Stewardship Series 2004
Celebrating Our Gifts Through Our Living
Deuteronomy 14: 22-27
Roger C. Lynn
March 7, 2004
Stewardship Emphasis
I need to begin by letting you know that I am breaking several rules this morning -- rules about how things are supposed to be done in church. First of all, this is the season of Lent, which has traditionally been understood to be a time for great solemnity and even sadness. That will not be the case in this sermon. Secondly, this is a stewardship sermon, which is also frequently understood to be a time not generally associated with joy and laughter. As I said, I am breaking the rules this morning.
Stewardship is based on the understanding that all we have is a gift from God and as such we need to be intentional and responsible about its use. This is true not just for what we give away, but also what we keep. Put another way, stewardship is about everything we do with everything we have, and everything we are. This means that stewardship is about so much more than just raising money to underwrite the church’s budget. It is about remembering our connection with God and celebrating that connection. It is about appreciating the gifts we have been given and discovering ways to put them to good use.
So, before we start talking about money (don’t worry, we’ll get to that in due time), let’s begin by talking about life. If stewardship is about recognizing all of life as a gift, then perhaps a good place to start is by doing an inventory of what we’ve been given and then celebrating those gifts. As most of you know, things have been changing at my house recently. I used to have lots of room and then some for all of my stuff. So much room, in fact, that I had stuff I hadn’t looked at in years. I had stuff I didn’t even remember I had. Well, all of that changed as we started finding places to put two more people and their stuff. (How much of life is both defined and controlled by our “stuff”?) Several times as we have been going through closets and cupboards we have discovered some treasure that I forgot was even there. It has been a delightful (sometimes tedious, but delightful) process of being reminded just how blessed I am.
Something akin to this process is being called for in Deuteronomy with the instructions regarding the tithe. “Set aside a tithe of all the yield of your harvest.” That means you’ve got to take inventory. You’ve got to pay attention to what you have. You can’t just tuck things away -- in the bank, in the storage bins, in the back of a closet somewhere. At least once a year you have to look at what you’ve got. And because this inventory takes place within the context of a ritual of faith, there is at least a good chance that you will remember to view your “stuff” as the gift which it is. The world, and our place in the world, begins to look different when we view it from this perspective. I am less likely to take things for granted. I am less likely to move through my days with a frown on my face and a cloud over my heart. My whole life becomes my response to God. Every moment becomes an opportunity to orient my life in a God-centered direction.
But the ritual of the tithe does more than simply call for an inventory. You can’t just figure out your net-worth and then move on. You have to pause long enough to celebrate. You have to enjoy the gifts which God has given. It is really quite a sad state of affairs that remembering to celebrate and rejoice needs to be regulated and legislated, but the truth of the matter is that if it isn’t we very often just get busy and distracted and we forget. So to help keep us from forgetting we find bits of wisdom like this passage from Deuteronomy. Take the tithe from the harvest and throw a party. The tradition of potluck dinners at church can be traced at least back as far as Deuteronomy. Enjoy life. Take time to really let the goodness of God sink in. In the midst of the food and the music and the dancing, remember that it is just a little glimpse of the ways in which God’s abundance is manifest in your life.
The thing I really like about this model for stewardship is that it is built on such a positive foundation. It isn’t about what you have to do, “or else...”. It does not begin with a message of guilt. It provides the opportunity to remember how rich we are, not merely in financial terms (which may or may not be true for any particular individual), but in terms of all the ways in which our lives have been enhanced by God’s active presence with us. It encourages an attitude of true and genuine gratitude and celebration out of which true and genuine generosity is much more likely to emerge. There are times when we are told that we have an obligation or a duty to give, and therefore we should feel guilty if we don’t. Such an approach can sometimes get results (at least in the short term), but there is no real life in such giving. In contrast, the approach from Deuteronomy leaves us with a strong awareness of the abundance of life and the goodness of God. Any giving which results from such an approach will naturally be life-enhancing rather than life-detracting.
So this week, in preparation for Stewardship Commitment next Sunday, before you sit down with your household budget and a calculator and figure out how much you can give to the church this next year, I invite you to spend some time doing an inventory. Take a look at your life (not just your checkbook, but your whole life), and take note of all the ways in which you have been blessed. And then maybe even throw a little party. It doesn’t have to be a big, blow-out bash. You don’t have to travel all the way to Jerusalem. Just enough of a celebration to remind yourself that all of life is a gift from God, and God’s gifts are given with the intention that they be enjoyed and celebrated. Raise your glass and offer a toast to God. It is only after we have explored ways to celebrate our gifts with our living that we will be prepared to respond to God’s goodness with our giving. Make this the year that stewardship becomes a spiritual exercise for you. May we discover and celebrate the ways in which God is moving abundantly in our lives.
Celebrating Our Gifts With Our Giving
Deuteronomy 14: 22-29
Roger C. Lynn
March 14, 2004
Stewardship Commitment Sunday
In the interest of truth in advertising, I need to let you know right up front that this is a stewardship sermon. Money will be talked about. In fact, the discussion will include the idea that you consider giving some of your money away. For those of you who might be visiting for the first time, please know that this is not the topic of most of my sermons. You just happened to arrive on the day which fits in with the old stereotype that all churches ever talk about is money. At the same time, however, I preach this sermon without apology or hesitation. If a church is doing its job as a community of faith, then there ought to be some truth to the stereotype. We, as the church, need to be talking about anything and everything that is an important part of life, and money certainly fits that description.
So, at the risk of repeating myself, please allow me to remind you of a bit of what I said last week about stewardship. Stewardship is based on the understanding that all we have is a gift from God and as such we need to be intentional and responsible about its use. Put another way, stewardship is about everything we do with everything we have, and everything we are. This means that stewardship is about so much more than just raising money to underwrite the church’s budget. It is about remembering our connection with God and celebrating that connection. It is about appreciating the gifts we have been given and discovering ways to put them to good use. I went on to suggest that perhaps a good place to start would be to do an inventory of what we’ve been given and then celebrating those gifts. I still think that is sound advice, and I hope you found an opportunity sometime this past week to engage in a bit of life assessment and rejoicing.
At some point, however, it is not enough to simply take inventory and celebrate. As vital as these activities are in establishing a solid foundation for our living, discovering true fulfillment involves building on that foundation. There is something integral to the very essence of who we are that prompts us to reach out beyond ourselves -- a reflection of the Creator, revealed in the impulse to share ourselves with the world. It is an interesting paradox about human nature that to be truly whole we must give ourselves away.
Such giving takes a variety of forms, from “lending a helping hand” by offering our time and energy, to contributing money for causes we believe in. Every so often we hear stories about a child who first becomes aware of the needs of others, perhaps in the form of a family who lost everything in a fire, or the hungry and homeless in her community, or another child who is sick and in the hospital. Their response upon having their awareness expanded is to give. And not reluctantly or with reservation, but gladly and abundantly. They offer their favorite toys or other prized possessions. Such an impulse is buried inside each of us, just waiting to be discovered and released.
We see this in the instructions regarding the tithe that we read from Deuteronomy. After the details about when and where and how to throw the party, there is another important detail. It is specifically included to point us towards our own true selves, to remind us that when it comes to our giving, we need to always be striving to expand our horizons. “Every third year you shall bring out the full tithe of your produce for that year, and store it within your towns; the Levites, because they have no allotment or inheritance with you, as well as the resident aliens, the orphans, and the widows in your towns, may come and eat their fill...” (Deuteronomy 14: 28-29) The real celebration doesn’t begin until everyone is invited to the party. We are encouraged to give not only so that we can remember God’s gifts, but also so others might experience those gifts as well.
Which brings us to the heart of a delicate matter. I said at the beginning that stewardship is about so much more than just underwriting the church’s budget. And that is true. But that does not mean the church’s budget is irrelevant. Giving ourselves away is an important component in the process of responding to God and reaching out to those around us. And sometimes that will take the form of giving away our money. But never is money an end in itself. Always it represents resources we can share -- a means of accomplishing our mission. It is significant that next month when you are asked to approve the budget for the coming year, what it will actually say at the top of the page is “Proposed Mission Plan Budget.” The dollars we receive and spend represent our best efforts to touch the lives of others with God’s love. In a very real way our giving is sharing our tithe with the Levites, the aliens, the orphans and the widows. That happens in lots of ways -- from the money we send to the American Baptist Churches USA and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to support global, regional and local mission efforts, to our support of the Campus Christian Center and the K-House as they strive to minister to the university communities on our behalf, to the upkeep of this building so that it is available as both a place of worship and a place of ministry.
Paying attention to our giving is important both in terms of realizing our full potential as people with an impulse to reach beyond ourselves, and in terms of remembering and maintaining the connection with the other people with whom we share life on this planet. We give because we have a need to give, and because the world has a need which our giving helps to meet. What we give makes an enormous difference, both in our own lives and in the lives of those who we are thus enabled to reach out and touch.
Stewardship is a spiritual practice. It puts us in touch with ourselves, with each other and with God. There is joy to be found when we learn to give ourselves away. So as we make our commitments for the coming year, as we place our money in the offering plate, as we share ourselves in all of the various ways that happens, may we continue to recognize such occasions as opportunities for celebration. We have been richly and abundantly blessed by God. May we respond with nothing less than our whole lives, including our giving. Let the celebration begin.