God’s Stewardship – sermon on June 7, 2015
Mark 4: 26-34 Jesus said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain – first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”
Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”
With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.
God’s Stewardship by Rev. Doreen Oughton
Friends I stand before you today going back on something I said to you last year. I don’t think it was framed as a promise, but more as surrender. I said I would not do another stewardship sermon. For those of you who might have missed those previous stewardship Sundays, or are not quite sure what I am talking about, the custom in many churches is to devote a Sunday or two each year to focus on giving to the church. Some take the approach of reminding people that a congregational-style church is self-supporting, owns the property, is responsible for the budget, etc. We don’t get any financial support from the denomination. And so someone might point out the importance of church members and friends contributing to support the church – its buildings, its staff, and its programs. Stewardship sermons might help people envision possibilities – the things we might do if we had more money and more people doing more things. The approach I preferred was to emphasize the importance of giving for the giver – how it is a spiritual practice, how it reminds us of our dependency on God, and connects to God’s commandments about tithing (giving 10% of income back to God) and to Jesus’ teachings on sharing. Some stewardship Sundays or seasons invite people to share why they give to the church (but never how much!). Whatever approach is taken, the invitation is to fill out a pledge card and commit to a certain level of financial support of the church in the year ahead.
Some churches use these promises to create a budget, so the amount pledged is directly connected to what happens in terms of staff salaries and benefits, building maintenance, ministries, programs and giving by the church. That is not so much the case here at FCC. We are blessed to have income from our building use, which supports over 50% of our expenses. Of course there is some connection, but it is not as strong as in some other places. Now I didn’t say we were doing away with the invitation to pledge – and hopefully you all received a pledge card with your May newsletter. If you didn’t, or you misplaced it – we have some here in the back of the Sanctuary. Next week we will do a special blessing of pledges, so if you want to bring your card then that would be great, but even if you turned it in sooner or will do so later, the blessing will be retroactive and forward active.
What I said was that I wouldn’t do a stewardship sermon, wouldn’t use this time to encourage you to give, wouldn’t put the expectation on myself or on you that I am going to have some incredibly inspiring words that would have you pouring out your money to the church and put us in a wonderful financial position. I am going to talk about stewardship today, but not your stewardship of the church. I am going to talk about God’s stewardship. Now the on-line Merriam-Webster defines stewardship as “the conducting, supervising, or managing of something; especially : the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care.” We have some wonderful scripture passages this morning that lift up the way God manages the things God created. Our responsive reading has God sharing the plan to manage the growth of the cedar trees. And our gospel passage talks about God’s stewardship of the kindom – which is likened the mystery of plant growth – beyond our comprehension or control. Remember that God is not only Creator, but Sustainer and Redeemer. God will have God’s way with what was created. We can try to take over, but we will not, ultimately, wrest control away from God. We cannot improve upon nor impede upon the ways that God stewards or manages all that God took responsibility for in the act of creation. This is our Father’s world.
Has anyone heard of the “sharing economy?” It’s a fairly new term, and what it refers to takes a variety of forms. The wide communication enabled by technology allows people, corporations, non-profits and governments to leverage information about supply and demand. So things like ride-shares, crowd-sourcing, bartering, recycling, swaps can happen more easily, work from the ground up, saving money, reducing pollution and such. Anyway, I read a reflection by Rev. David Lose who said he has some ambivalence about calling all these things “sharing.” He said though these things are convenient, time-saving and so forth, they seem in many ways just more forms of commercialism; where he’s interested in ways of operating together in society that are truly about sharing. He uses the example of National Public Radio as a truly sharing economy. NPR offers something for free – commits to doing something that makes a difference. They put out great content in the hope that listeners will appreciate and support it. David Lose is also part of a sharing economy. He writes daily reflections scripture, and in depth weekly on the lectionary gospel passage for the upcoming Sunday. He doesn’t charge a fee, but hopes that people will appreciate and support his work. He notes that churches operate this way also – they keep up the buildings, hire staff to provide worship and faith formation, give to people in need and to other programs that do good work – and hope that people in the community will appreciate and support it. There is a certain vulnerability in this. And many churches are struggling with the reality that fewer and fewer people in a community do appreciate or support it.
But as I was reading this reflection, I wondered if God’s economy is a sort of sharing economy in the way David Lose defines it. God created this incredible world, with all its natural beauty and life-giving systems and mechanisms. God created us people with these incredible minds, these bodies that are capable of so much, with sparks of creativity just like God’s, with souls that understand ancient wisdom – that know we are all connected with each other and with God. And I wonder if what God wants is for us to appreciate and support God in bringing about more love, more beauty, more truth, more joy, more wonder. I think we are built for this, and it could come quite naturally if there weren’t so much fear in the way.
It may or may not take the form of pledging money to this church, but I believe it is already happening right here, right now. You all are here for worship, to give thanks and praise to God. You are here to listen for God’s word, and to pray for one another. Those are ways we show appreciation and support for God’s wondrous gifts to us. And that is just the tip of the iceberg. Everyone here has blessed others in numerous ways, and instead of asking you to do more, to give more, I would like to lift up your part in this Divine Sharing Economy. During the Communion liturgy, I invite you to come to me for a little anointing – just a little oil on the back of your hand, along with a blessing, before you move on to receive the bread and the cup. (On behalf of this church, I thank you for all that you do and all that you are. May you hear God’s voice remind you that “you are my beloved daughter/son, and in you I am well pleased.”
