October 04, 2009

Friday night I was eating dinner with a colleague who said, Sunday I’m preaching stewardship.  “Tis the season,” I replied.  “Have you figured out how to tie it to the lessons,” came the response.  “I’m not,” I answered.  Eyebrows rose, “really?”  “Mmm, week after week I preach the lectionary, but once a year we have to talk about the care and support of the church.  God knew this was the week.  If he wanted me to make a nice, neat tie-in, he would have sent me better lessons.  You can’t make giving fit those passages.”  “So, what are you going to do?”  I’m making two compelling arguments to intelligent people and, with the grace of God, at least one of them will resonate.  Folk will follow the logic, go home and pray, and when the pledge cards arrive, they’ll put in a number and all will be well.  “Excellent plan, friend.  And what exactly are your compelling arguments?”  “Aah, there’s the social contract and there’s the word of God.”  “Social contract and word of God?  Okay, build your case. 

God created us with memory, reason and skill.  We say this every week in the Eucharist.  We were constructed as rational beings.  We see the world as it really is and we understand the operating realities.  Life on earth is an existence governed by mutual responsibility and mutual cooperation.  Life in this world functions under recognized social contract and that contract says if one consumes, one must compensate.  When one benefits from goods or services, one must offer payment in return.  In every transaction, in every relationship on the planet, this fundamental expectation is understood.  When we benefit, we compensate.  We use, we return.  We take, we repay.  This is a simple, straightforward, rational, reasonable, logical, workable system.  We don’t expect to receive goods for free.  We don’t count on folk laboring for our benefit, for the mere joy of making us happy.  We understand that as delightful as we are, someone working for the privilege of making us comfortable is insufficient reward.

Once we become adults, society demands that we pay our way.  This has been true since the dawn of our existence.  In every culture and every age, mutual responsibility is the baseline expectation.  Functioning adult human beings pay their own way.  We do not expect to be taken care of as when we were children.  Self-respect demands that we participate in the social contract.  When we take the family to Tony’s for pizza and Pepsi, we know after we eat, we’ll be paying a check.  We have no thought that the family at the next table will cover our meal.  When we sign our kids up for soccer, we expect to hand over the registration fee.  As cute as she is, as fast as she runs, we don’t really believe she’ll get to play for free.  The field must be maintained, the referees will want their time and energy and skill rewarded.

In some areas of our lives, the mutuality is not maintained on a per transaction basis.  We pay taxes to the county to maintain a working, competent fire department.  We pay every year and we pray we’ll never require their service, but if we do, we’ll want them ready and responsive.  We support, endow, and contribute to the police department, the road system, the post office and the school system.  Some of us use the services more than others, but we all take money from our personal income and give it over for the support of these essential facilities.  We participate in the social contract.  We understand our fundamental responsibility.  Our reasonable, rational, logical minds confirm – if we benefit, we must compensate.

What is true in our private expenses, what is true in our public resources, is also true in our church life.  The social contract is still in effect, even in the House of the Lord.  Because it stands on the ground in the Kingdom of Man, it is subject to human rules and manmade rules.  Therefore, we understand, if we participate in the body, we must support the body.  If we sit in a pew, we cannot expect our neighbor to pay for the heat that keeps us warm in the winter or the air that cools us in July.  If we come to the altar, we can’t expect the friend in front to buy our wafers and supply the wine our family consumes.  Fundamentally, we recognize it is inappropriate to require our brothers and sisters in the faith to pay our share of the light bill and pest control, the copier lease and lemonade.  We understand that if we were destitute, the body would rally, quickly and happily support our portion.  If we were truly compromised, the church family would move surely and steadily to help us as it has always done.  From the funds collectively gathered, mortgages and medical bills have been paid for members under financial stress.  But, as long as the Lord blesses us with enough to meet our needs, we see the reasonable benefit and good sense in adding our financial contribution to those of other members so that our life together in this faith community is sustained and encouraged.

So the argument concludes and the case is made.  If we consider St. Mark’s our faith home, the place we come for worship and fellowship, instruction and support, if this is the number we’d call to have someone come immediately to pray with us in the hospital or meet us at the courthouse or hold our hand in our last hour, then this is the place we make our pledge of financial support.  From our personal funds we give, we contribute, we compensate, and thus we participate in the established, equitable social contract. 

The second argument or treatise that we give to the upkeep and growth of the church rests on the word of God Almighty.  If you are hearing this case being made today, it’s because you believe or have a desire to believe in the power and providence of an omnipotent, benevolent, creating deity.  You are in this space, at this time, seeking connection with a mighty, supernatural force.  You hunger for support, solace, strength and acceptance from a source far greater than your own abilities and imagination.  To effect this connection, one must know and trust his word.  And the Lord God tells us many things for our health and benefit.  He tells us how to communicate with him.  He tells us how to order our lives in productive, beneficial ways.  He tells us how to order our reactions and emotions.  He tells us how to interact with our brothers and sisters in the human family.  For every situation we encounter in this life, our God offers guidance and direction.  He provides answers and comfort.  In the amazing life-giving gift of Holy Scripture and in his living, affirming gift of the church, our Lord sends us clear instruction and keys, fail safe keys, for positive, abundant life in this less than perfect world.

And in the pages of his Holy Word and in the tradition of his Holy Church, the Lord God has set down this command.  I will give you all that you need.  I make you this promise.  I will provide.  I will sustain you.  I will bless you with enough.  Trust this promise.  Trust my ability to deliver on this promise.  I give you everything you have.  It all comes from me.  The profits from your labors originate from me.  I give you 100% of what you have.  I expect you to use 90% of those blessings to build a good life for yourself and those you love.  I expect you to give 10% of those blessings, those real, tangible, financial resources to build up my kingdom on earth.  I expect you to return 10% back to me for the care of my world, for the extension of faith, for the support of belief in me.

Dear friends, this notion of 10% given to the Glory of God for his work in this world is not a marketing strategy designed by the Council of Churches.  The tithe comes straight out of the Word of God.  In passage after passage in Old Testament, from the mouth of Jesus himself in the gospel texts, from the letters and sermons of his disciples to the first Christians, God’s serious command is repeated.  All that you have comes from me.  All that you have is enough.  Use 90% with peace and confidence, return 10% to me for the good of the world.  He means us to follow this clear cut directive.

I know that level of giving is scary.  I recognize that kind of commitment seems an unrealistic stretch.  I’m well aware that most households are far away from that figure and the calculations of what would have to change to meet a tithe are daunting indeed.  I’ve been there, so I understand.  But I also know God does not call us into disaster.  When he says I’ll provide enough, he actually provides enough.  When we take that very, very scary leap of faith and write down that big, scary number for our contribution, the Lord God answers our tenuous faith and our shaky resolve.  From places we never expect, resources come.  Things we know we can’t live without pass away and month by month that larger than anticipated contribution gets paid and amazingly, surprisingly, we don’t suffer at all.  This is the true, real life experience of those folk who breathe deep, take that step to stand on the Word of God and commit to the tithe.  

The cases are made.  Whether the spirit moves us to respond to the arguments of the social contract or to the directives set down in the Word of God, we now have a decision to make.  The care and support of this body for the coming year is before us.  Today the pledge cards go out to every family who has said, “St. Mark’s is my church home.”  When they arrive, our charge is to pray to God for direction and for peace around the decision.  A good prayer offered and followed is all that’s asked or expected.  And dear ones, whatever results of our prayer and our pledges, we will go forward into our missions and all will be well.

Thanks be to God.