It was to be empty.
So not only is Hannah without children, the one thing that she wants and needs for her present and future life, she is scorned and ridiculed by her rival wife of Elkanah. The Old Testament records quite a few relational problems with polygamy. This is one of those stories. Peninnah’s intentionally cruel to Hannah. In this agrarian society, at a time when only half of one’s offspring survived childhood, it was very natural to look upon the state of childlessness as a grave misfortune. The wife who presented her husband with no such tangible blessings or supporters felt that her aim in life had been missed. "Give me children or else I die!" was the plea of Rachel (Gen. 30:1) when she saw her sister Leah adding child after child to Jacob's household;
Hannah in her desperation, cries out to God. If only, if only, if only I can have this one thing God – a son, then I will give him back to you. She makes this very large promise with her prayer and most remarkably, she keeps it.
Let’s read the story.
I don’t know that many of us try to make deals with God. If you’ll give me this, God, I promise I’ll do this. I suppose we often pray our desperate prayers without any commitment. Just sheer pleading, no deal. But Hannah makes her promise that any son given to her will be given back. And sure enough, her prayer is answered, she nurses the child for the typical length of time in her day – about three years or a little more, then she takes him to the Temple to be raised by Eli, the priest.
I have never had to give up a child, but I think it would be much harder the longer you’ve had to love him or her. Of course, Samuel was not dying. He was just being sent to a sort of boarding school you might say, at the Temple with Eli. She gave up possessing her son. She gave up control over her son, but that boy would always be her son. She did early what all parents do eventually. Give up their children.
Richard and I will never forget our seminary friends Scott and Martha, whose baby son Jeremiah got very sick with meningitis. Richard helped them to realize that his condition was very serious and that they needed to go to the hospital. While there, Scott who was extremely calm but surely worried, turned and said to Richard, “Jeremiah belongs to God, not to us.”
We had no children at the time, but this thought has remained with us as we have watched our own offspring grow up. They belong to God, not us. We affirm that in baptism and in confirmation of baptism the teens affirm it for themselves.
They belong to God, not us. Same is true of our beloved spouses, parents, and other significant people. They belong to God.
What else belongs to God? Your house. Your bank account. Your health. Your time. Your abilities. Your everything. It’s all God’s and you’ve been asked to be a good manager, a steward of God’s property. It’s yours for you to take care of for a while. A steward of an airplane or ship or a house, is one who has total access but effectively cares for something that he or she doesn’t own, in such a way that tasks and people are managed fruitfully.
So as stewards of God’s creation, we perform tasks to make life better for the inhabitants of the earth. As stewards in the church, we take on tasks that make life better for those in the church and beyond the church. That’s why we have a stewardship season in the fall entirely focused on monetary giving. Because we cannot take care of the church and the church’s mission as effective stewards without money.
The amazing thing about Hannah is how she sings her song of triumph, not when the child is born, but after she gives the child back to God in gratitude. Think about it. A mother raises her child for three or four years, loves and adores the child, then hands the child over to someone else and sings a song of praise.
That how we should live in gratitude toward God with everything and everyone important to us.
If you’ve had a house and lost it in this terrible market, give thanks to God for the time you lived in it, and remember that it was a gift from God.
If you had a job you loved and now you don’t, be glad for the joy of that work. That job was a gift from God.
If you have a savings account, an investment account, that’s a tremendous blessing of security for yourself and your loved ones. If you give it away, then your blessing extended even beyond your own family. Charitable bequests are a great idea.
If you have a luxury item like a second home or a boat or a sports car, remember those are gifts from God and you might be called by God to give up them at some point for the greater benefit of others.
If you have enjoyed good health for many years, what a gift! Good health is a gift which we all give up eventually. Some of us kicking and screaming and others of us more graciously.
If someone you love is dying, they belong to God and are returning to God. You give them up with sadness, but surely also with gratitude for the blessing they have been for three years, thirty-three years or eighty-three years.
In our day, we expect children to outlive their parents, even though that does not always happen. In Hannah’s day, only half of the children made it to thirteen and the life expectancy was no more than thirty. I wonder if this kind of loss is easier when it is half expected. Now the loss of a child to a parent is compounded by the rarity of the occasion, so the feeling of unfairness is greater.
Hannah, in her longing for what she did not have, and in her grateful song of thanksgiving after returning to God the gift of a son, remembers to turn to God in every and all circumstances. Essentially, she remembers that her life is in the hands of God and that therefore everything that she receives is from God and belongs ultimately to God. So she gives back to God the son to whom she could have tried to cling.
What about us? Do you think that you could take your gratitude rock this week and not only give thanks for all the things you have, but say to God each time you give thanks. “This blessing is a gift from you, Lord. I offer it back to you, as a faithful steward.”
Rather than wish for more, long for newer, better, could you say, “Thank you, God, for this car that still runs well. It is a gift from you and I offer it back to you. Show me how you would have me use it.”
Rather than griping that again we need milk, I touch my gratitude rock and say “Thank you God for my freedom to go to the grocery store nearly any time of day and buy what my family needs. I don’t have to milk the cow or even walk to the store. Thank you for that privilege. I give you back this freedom and ask you, “What would you like me to buy in the store. More food for Beth-El?”
Rather than complaining about going to the dentist or doctor for some form of treatment, I touch my rock and say “Thank you God for the privilege of health care, which many do not have.” I give you back my health and ask what you would like me to do with it.
Thank you, God for the family you have given me, for all the gifts I receive through them. I give them to you, for they belong to you, not me, and ask that you would help me to steward/ to manage those relationships in ways that are fruitful.
Missionary Jim Elliot, was martyred at age twenty-eight (1956) with four companions while trying to share the Gospel with the Huaorani tribe of Aucas in the jungles of Ecuador. Jim Elliott, in his journal wrote these words which have been quoted many times – not because he lived but because he died so early. "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." Some people think he was re-stating the words of the English preacher Philip Henry (1631-1696) who said "He is no fool who parts with that which he cannot keep, when he is sure to be recompensed with that which he cannot lose"[15].
Perhaps what Hannah saw is that giving her son back to God meant even greater blessings than keeping him close to her. After all, Samuel became a great leader in Israel, after growing up with the priest Eli. She gave up that for which she had been praying and longing and for three years loving with all her heart. But what she could not see was that in giving him up, she gained an even greater blessing, a faithful son, who was not only a blessing to her, but to the whole people, the Israelites. If she had clung to her son, he would have never become what he was intended to be – a blessing to many. We have the opportunity, people of Peace, to pool our resources, to create something that will surpass anything we could accomplish as individuals, something that will endure long after we are gone. We have the privilege and I think the responsibility, to build a congregation called Peace, whose people will be and do far more than we can think or imagine. God has gifted you. Will you give back in gratitude and with vision for the amazing things God can accomplish through us, working generously together?
Stewardship Season
Elizabeth M. Deibert
Children were for Hannah and the women in their generation prestige, wealth, and security. Barrenness was not just childlessness for her. Childlessness is an acceptable way to live in our world. But in Hannah’s world, it was barrenness in the fullest sense of the word – being without everything that mattered. It was to be empty.
So not only is Hannah without children, the one thing that she wants and needs for her present and future life, she is scorned and ridiculed by her rival wife of Elkanah. The Old Testament records quite a few relational problems with polygamy. This is one of those stories. Peninnah’s intentionally cruel to Hannah. In this agrarian society, at a time when only half of one’s offspring survived childhood, it was very natural to look upon the state of childlessness as a grave misfortune. The wife who presented her husband with no such tangible blessings or supporters felt that her aim in life had been missed. "Give me children or else I die!" was the plea of Rachel (Gen. 30:1) when she saw her sister Leah adding child after child to Jacob's household;
Hannah in her desperation, cries out to God. If only, if only, if only I can have this one thing God – a son, then I will give him back to you. She makes this very large promise with her prayer and most remarkably, she keeps it.
Let’s read the story.
I don’t know that many of us try to make deals with God. If you’ll give me this, God, I promise I’ll do this. I suppose we often pray our desperate prayers without any commitment. Just sheer pleading, no deal. But Hannah makes her promise that any son given to her will be given back. And sure enough, her prayer is answered, she nurses the child for the typical length of time in her day – about three years or a little more, then she takes him to the Temple to be raised by Eli, the priest.
I have never had to give up a child, but I think it would be much harder the longer you’ve had to love him or her. Of course, Samuel was not dying. He was just being sent to a sort of boarding school you might say, at the Temple with Eli. She gave up possessing her son. She gave up control over her son, but that boy would always be her son. She did early what all parents do eventually. Give up their children.
Richard and I will never forget our seminary friends Scott and Martha, whose baby son Jeremiah got very sick with meningitis. Richard helped them to realize that his condition was very serious and that they needed to go to the hospital. While there, Scott who was extremely calm but surely worried, turned and said to Richard, “Jeremiah belongs to God, not to us.”
We had no children at the time, but this thought has remained with us as we have watched our own offspring grow up. They belong to God, not us. We affirm that in baptism and in confirmation of baptism the teens affirm it for themselves.
They belong to God, not us. Same is true of our beloved spouses, parents, and other significant people. They belong to God.
What else belongs to God? Your house. Your bank account. Your health. Your time. Your abilities. Your everything. It’s all God’s and you’ve been asked to be a good manager, a steward of God’s property. It’s yours for you to take care of for a while. A steward of an airplane or ship or a house, is one who has total access but effectively cares for something that he or she doesn’t own, in such a way that tasks and people are managed fruitfully.
So as stewards of God’s creation, we perform tasks to make life better for the inhabitants of the earth. As stewards in the church, we take on tasks that make life better for those in the church and beyond the church. That’s why we have a stewardship season in the fall entirely focused on monetary giving. Because we cannot take care of the church and the church’s mission as effective stewards without money.
The amazing thing about Hannah is how she sings her song of triumph, not when the child is born, but after she gives the child back to God in gratitude. Think about it. A mother raises her child for three or four years, loves and adores the child, then hands the child over to someone else and sings a song of praise.
That how we should live in gratitude toward God with everything and everyone important to us.
If you’ve had a house and lost it in this terrible market, give thanks to God for the time you lived in it, and remember that it was a gift from God.
If you had a job you loved and now you don’t, be glad for the joy of that work. That job was a gift from God.
If you have a savings account, an investment account, that’s a tremendous blessing of security for yourself and your loved ones. If you give it away, then your blessing extended even beyond your own family. Charitable bequests are a great idea.
If you have a luxury item like a second home or a boat or a sports car, remember those are gifts from God and you might be called by God to give up them at some point for the greater benefit of others.
If you have enjoyed good health for many years, what a gift! Good health is a gift which we all give up eventually. Some of us kicking and screaming and others of us more graciously.
If someone you love is dying, they belong to God and are returning to God. You give them up with sadness, but surely also with gratitude for the blessing they have been for three years, thirty-three years or eighty-three years.
In our day, we expect children to outlive their parents, even though that does not always happen. In Hannah’s day, only half of the children made it to thirteen and the life expectancy was no more than thirty. I wonder if this kind of loss is easier when it is half expected. Now the loss of a child to a parent is compounded by the rarity of the occasion, so the feeling of unfairness is greater.
Hannah, in her longing for what she did not have, and in her grateful song of thanksgiving after returning to God the gift of a son, remembers to turn to God in every and all circumstances. Essentially, she remembers that her life is in the hands of God and that therefore everything that she receives is from God and belongs ultimately to God. So she gives back to God the son to whom she could have tried to cling.
What about us? Do you think that you could take your gratitude rock this week and not only give thanks for all the things you have, but say to God each time you give thanks. “This blessing is a gift from you, Lord. I offer it back to you, as a faithful steward.”
Rather than wish for more, long for newer, better, could you say, “Thank you, God, for this car that still runs well. It is a gift from you and I offer it back to you. Show me how you would have me use it.”
Rather than griping that again we need milk, I touch my gratitude rock and say “Thank you God for my freedom to go to the grocery store nearly any time of day and buy what my family needs. I don’t have to milk the cow or even walk to the store. Thank you for that privilege. I give you back this freedom and ask you, “What would you like me to buy in the store. More food for Beth-El?”
Rather than complaining about going to the dentist or doctor for some form of treatment, I touch my rock and say “Thank you God for the privilege of health care, which many do not have.” I give you back my health and ask what you would like me to do with it.
Thank you, God for the family you have given me, for all the gifts I receive through them. I give them to you, for they belong to you, not me, and ask that you would help me to steward/ to manage those relationships in ways that are fruitful.
Missionary Jim Elliot, was martyred at age twenty-eight (1956) with four companions while trying to share the Gospel with the Huaorani tribe of Aucas in the jungles of Ecuador. Jim Elliott, in his journal wrote these words which have been quoted many times – not because he lived but because he died so early. "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." Some people think he was re-stating the words of the English preacher Philip Henry (1631-1696) who said "He is no fool who parts with that which he cannot keep, when he is sure to be recompensed with that which he cannot lose"[15].
Perhaps what Hannah saw is that giving her son back to God meant even greater blessings than keeping him close to her. After all, Samuel became a great leader in Israel, after growing up with the priest Eli. She gave up that for which she had been praying and longing and for three years loving with all her heart. But what she could not see was that in giving him up, she gained an even greater blessing, a faithful son, who was not only a blessing to her, but to the whole people, the Israelites. If she had clung to her son, he would have never become what he was intended to be – a blessing to many. We have the opportunity, people of Peace, to pool our resources, to create something that will surpass anything we could accomplish as individuals, something that will endure long after we are gone. We have the privilege and I think the responsibility, to build a congregation called Peace, whose people will be and do far more than we can think or imagine. God has gifted you. Will you give back in gratitude and with vision for the amazing things God can accomplish through us, working generously together?
Sunday, November 8, 2009
The Riches of Voluntary Poverty
Mark 12:41-44 & 2 Corinthians 8:1-15
Stewardship Season
Elizabeth M. Deibert
I am so glad to be back with you I can hardly contain it. My gratitude is overwhelming, gushing, embarrassing. I love this congregation and I love the way ministry with you pushes me, challenges me. Of course, my extreme joy in being back is not that I had a bad time in Greece, far from it. I thoroughly enjoyed the time with Emily and the privilege of seeing places like this, where monks and nuns have been drawing near to God and praying for the world for 600 years. (image of Greece) I was challenged, however, by the poverty which I saw. Beggars on the street, relentlessly calling out “parakalo, parakalo” (please, please) Graffiti stubbornly asserting itself against natural beauty. (Graffiti image) People walking through restaurants desperately trying to sell their wares – things we would hesitate to buy for fifty cents at a yard sale. Abandoned puppies left by the side of the road, like these whose pitiful cries broke Emily’s heart. (Image of Puppies) We were keenly aware of simpler lifestyles, of clothing hanging on balconies, of tiny apartments and narrow, noisy streets, of a clearer view into poverty – not too different from th widow in our Gospel lesson today. Hear now the story of the Widow’s mite.
Mark 12:41-44
(Image of widow)
Jesus says that two pennies is worth more than all the money the wealthy people have put in, because the widow, a very powerless person in Biblical times, gave of herself sacrificially. She embraced and extended her own poverty in order to give, whereas they gave of their abundance. I’m not sure the core of this message ever really hits home with us because we continue to be more excited about big things – big money, big salaries, and big gifts. We admire the widow greatly for her generosity but we don’t actually believe that her gift is more. Yet that’s the strange way it is in Christ’s economy. More is less and less is more. “Give a little or give a lot.” as the kids song said. The point being: it is only a lot when it is a lot to you, when it makes you more impoverished, when it is sacrifice.
Sacrifice is at the heart of the Christ-centered existence. That’s why it is so good to be back here to engage this ministry with you. Because this ministry with you invites joyful sacrifice in my life. I cannot do exactly what I want to do. My time is not mine. My resources are not mine. I am open to your pain as well as your joy is mine. It is ours mutually. And those of you who are giving the most sacrificially, feel so much love for this church – because of your sacrifice, because of the risk you take in giving of yourselves. Those of you with children know that your love for your children is inextricably tied to the sacrifices you have made for them. Sometimes we get tired and feel the need for a break but when we are get unencumbered, then we realize freedom is not best. Sacrifice is best.
So with Emily’s youthful encouragement I sacrificed my body as much as possible, walking up these rocky hills to get these wondrous views among ruins some of them more than two thousand years old. (image of the Acrocorinth)
Here we are at the top of old Corinth, and I’m thinking Paul walked up this hill, after traveling from far away places like Thessaloniki in Macedonia. Emily and I flew there, and took a combination of bus and train back. Paul traveled by foot and by boat, in shoes as unfit for walking on rocks as Emily’s flip flops. (Image of Emily at top of Corinth) He walked up, not knowing whether he would get a nice glass of wine and delicious Greek meal at the end of the day. With every hard step, I was banking on that wonderful, warm meal at the end of day. Paul had to confront idolatry at the top of this hill. Emily and I had only a glorious view to share with a handful of other tourists. He had to confront wealthy merchants and prostitutes.
I walked up thinking how easy life is for me. Sure I was breathing hard. I was wondering if a taxi ride would have been a good idea, instead of this plan to walk it. My legs were hurting, but I reached down and picked up this rock and remembering our stewardship season theme of gratitude for this year, I thought to myself “This is my gratitude rock” With my rock in hand, and more rocks than I could begin to count under foot, I thought about the privilege of world travel, of the gift of time with a daughter turning into an adult. I was so grateful to be alive, so thankful to have seen this glorious country where the Apostle Paul did new church development. But I was also grateful to know that I could return to my place, this place of comfort and joy and peace, this place where I am called to live daily in sacrificial ministry. (Image of rocks in Corinth) By the way, this is my rock from Corinth. I wanted a pocket size one. This one is David and Dotty’s from a trip a couple of years ago. This one is Richard’s from nearly ten years ago.
Paul preached the good news of God’s grace and Christ’s sacrifice on this hill and got in trouble for it. But lives were changed and a congregation was formed and later Paul wrote a letter to them, encouraging them to be generous with other Christians, to support the churches as the Macedonians have. Having lived here for more than a year, Paul knew the Corinthians were people of greater means. This was an upscale city, Corinth. They had more to give than the generous Macedonians, more than the widow of whom Jesus spoke. And so Paul challenges them to sacrifice for the sake of fairness, of equality, to be generous because they know the generous sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who was rich and for our sakes became poor. He challenges them to help the mother church in Jerusalem, where there’s been a famine.
Hear the word of the Lord from 2 Corinthians 8:1-15
Those with abundant joy (gratitude) and extreme poverty (the Macedonians) overflow in a wealth of generosity. Paul says they voluntarily gave according to their means and even beyond their means. To give beyond your means is to engage in voluntary poverty. They did it because they wanted (desperately wanted) a share in the exciting new church development on which Paul and other were working. They were grateful for what Christ had done for them.
So Paul says to the wealthier folks in Corinth – those of did not have a cash flow problem – since you’re doing well in everything, since you’ve got a lot going for you, take this generosity on as well.
Here’s why: Jesus Christ had everything too. He had all the power of God because he was God. He had all the glory of God because he was God. He had all the freedom of God because he was God. But he chose to sacrifice it for love. He gave it all up, made himself impoverished or destitute, so that we’d experience the richness of God’s love, the abundant of God’s goodness, the power of our redemption. Jesus was what we are meant to be - completely generous to the point of joyful, willing sacrifice.
Paul challenges the Corinthians to complete their task, much as we have a task to complete here at Peace. We have by God’s grace and blessing, accomplished so much. We are giving more than 20% of our budget away. We are giving percentage-wise more than any other church to our presbytery’s mission. We are becoming independent financially after a five year grant was put in place by presbytery to help us get started as a new church. We have a wonderful and devoted staff in place, and the best volunteer leaders and servants of any congregation I know.
So we must complete our work, according to our means. Paul is quick to add that he’s not begging the Corinthians to give beyond their means – only that they give fairly according to the gifts they have. But when they choose to give beyond their means, as the Macedonians did, Paul celebrates.
For some of you, deciding to consistently give twenty-five dollars each week or one hundred/month is a new step and a big one. It is a challenge. Perhaps you’ve been really pulling yourself out of a crisis or are on the verge of one.
Nobody, not Paul nor I is asking you to be ridiculously sacrificial. But we are asking you to consider a new lifestyle which says “I love God first, I’m grateful for my blessings, and willing to make some sacrifices in order to be generous with others.”
For others $100/week is really no sacrifice because you are covering your bills without nail-biting and fear each month, without that panicky feeling that you’re going to open a second notice you cannot afford to pay. You may need to dig deeper, to find that more challenging place of generosity. Realize that God has promised to take care of you, so you can reach for a higher level of giving. Would you really notice if you added another $25-50 each week? If you wouldn’t notice it, then perhaps you have not reached for sacrificial giving yet. Find the joy of a gratitude-filled trust in your shepherding, loving Lord for your future.
For Richard and me $200 each week felt like a stretch a couple of years ago when we first decided to try it and sometimes it feels foolish even now. But we don’t go down that thought-path. No, we’re not saving for the future as we should. We’re barely covering college bills, and it’s only going to be worse next year and the next. But we feel called to tithe and give weekly as much as we think we can, because we have learned how much more joyful we are when we make such sacrifices, when we trust God enough to be slightly unguarded and uncalculating. It helps to know that certain activities and purchases are ruled out because of our giving to church. There is something very liberating about feeling the sacrifice, knowing our limitations, trusting God.
For some of you, giving generously can means a tremendous difference for Peace’s budget, much as the Corinthians had the wealth to make a difference for the Jerusalem Church. You have enough money to insure that Peace can be bolstered for future growth, but maybe knowing you have that power and privilege makes you nervous. Your sacrifice is one of trusting that you will not be given too much power in your giving. You don’t want to be the only one giving at that level. You want to inspire others to give, so there a fair balance. But to give less than you are able is not to make the sacrifice that the Lord of these scriptures calls you to make, so you feel the burden of potential giving. I heard from one family at Peace who plans to take a major step in giving this year, out of gratitude for what God is doing at Peace, out of a firm conviction that we must all step forward to see Peace into the future. I hope this gift will inspire all of you reach. Would it not be great if we exceeded our budgetary needs this stewardship season and could begin saving for a building? Would it not be wonderful if we knew that we would have no trouble paying all our staff well and continuing our commitment to a generous benevolence toward those with greater needs?
We do not want anyone to have too little or too much, Paul says. We want a fair balance between those with abundance and those with great need.
But whether you yourself have a great abundance or great need, the call is to sacrifice as you can, according to your own means. It is a matter of your heart, your sacrifice, not your amount compared with that of someone else. It is the level of giving which requires deep trust on your part. The riches of voluntary poverty are not monetary riches, but the deeper riches of being in the right relationship of trust with God, so that you are willing to do whatever God asks of you.
Your heart will be filled to overflowing with gratitude for all of God’s good gifts when you begin to make sacrifices in response to the voluntary poverty, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, in being one with us, that we might be one with God. There is no place of greater riches, than being one with God in Jesus Christ. To be like Christ is to sacrifice.
So let us all touch our rock daily and count our blessings, not our limitations. Let us be grateful for the little things and stop lusting for the big. Stop dwelling on what’s missing in your life and look around and see just how rich you are with the blessings of God. Remember the global perspective – the relative comfort of our way of life. Be joyful, be free, be prayerful and open. In the spirit of our loving Christ, volunteer to be poorer tomorrow than you are today, and you will be richer than you’ve ever been.
Let us pray: “We want to be rich in our souls, rich in your grace and peace. So take our lives, take our hearts, take our minds, take our wills, take our resources and make them your own. We consecrate all that we are to you in the generous Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Stewardship Season
Elizabeth M. Deibert
I am so glad to be back with you I can hardly contain it. My gratitude is overwhelming, gushing, embarrassing. I love this congregation and I love the way ministry with you pushes me, challenges me. Of course, my extreme joy in being back is not that I had a bad time in Greece, far from it. I thoroughly enjoyed the time with Emily and the privilege of seeing places like this, where monks and nuns have been drawing near to God and praying for the world for 600 years. (image of Greece) I was challenged, however, by the poverty which I saw. Beggars on the street, relentlessly calling out “parakalo, parakalo” (please, please) Graffiti stubbornly asserting itself against natural beauty. (Graffiti image) People walking through restaurants desperately trying to sell their wares – things we would hesitate to buy for fifty cents at a yard sale. Abandoned puppies left by the side of the road, like these whose pitiful cries broke Emily’s heart. (Image of Puppies) We were keenly aware of simpler lifestyles, of clothing hanging on balconies, of tiny apartments and narrow, noisy streets, of a clearer view into poverty – not too different from th widow in our Gospel lesson today. Hear now the story of the Widow’s mite.
Mark 12:41-44
(Image of widow)
Jesus says that two pennies is worth more than all the money the wealthy people have put in, because the widow, a very powerless person in Biblical times, gave of herself sacrificially. She embraced and extended her own poverty in order to give, whereas they gave of their abundance. I’m not sure the core of this message ever really hits home with us because we continue to be more excited about big things – big money, big salaries, and big gifts. We admire the widow greatly for her generosity but we don’t actually believe that her gift is more. Yet that’s the strange way it is in Christ’s economy. More is less and less is more. “Give a little or give a lot.” as the kids song said. The point being: it is only a lot when it is a lot to you, when it makes you more impoverished, when it is sacrifice.
Sacrifice is at the heart of the Christ-centered existence. That’s why it is so good to be back here to engage this ministry with you. Because this ministry with you invites joyful sacrifice in my life. I cannot do exactly what I want to do. My time is not mine. My resources are not mine. I am open to your pain as well as your joy is mine. It is ours mutually. And those of you who are giving the most sacrificially, feel so much love for this church – because of your sacrifice, because of the risk you take in giving of yourselves. Those of you with children know that your love for your children is inextricably tied to the sacrifices you have made for them. Sometimes we get tired and feel the need for a break but when we are get unencumbered, then we realize freedom is not best. Sacrifice is best.
So with Emily’s youthful encouragement I sacrificed my body as much as possible, walking up these rocky hills to get these wondrous views among ruins some of them more than two thousand years old. (image of the Acrocorinth)
Here we are at the top of old Corinth, and I’m thinking Paul walked up this hill, after traveling from far away places like Thessaloniki in Macedonia. Emily and I flew there, and took a combination of bus and train back. Paul traveled by foot and by boat, in shoes as unfit for walking on rocks as Emily’s flip flops. (Image of Emily at top of Corinth) He walked up, not knowing whether he would get a nice glass of wine and delicious Greek meal at the end of the day. With every hard step, I was banking on that wonderful, warm meal at the end of day. Paul had to confront idolatry at the top of this hill. Emily and I had only a glorious view to share with a handful of other tourists. He had to confront wealthy merchants and prostitutes.
I walked up thinking how easy life is for me. Sure I was breathing hard. I was wondering if a taxi ride would have been a good idea, instead of this plan to walk it. My legs were hurting, but I reached down and picked up this rock and remembering our stewardship season theme of gratitude for this year, I thought to myself “This is my gratitude rock” With my rock in hand, and more rocks than I could begin to count under foot, I thought about the privilege of world travel, of the gift of time with a daughter turning into an adult. I was so grateful to be alive, so thankful to have seen this glorious country where the Apostle Paul did new church development. But I was also grateful to know that I could return to my place, this place of comfort and joy and peace, this place where I am called to live daily in sacrificial ministry. (Image of rocks in Corinth) By the way, this is my rock from Corinth. I wanted a pocket size one. This one is David and Dotty’s from a trip a couple of years ago. This one is Richard’s from nearly ten years ago.
Paul preached the good news of God’s grace and Christ’s sacrifice on this hill and got in trouble for it. But lives were changed and a congregation was formed and later Paul wrote a letter to them, encouraging them to be generous with other Christians, to support the churches as the Macedonians have. Having lived here for more than a year, Paul knew the Corinthians were people of greater means. This was an upscale city, Corinth. They had more to give than the generous Macedonians, more than the widow of whom Jesus spoke. And so Paul challenges them to sacrifice for the sake of fairness, of equality, to be generous because they know the generous sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who was rich and for our sakes became poor. He challenges them to help the mother church in Jerusalem, where there’s been a famine.
Hear the word of the Lord from 2 Corinthians 8:1-15
Those with abundant joy (gratitude) and extreme poverty (the Macedonians) overflow in a wealth of generosity. Paul says they voluntarily gave according to their means and even beyond their means. To give beyond your means is to engage in voluntary poverty. They did it because they wanted (desperately wanted) a share in the exciting new church development on which Paul and other were working. They were grateful for what Christ had done for them.
So Paul says to the wealthier folks in Corinth – those of did not have a cash flow problem – since you’re doing well in everything, since you’ve got a lot going for you, take this generosity on as well.
Here’s why: Jesus Christ had everything too. He had all the power of God because he was God. He had all the glory of God because he was God. He had all the freedom of God because he was God. But he chose to sacrifice it for love. He gave it all up, made himself impoverished or destitute, so that we’d experience the richness of God’s love, the abundant of God’s goodness, the power of our redemption. Jesus was what we are meant to be - completely generous to the point of joyful, willing sacrifice.
Paul challenges the Corinthians to complete their task, much as we have a task to complete here at Peace. We have by God’s grace and blessing, accomplished so much. We are giving more than 20% of our budget away. We are giving percentage-wise more than any other church to our presbytery’s mission. We are becoming independent financially after a five year grant was put in place by presbytery to help us get started as a new church. We have a wonderful and devoted staff in place, and the best volunteer leaders and servants of any congregation I know.
So we must complete our work, according to our means. Paul is quick to add that he’s not begging the Corinthians to give beyond their means – only that they give fairly according to the gifts they have. But when they choose to give beyond their means, as the Macedonians did, Paul celebrates.
For some of you, deciding to consistently give twenty-five dollars each week or one hundred/month is a new step and a big one. It is a challenge. Perhaps you’ve been really pulling yourself out of a crisis or are on the verge of one.
Nobody, not Paul nor I is asking you to be ridiculously sacrificial. But we are asking you to consider a new lifestyle which says “I love God first, I’m grateful for my blessings, and willing to make some sacrifices in order to be generous with others.”
For others $100/week is really no sacrifice because you are covering your bills without nail-biting and fear each month, without that panicky feeling that you’re going to open a second notice you cannot afford to pay. You may need to dig deeper, to find that more challenging place of generosity. Realize that God has promised to take care of you, so you can reach for a higher level of giving. Would you really notice if you added another $25-50 each week? If you wouldn’t notice it, then perhaps you have not reached for sacrificial giving yet. Find the joy of a gratitude-filled trust in your shepherding, loving Lord for your future.
For Richard and me $200 each week felt like a stretch a couple of years ago when we first decided to try it and sometimes it feels foolish even now. But we don’t go down that thought-path. No, we’re not saving for the future as we should. We’re barely covering college bills, and it’s only going to be worse next year and the next. But we feel called to tithe and give weekly as much as we think we can, because we have learned how much more joyful we are when we make such sacrifices, when we trust God enough to be slightly unguarded and uncalculating. It helps to know that certain activities and purchases are ruled out because of our giving to church. There is something very liberating about feeling the sacrifice, knowing our limitations, trusting God.
For some of you, giving generously can means a tremendous difference for Peace’s budget, much as the Corinthians had the wealth to make a difference for the Jerusalem Church. You have enough money to insure that Peace can be bolstered for future growth, but maybe knowing you have that power and privilege makes you nervous. Your sacrifice is one of trusting that you will not be given too much power in your giving. You don’t want to be the only one giving at that level. You want to inspire others to give, so there a fair balance. But to give less than you are able is not to make the sacrifice that the Lord of these scriptures calls you to make, so you feel the burden of potential giving. I heard from one family at Peace who plans to take a major step in giving this year, out of gratitude for what God is doing at Peace, out of a firm conviction that we must all step forward to see Peace into the future. I hope this gift will inspire all of you reach. Would it not be great if we exceeded our budgetary needs this stewardship season and could begin saving for a building? Would it not be wonderful if we knew that we would have no trouble paying all our staff well and continuing our commitment to a generous benevolence toward those with greater needs?
We do not want anyone to have too little or too much, Paul says. We want a fair balance between those with abundance and those with great need.
But whether you yourself have a great abundance or great need, the call is to sacrifice as you can, according to your own means. It is a matter of your heart, your sacrifice, not your amount compared with that of someone else. It is the level of giving which requires deep trust on your part. The riches of voluntary poverty are not monetary riches, but the deeper riches of being in the right relationship of trust with God, so that you are willing to do whatever God asks of you.
Your heart will be filled to overflowing with gratitude for all of God’s good gifts when you begin to make sacrifices in response to the voluntary poverty, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, in being one with us, that we might be one with God. There is no place of greater riches, than being one with God in Jesus Christ. To be like Christ is to sacrifice.
So let us all touch our rock daily and count our blessings, not our limitations. Let us be grateful for the little things and stop lusting for the big. Stop dwelling on what’s missing in your life and look around and see just how rich you are with the blessings of God. Remember the global perspective – the relative comfort of our way of life. Be joyful, be free, be prayerful and open. In the spirit of our loving Christ, volunteer to be poorer tomorrow than you are today, and you will be richer than you’ve ever been.
Let us pray: “We want to be rich in our souls, rich in your grace and peace. So take our lives, take our hearts, take our minds, take our wills, take our resources and make them your own. We consecrate all that we are to you in the generous Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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