November 22, 2009
Grace Church
Rev. Robert E. Hensley

2 Samuel 23:1-7; Psalm 132:1-13, [14-19]; Revelation 1:4b-8; John 18:33-37

      Let us pray.  Changeless King Jesus, beginning and end, receive us, as we turn to you. Bend your ear to our prayers.  Changeless King Jesus, our great High Priest, bring our prayers before God, in the presence of the Spirit.  Changeless King Jesus, the sacrificial Lamb, sash us clean, in your redeeming blood.  Changeless King Jesus, author and finisher of our faith, guide us to our eternal home.  Changeless King Jesus, victor over death, come to us once more, and make your dwelling among us.  Amen. 

      Although it doesn’t appear in the Globe, one of my favorite comic strips of all time is “Shoe”.   I think it is a great comic strip.  It tells the adventures of a bird named Shoe who is the editor of a newspaper.  Cosmo, a regular character in the strip, is a reporter for the paper, and Roz, another bird character, owns and operates a greasy spoon diner. 

      In one of the strips years ago, Cosmo is seated at his typewriter…which should give you some idea how long ago I am talking about, while he is seated at the lunch counter in Roz’s diner.   Roz is saying to him, “Yup.  It takes a lot of hard work to make a dream a reality.”  “You bet,” Cosmo agrees.   But in the final frame of the strip he adds, “It’s a lot easier to make a dream a delusion.” 

      In many ways, all of us here at Grace are working on a dream.  That is, we have been trying to work on a meaningful stewardship experience that will give this congregation, this parish, an opportunity to continue to excel…to continue to be faithful…to continue to live into our ministry and mission.  Through this dream we have the opportunity to have a profound impact on the lives of the people in this congregation, in our Preschool, and into the wider community.  That’s right…you got it…to have a profound impact on our lives. 

      And Roz’s words ring true:  It takes a lot of hard work on the part of a lot of people to make a dream a reality. 

      It also takes continuous prayer. 

      It takes continuous presence. 

      It takes consistent gifts. 

      It takes caring service.

      There is absolutely no question in my mind that Roz is absolutely right. 

      But in my experience, Cosmo’s cynical statement also rings with truth.  For it is a lot easier to make dreams into a delusion than into a reality.  But I must also add that while it may be easier, it is not nearly as fulfilling.  So, there you have it:  Roz or Cosmo?  It is my deepest desire that our vision and dreams of excellence and relevance become reality, not a delusion.  And for that to happen: 

      All of us are going to have to work very hard as best we are able. 

      All of us must respond proportionally to the blessings which God has bestowed upon this community of faith. 

      All of us must generously support this place which forms and shapes the values that carry us through times of difficulty and times of celebration. 

      And speaking of comic strips, I want to remind you of the old strip Calvin and Hobbes.  As you may recall, Calvin is a little boy with a very over-active imagination.  Calvin’s stuffed tiger “Hobbes”  comes to life in Calvin’s mind. 

      In one of the classic strips, Calvin remarks to Hobbes that, “I am sorry that I called Susie those names and hurt her feelings.  I’m sorry I did that.”  To which Hobbes replies, “Well, maybe you should apologize to her.”  Calvin thinks about it for a moment and then says, “I keep hoping that there is a less obvious solution.” 

      When it comes to stewardship…when it comes to money…when it comes to generous giving to support the church…when it comes to financially undergirding the vision and dreams that are totally possible in this congregation…when it comes to the hard work of giving to the church in a generous, proportional, disciplined and consistent manner – we find ourselves wanting to be more like Calvin than the poor widow about whom I preached a couple of weeks ago that gave into the Temple treasury everything that she had. 

      So I want to encourage you this morning to take a bold step toward making dreams a reality in this community of faith.  When it comes to giving to the Church, I am here to prompt you to move from Calvin’s attitude of “hoping there’s a less obvious solution” to the poor widow’s example of extravagant giving. 

      You might think that this is a stewardship sermon specifically for this Ingathering Sunday…a sermon about asking church members and friends for money.  If that is what you are thinking, then you are wrong.  I am not preaching a stewardship sermon…I am preaching a sermon on this Feast of Christ the King about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I’m hoping to give you something of the word of the Lord.  So my sermon is not intended as a way to get money from you to keep the institutional church afloat.

      My words are my best attempt this morning to prayerfully discern and share with you what the Bible has to say to us today and to consider your personal response to what we are each asked to do as followers of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

      During the offertory we will each have an opportunity to bring forward our financial pledge cards and place them in the basket before the altar.  The intention of the pledge card is, as it has always been, a way for you to think intentionally about the gifts that God has given you and to respond proportionally to the Church. 

      Now you have obviously had some time to think about this since the letter was mailed out several weeks ago now.  You received the letter and have listened to some exceptional testimony during our stewardship moments these last few weeks.  You are no doubt aware of the possibilities for this church.  There are a number of opportunities and hopes and dreams for this coming year which we all have been sharing and I am sure that you all have feelings about that.   

      But I ask you: 

      Did you come to church this morning having already confronted your “Calvin attitude” about giving to the church?  

      Did you come with the attitude of the widow that Jesus observed as she dropped her two coins into the Temple treasury? 

      Did you come with an answer to the question, “How much is enough?” 

      Maybe some of you struggle with this:  “Calvin or the widow…or somewhere in between?” 

      Maybe you have been trying to figure all of this out and perhaps you have put off making a decision until this morning. 

      Maybe you plan on giving in a generous, sacrificial way once you have paid off your mortgage or your credit card debt, or when you have doubled your present income, or when the kids and grandkids have all gotten through college. 

      Maybe you plan to step up your giving to the tithing level or even higher once you have more discretionary income or even when your level of giving doesn’t’ force you to sacrifice the little luxuries to which you have come to enjoy. 

      Maybe you think that you give to a lot of good causes and that you have a lot of bills to pay and that it seems that the church is doing okay without your having to give any more of your money. 

      Maybe you rationalize that you don’t have to pay dues to belong to the church. 

      And maybe you figure that one day, when you have enough, you will just turn in an estimate that will allow for Grace Church to expand its mission work, ministry and outreach into the surrounding community. 

      A long time ago in a small town in Italy there lived a priest who was dearly loved in his community.  In due time it became necessary for him to step back from his regular duties and to take life a little easier in his old age.  Several of his parishioners said, “We have no extra money with which to make Father’s life a little easier, but we do have several wineries in town, and each of us has a little wine that we could spare.”  So they found a large wine barrel which several of the men hauled around from house to house in the village, and into which everyone poured a little of their own wine until the barrel was filled. 

      They then presented the barrel to the old priest, whose eyes filled with tears over their generosity.  Several evenings later, the old priest, remembering their generosity and kindness, decided to have some wine with his dinner.  As he filled the spigot, his glass was filled not with wine, but with water!  You see, everyone had thought that his or her water would not be noticed in such a large barrel filled with wine. 

      The point to this story being that everything that each of us gives is important. 

      When I was a child I received 25 cents a week as an allowance, as long as I completed my daily chores without complaining.  My parents taught me to value that allowance, and out of that I was expected to give something out of that income to the church.  They seldom gave me additional money to put in the offering plate…I was expected to make my offering to the church out of my income, just the same as they made their offering out of their income. 

      As I was growing up I loved the church because I felt loved and valued by the church.  And so I gave the church 10 cents every Sunday…that’s all of $5.20 a year.  It might have cost the church almost as much to provide me with offering envelopes, Sunday School attendance pins and the like than I was putting in the offering plate each week.   

      But you know something?  Here we are fifty years later and I still love the church…warts and all…and, most days at least, I still feel loved and valued by the church.  And thankfully I make a little more now than 25 cents a week. 

      In our deanery clergy meetings we are constantly talking about issues of economic and environmental stewardship and how we each work to support the church, not just in financial ways.  And I am committed to continue giving to the church at a proportional level just as I was all those years ago, because I know that my gift, my gifts, are important.  I know that what I give can make a significant difference in the life and witness of this parish. 

      Because I know that what I give can and does touch any number of lives through outreach, both locally and through the diocese and beyond.  It makes a difference through Christian education, the youth group, our music program, spiritual development, corporate worship, and everywhere our hospitality is shared, particularly during the coming long, dark winter months. 

      In studying scripture, I have learned that, like the widow who gave all that she had, giving myself, all of myself, to God, is not only important, it is essential to who and what I am.  Did you know that there are 2,350 passages in the Bible that talk about money, by far and away the most pervasive topic in all of scripture?  Jesus knew that money defines a significant part of who we are – that money often establishes the boundaries of our self-understanding. 

      Why do you think it is that Jesus took money so seriously? 

      Is it because Jesus does not want us to enjoy the finer things in life? 

      Should we not have any fun? 

      Should we feel guilty when we spend any money on ourselves? 

      The answer is “no”.  Jesus wants us to live our life and to live it to the fullest. 

      Jesus threw great parties, affirmed the extravagance that was lavished on him by the woman who anointed his feet with expensive perfume, turned water into wine and brought the dead back to life.  I believe that God wants us to be completely happy, and there’s only one way for that happen:  we must give ourselves completely to Jesus Christ, just as we are and just where we are – even financially –  and then Jesus makes us new, makes us into the fully new creations that God intends for us to be. 

      There was a little boy sitting in church with his family when the offering plates were being passed around.  When the plate came down the row in which he was setting, he took the plate, sat it down on the floor, and then got up and stood in it.  Somewhat embarrassed and mortified his mother looked at him and asked in a startled whisper, “What are you doing?”   He looked at his mother and confidently replied, “Just what the minister is asking…I am giving all of myself to God.” 

      At least metaphorically I am going to ask each of you this morning to do exactly what that little boy did…exactly what the widow at the Temple did two weeks ago…even what Jesus did – put your entire self in that basket this morning along with your pledge card.  We are called to do this not so that we give up anything, but so that we will gain everything. 

      In the Gospel, Jesus lifts up the example of sacrificial giving on the part of the poor widow as an example of how we should handle our money.  You will recall that all of the rich people were right up front and giving what they would not even miss…but because the widow gave such a high percentage of everything that she had, she is exalted.  Jesus said that she had given more than all of the others combined. 

      But Jesus’ observation is not merely about percentages.  The woman gave more because she gave herself.  When you give yourself to Jesus Christ you will be transformed, and you will continue to become that new creation that God intends for you to be.  It may not be instantaneous, but you will know that it is happening as a result of two symptoms: 

      The idea of mere happiness will seem trivial to you because you will receive joy, and 

      The question, “How much is enough” will start to lose its meaning.   

      Yes, Roz, it does take some hard work to make a dream become reality, and No, Calvin; there is not a less obvious solution.    People of Grace…are you up for the challenge?  Amen.