LOVING GOD BACK
Scriptures: Psalm 49:1-9
I Corinthians 4:1-7
As I said at the beginning of the sermon last week, this is a kind of two-Sunday arc bringing each one of us to our moment of decision-making as we prepare ourselves to be God’s loyal stewards. The story I told from Bruce Modahl about seeing the offering basket being brought out from the hidden altar at the Cathedral of the Icon of Kazan in St. Petersburg, Russia, and discovering that it contained the antidoron -- the bread that symbolized God’s gift of God’s self to us -- is the entry point for this sermon. God offers us…..our lives…..which are appropriately symbolized by the bread – the staff of life. This is the ultimate pinnacle of God’s love. Today is all about our response – what we offer as a way of loving God back.
Received wisdom has it that ministers don’t like giving stewardship sermons. Well, that used to be true for me. It was kinda like trying to maneuver between a Scylla and Charybdis of ancient Greek mythology – on the one hand trying to avoid having the sermon become too crass a call for money to support the institutional church, and on the other hand trying not to become too abstract or ethereal in talking about some high-falutin’ concept of stewardship. But I don’t feel that way anymore – in fact, I rather relish the opportunity to talk with you about the real meaning of stewardship, as Al could probably confirm if he told you about our conversations on this topic. And I especially like two things about our stewardship emphasis this year: the theme of “loving God back”, which puts the emphasis on our response to God’s gift of God’s self; and the fact that we began this two-Sunday arc with the act of taking communion together.
Our commitment to Jesus the Christ calls us to make a sacramental difference in today’s world. Further, our commitment causes us to become, in Paul’s words, “servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries”. And in fulfilling our calling we make a difference.
“For who sees anything different in you?” Paul asks the Corinthians. Sometimes we speak a bit too glibly about Christianity changing lives, especially those evangelical churches that put an emphasis on being re-born. But is this change that visible on the surface? Perhaps for some it is, as the inner light of Christ’s spirit transforms a person’s character in such a way that love just seems to flow from them. But for most of us most of the time, the difference that Christ makes in our lives is not overtly obvious.
If we take the Christian concept of being a steward seriously, the difference that will take place in our lives will be more like what I like to call a sacramental difference – the kind of difference that is symbolized by the taking of holy communion. Now, already I’m in some trouble here, because to talk about being a steward as making a sacramental difference sounds pretty abstract – which, some of you may be thinking, is what the church usually does when it wants to talk about money. But there are some very concrete responses that can come out of understanding stewardship in this way. What is a steward? Well, one definition is that a steward is a person who manages the affairs of a household or an estate for an owner. Christians, then, are managers of the affairs of God on earth. Also, Paul says, “it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.” In short, a steward is a trustee. Wait a minute, you may be thinking about now, we already have a Board of Trustees in this church. Unless I happen to be elected to that Board, how is it that I can be considered to be a trustee?
But you’ve already anticipated me here: in its broadest sense we are all trustees when we accept our commitment to be entrusted with being “stewards of God’s mysteries”. (By the way, “mysteries” here does not mean for Paul something hidden or supernatural, but rather the revelation that God has made to everyone on earth in the coming of God’s son, the Christ, to earth.) That commitment comes whenever a decision is made to join with others in a community of Christian fellowship. The Board of Trustees are your representatives to help run the church, but just because you have delegated this authority does not mean that the responsibility of being a steward and a trustee (small “t”) can be denied. For one thing, that’s why we have congregational meetings. But more importantly, seeing ourselves as trustees aids us in responding to others in faith.
For, once we have accepted that being “stewards of the mysteries of God” means that we have become trustworthy trustees, then we can see how that plays itself out in terms of stewardship. Paul gives us our clue. Even before speaking of the apostles as “stewards of the mysteries of God”, he has called them “servants of Christ”. Stewardship finds itself in service. That’s really what “loving God back” is all about. To feel that stewardship is limited to money or the amount of our pledge is an inadequate view of why God calls us to be stewards. The Psalmist knows this. In the 49th Psalm that Marjorie read today stewardship is linked to salvation, but not in the sense that wealth could buy the Kingdom of Heaven. In fact just the opposite. It is not, as the Psalmist says, “those who trust in their wealth and boast of the abundance of their riches” who are good stewards; rather, it is those women and men who can utilize whatever resources that they have, large or small, toward sensitive understanding and service.
The service that is our stewardship brings us into community with one another where we share our service with each other. Here’s an analogy that might help in our understanding of what this kind of community can mean. While here in Las Vegas it would be highly unusual to spot a flock of geese flying South for the winter, for those of you who come from northern climes and know the sight of geese flying along in V formation as they head South, you might be interested in knowing that science has discovered why they fly that way. As each bird flaps its wings, it creates an uplift for the bird immediately following. By flying in V formation, the whole flock adds at least 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own. Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to go it alone and quickly gets back in formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front. When the lead goose gets tired, he or she rotates back in the wing and another goose flies point. Finally, when a goose gets sick or is wounded by a gunshot and falls out, two geese fall out of formation and follow the one down to help and protect. They stay with that one until she or he is able to fly or is dead, and then they catch up with their original group.
The analogy here is pretty obvious: Christians who share a common direction and a sense of community can get where they are going quicker and easier because they are traveling on the thrust and uplift of one another. It pays to take turns doing hard jobs with the other members of our community. When we help each other, we are sharing, which is both serving and giving. It is part and parcel of our stewardship. It is our firm belief that it is a privilege as a Christian to dedicate what we have, what we are, to God – our time, our talent, and our possessions.
For, in the final analysis, it’s not who you are but what you are that counts. J. Edgar Park likes to tell this fanciful story: “God and the archangel Michael were in one of the anterooms of heaven. In a continuous torrent all the prayers, oral and sung, of humankind were ascending from earth. It was a babble of sound in all tongues and on all sides of every question, hurricanes of passionate demands, winds of speech whining with wheedling words, gusts of insistent requests for special favors. Overwhelmed with it all, Michael said to God, ‘If you will allow me, Lord, I would say that you made a great mistake when you let humans learn to talk. If they were not able to talk, it would be possible then for you to know what they were really praying for.’ And God said, “I do not listen to their words. I listen only to their lives.’” Dr. Park concludes the story with this comment, “For the only prayer of mine that rises above the roof is the prayer of what I am.”
What I am, what you are, what we can be together is the sum total of how we are called to serve God. “For who sees anything different in you?” If accepting the commitment of stewardship does not result in service to others, then no difference will be seen. This year as you have received letters about stewardship you are aware that these kinds of decisions rest solely on your shoulders. No pressure will come from others. Rather, your decisions regarding stewardship are the decisions that you and all of us will have to live with in the coming year. They will be far-reaching decisions – not just relating to a church budget – although this is a challenge budget that has been put before you. They will be decisions that can make a sacramental difference in the lives of individuals and the life of a church.
What do I mean by a “sacramental difference”? A sacrament is an expression of joy and gratitude before God – the “loving God back” that we do. It is also a symbolic act of freedom. When we take communion, as we did last week, we are saying that Christ has set us free from our own egos and anxieties to be his servants. We can respond as he wants us to without worrying about public opinion or the good will of others. This is the kind of a difference that can be seen in a life which has become sacramentally-oriented. It is the kind of a life that you and I are called to lead after we have received the sacrament of baptism. Whatever meaning stewardship has for us as Christ’s servants comes out of our response to the sacraments of baptism and communion.
And so, because of our usual association of stewardship with money and giving to the church, it is important to realize that money can have a sacramental use -- if the church and individual Christians recognize this dimension to their giving. The offering, when it is received during the worship service, is not just (as it’s often referred to) “the collection” or some intermission in the worship life of the congregation. No, the offering is central to the sacramental existence of the church, for it represents the giving of the totality of our lives to the God who has given everything to us. You know, nearly every relationship in personal and public life is characterized in some manner by the exchanging of money. If then, in worship, we offer ourselves and all of our decisions, actions, and words to God, it is good that we use money as the witness to that offering. It is why, symbolically, we put the offering plates before the cross.
At times, this may seem to be an impractical and unpopular position to take. But such a stance should not worry the steward who has come under the freeing power of the sacrament. It did not worry Paul, who was unconcerned “that I should be judged by you or by any human court.” What it does mean is that to take stewardship and the sacramental use of money seriously, there will be changes in our lives – as individuals and as a church – changes which will be seen as part of a sacramental difference.
“For who sees anything different in you?” Hopefully, the world – the whole world.
Amen.
Dave Pomeroy
First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ
Las Vegas, NV
November 12, 2006