Receiving Grace Upon Grace

Scriptures: John 1:14-18

“From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” Do you truly believe this affirmation from the gospel writer John, deep, deep down in your heart of hearts? Because if you do then I really don’t have to go on with a stewardship sermon and we can just get on with the congregational meeting. For, after all, if you do believe that you have received from our God grace after grace after grace, then you will respond with what goes on that stewardship pledge card. Do you truly believe that you have received grace upon grace? (I’m a bit tempted here to pull a Wendy from “Peter Pan” and ask everyone who believes in the miracle of grace to clap their hands and then this little church would come alive…..but that would be trivializing the important ministry that stewardship is all about.)

And, of course, as you’ve probably already guessed, I’m not going to stop here…..although this is going to be a shorter sermon than usual. (OK, stop all that cheering.)

You recall back in 1992 Bill Clinton had as a sign on his campaign team’s wall the slogan that became the centerpiece of his campaign: “It’s the economy, stupid!” Well, as the inserts in our bulletin have been reminding us these past few weeks, “It’s God, not the economy!” It’s God, not the economy, who reminds us of our abundance. It’s the Bible, not the budget, that calls our church to faithfulness. It’s God, who is the source of all resource, who inspires creative uses of our finances, our time, our energy, and our enthusiasm. Yes, we’ve weathered some tough times these past two years as the economy has tanked, and you and I and everyone here has felt the tremors of this financial tsunami. But nevertheless, but nevertheless…..”It’s God, not the economy!”

It’s no wonder, is it, that the hymn writer called it amazing grace. We stand in awe of what our great God has so freely given to us. Yet, sometimes we forget to feel that awe. As a prayer of confession says in one of the litanies written for this day: “forgive us, O God, when we answer your grace upon grace with grumble after grumble about cutbacks, shortfalls and limited resources. Forgive us when we answer your grace upon grace with grim predictions and grudging giving. Forgive us when we grip reality so tightly, we cannot loosen up to receive your surprises and possibilities…..”

I’d also like to quote from another of those bulletin inserts you received – a marvelous passage from the Rev. Dr. Ozzie Smith Jr., who, I gather, is not the son of the famous St. Louis Cardinals shortstop, but rather, according to his bio is a “gifted, leader, teacher, virtuoso, maestro, scholar, theologian, professor, revivalist, activist, entrepreneur, counselor, friend”, and founding pastor of the Covenant United Church of Christ in South Holland IL. Whew. Well, I tell you he really made stewardship come alive for me, and I hope he will for you. Dr. Smith says: “I have been to more than a few board meetings lately where the economy dominates conversation — each meeting seems to want to send the hungry away from its called mission. There seems to be much kneejerk reaction to the economy, but little kneebent response to the economy. It seems that the Bible has been replaced by the budget. Has God run out of resources, too? Is God frightened by the market? Did not God create both the bull and the bear? Did David not say in Psalm 23, ‘The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want?’ Remember when Jesus fed a crowd with just five loaves of bread and two fish? Grace multiplies: grace upon grace. Yet it seems to me that we as a people of faith are missing the grace and have come to see the loaves and fishes as an insufficient snack. Do we see the fish and loaves as is or as if? Can we hear Jesus say, ‘You give them something to eat’? Jesus is making an as if statement — as if God is still able to do something, as if God is not broke!”

We know that our God is not broke, but sometimes we act as if we’re not quite sure if that is true. Well, here is our opportunity to act as if we know that it is true and to share with one another and with those hurting in the world the grace upon grace upon grace which we have received – the resources that we have been given to minister to the world in Jesus’ name.

I’d like you to take out your pledge card and just hold it for a moment – and whether or not you’ve already filled it out reflect for a moment on all the resources that you have and all the ways in which they are used to multiply the grace in your experience through expenditures of home, family, other gifts of charity, the paying of monthly bills, cautious savings and sweet extravagances. [pause]

The resources that we have allow us to make choices, and so we are able to ask God’s blessings on all of the choices that we make about money – not just what we do with Sunday money, but also with our Monday through Saturday money.

The gospel writer John was testifying to this tremendous thing that had come not only into his life but into the whole world – “the Word became flesh and lived among us…..grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” That word in Greek was “logos” which established the fundamental order of the cosmos, and thus Jesus is identified as co-creator with God through whom all things are made. No wonder John found in Jesus the resource for all that is, for all that we have been given, for all the good that comes into our lives – “we have all received grace upon grace.” No other affirmation than this could be possible when face-to-face with that Word – that logos – who makes all things new.

Would you join me in prayer as we prepare for our time of stewardship: Bless, O God, all the financial resources that will pass through our hands in the year to come. May our planning be wise, our spending be faithful, our giving be joyful and our saving offer peace of mind. Remind us always to be sensitive to the needs of those who have less than we do, and let justice and compassion guide our giving and our spending. We give thanks for the work of those who prepare our budget and ask your blessing upon its structure and its flexibility. We give thanks for those who accept the responsibility to manage our church’s finances in the year to come. We also lift before you this morning the grace we receive and give in time, prayer, skill, energy and participation. Each of us pledges these presents of presence as well as our gifts of money. Amazing grace – as we give, we are not less, but blessed.

Amen.

Dave Pomeroy

First Congregational Church/United Church of Christ
Las Vegas, NV
November 8, 2009