In Touch
John Wilkinson Third
Presbyterian Church
November 5, 2006
Mark 12:38-44
As John Malach has reminded us, next Sunday is Stewardship Sunday,
when you will be invited to present your 2007 pledge cards during
worship. We are trying a bit of a different approach this year
in that the sermon today will focus on matters of stewardship.
Several have suggested this over the years, that the so-called
“Sermon on the Amount" be shared the week before,
allowing people time to ruminate and prayerfully consider their
pledges. That’s the concept, anyway. It also allows time
for you all to make other plans for next Sunday, but perhaps
that will not be the case.
***
“My very educated mother just served us nine pizza pies.”
Do any of you remember that little verse, or something like
it? “My very educated mother just served us nine pizza
pies.” It is the verse I learned to remember the names
of the planets. And all for nothing, apparently.
One of the most personally distressing pieces of news this
summer was the demotion – by whoever has the authority
to do such things – of Pluto from a planet to something
else, “former” planet, I believe. Now I don’t
really understand how all of this works, but it would seem to
me that once a planet, always a planet, unless you do something
really unseemly and the other eight planets kick you out for
non-planetary behavior. That’s not the case here.
And yet Pluto is no different today than it was yesterday,
regardless of any external judgment. Even with its status diminished,
and attention focused elsewhere, it continues to do what it
has always done.
In an odd way, I thought of Pluto as we are invited to encounter
Jesus’ observations this week from Mark’s gospel.
He is in the temple with his followers and a growing community
of onlookers, a community we join this morning. He first warns
them about religious leaders, the scribes, who wear nice robes
and pray nice prayers and soak up adulation, all the while soaking
the poor for their financial and spiritual resources. Every
time I encounter that verse, particularly while wearing a nice
robe, I pause for a moment.
Jesus then observes the crowd making their financial contributions.
The rich people are putting in lots of money, in a way that
people are aware of their wealth. A poor widow then offers two
small coins, worth but a penny. Jesus praises her for contributing
all that she had, while the wealthy, he says, did so from money
they would not even miss.
Like Pluto, this woman goes about her business, regardless
of any external attention. She had, we presume, been doing the
same for years and would continue doing so. Jesus notices; no
one else did or would.
Like that former planet, she makes a disproportionate contribution
to her solar system, the kingdom of God.
Traditionally, biblical scholars have focused on the widow’s
generosity, and rightly so. More recent scholarship has also
lifted up what precedes her, namely, the corrupt religious leaders
and the ways they ignore this women’s plight as they enjoy
the spoils of their position.
Read the text. So many things are happening. Jesus is admiring
her sacrificial generosity, all the while critiquing the political
and religious system that contributes to her poverty. Both-and,
not either-or. Can we not do the same?
Today, several days after October 31, we recognize Reformation
Day, when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the wall of
the Wittenberg church, thus launching the Protestant reform
movement of which we have been a part. In the old days, Reformation
Sunday was a day to emphasize how non-Roman Catholic we were.
We do better than that now, by exploring some of the distinctives
of our tradition.
Many times I am asked what “we” Presbyterians,
or “you” Presbyterians believe. It can
be a very long answer, but it often consists of the paragraphs
we included on this morning’s bulletin cover.1
If there is no other theological notion to remember, it is
the sovereignty of God. God is in charge, everywhere, all the
time, and not we ourselves. And that makes a difference in how
we live.
* We serve as a response to God’s sovereignty, and not
to earn us God’s favor. That’s number 1 on the list.
* Because God has ordered creation, we seek to order our lives,
both in the church and in the world. That’s numbers 2
and 4.
* And number 3: “a faithful stewardship that shuns ostentation
and seeks proper use of the gifts of God’s creation.”
That’s what we believe.
Now I am fully aware that “shunning ostentation”
would hardly qualify as the flashiest of church mottoes. It
is not very market savvy.
You may remember a recent Time magazine article, “Does
God Want You To Be Rich?” It turns out that there is something
called “prosperity theology,” selling many books,
attracting vast television audiences, preachers convinced and
convincing people that wealth, material wealth, is God’s
design for each of us.
It all seems rather convenient, and more so, contrary to the
gospel where we read that it would be harder for a rich person
to enter heaven than a camel to fit through the eye of a needle,
or, indeed, today's observations from Jesus about wealth and
power and the widow’s quiet, unassuming, sacrificial testimony.
“Shunning ostentation” may not earn a cover story.
And yet it is a benchmark of our tradition. It is who we are.
It is what we do, because of what we believe about God and God’s
work.
Because God is in charge, we are called to live lives of responsible
stewardship of God’s creation. That means how each of
us, all of us, as individuals and as a church family, responds
to the world.
Amidst all of the other political issues being batted about
in these last few days before Tuesday, poverty is being lost
in the mix. How can we embrace a belief in God’s sovereignty
when so many of God’s sovereign creatures are going without?
That certainly has lifestyle implications – how we spend
our money, the choices we make.
You have received, or will receive this week, a letter from
the Stewardship Committee, inviting you to make a pledge to
support the ministry of Third Presbyterian Church. If you’ve
yet to receive that mailing, my hunch is that we can find a
way to make that happen!
Please read that letter and the accompanying information. Pray
about it. Discuss it. Our needs are real and we have worked
hard to communicate those needs with clarity and thoughtfulness.
* We seek to compensate fairly our very competent and dedicated
staff, so that they may continue to do the work we ask them
to do.
* We continue to need to take care of this building, what
someone recently appreciatively called an “heirloom.”
It is grand and inviting and very costly.
* And we continue to have programmatic needs – choir
music, coffee for coffee hour, supplies for Sunday school, as
well as outreach needs, a comparatively large portion of our
budget to meet the real and physical needs of our neighbors
and mission partners.
Our financial needs are real, but not extravagant, in my humble
opinion. This place, its people and programs serve as a kind
of “base camp” for the work we are all called to
do to worship the sovereign God.
It is clear that Third Presbyterian Church has been given an
abundance – of people, of gifts, of facilities, of vision,
individual and collective. Those who are able to respond with
an increase in their pledging are encouraged so to do. Those
who have not yet ever pledged are encouraged to make this the
year.
Ponder all of this in the light of this morning’s penetrating
story. This church certainly has more than two copper coins.
Perhaps you do. Perhaps you do not. We are reminded, though,
that whatever we give, we do so from a sense of God’s
generosity, God’s sovereignty, God’s abundance.
We give not from what we would never miss, but from what would
make a difference.
It is an interesting proposition to consider stewardship on
Reformation Sunday. When asked the question “what stewardship
is," here are what some of the officers – Deacons,
Trustees, and Elders of Third Church – said:
* “Stewardship is a tangible evidence of our personal
commitment to Jesus Christ.” (Bill Boller)
* “Stewardship is: taking care of God's people.”
(Lila Ford)
* “Stewardship is my thank you to God for the bountiful
blessings He has given me - my life, my family, and my fulfilling
membership here at Third Church.” ( Joan Fisher)
* “Stewardship is being responsible for and taking care
of our church's property, finances and people. All three are
inter-twined. We need to be financially responsible in order
to take care of our property to help our members and our community.”
(Suzy Hengerer)
* “Stewardship is absolutely vital to the life of Third
Church. Our program, personnel, and property are reliant on
our Stewardship.” (Kathy Schumacher)
* “It makes our commitment concrete. It helps clarify
our priorities in life. It puts our faith into action, near
at hand and around the world.” (Chris Bensch)
We have turned this experience, stewardship, into one of guilt
and obligation. That is too bad. God may not want us to be rich,
but God does want us to be extravagant, to live generously,
to live abundantly, with our financial resources but also with
every other gift God has given us.
We don’t know the psychology of that poor widow. But
we have much to learn from her – about shunning ostentation,
about being a small, vital planet in God’s constellation,
about letting go rather than holding on, about the freedom and
liberation that generosity brings with it.
When we give, we receive far more. She knew that. So do we.
Happy Reformation Sunday. Happy Stewardship Sunday. See you
next Sunday. Amen.
