Dear People of St. John’s,

     A little girl asked her mother for a dollar to give to an old lady in the park.  Her mother was touched by the child’s kindness, and gave her a crisp one dollar bill.

     “There you are, my dear,” said the mother.  “But, tell me, isn’t the lady able to work?”

     “Oh, yes,” the child said.  “She sells candy.”  And off she skipped.

     We give to lots of causes.  Some may be more legitimate than others; some may be a bit of a scam.  In an age of identity theft, corporate greed, and mass appeals for desperately needed assistance that mostly goes for overhead, we may be tempted to hang on to it all.  We may even be tempted to apply such thinking to our giving to the church.  After all, it does not always do what I think it should.  Certain positions are espoused by entities higher up with which I do not agree.  The vestry or rector are not doing what I think they should, or they are doing what I think they should not be doing.  Perhaps I can influence and correct this waywardness by withholding my money?  I can treat my giving to the church the same as I do to a political party.

My only response to such thinking is to say that it leads straight to hell!  Giving to the church, which begins at the level of the tithe, simply states our agreement that none of it is ours from the very beginning.  It all belongs to God.  Returning the first fruits is not our giving something we own for some cause vaguely connected with God.  It is giving back to God what was God’s all along.   

          Our relationship to God in Christ, personal though it is designed to be, is nevertheless intended to be lived out in community.  Our theology has taught us that the community most suited for adding the necessary flesh, bone, and body to that community is the continuing incarnation of Jesus the Christ which we call the Church.  We have grown so accustomed to the Church being there when we need it; seeing it as part of our tradition and heritage that we have been lulled into bad theology.  We have not always treated it with the reverence and respect it deserves; not because of what it does but because of what it is.

     Let me be as clear as possible with my own theology.  I remind each one of us, myself most of all, that God’s creation does not belong to us.  My benediction every Sunday contains those very words.  The Church does not belong to us, either.  In every place, in whatever shape, by whatever expression, and in whatever liturgy or lack thereof, the Church belongs to Jesus the Christ!  We are loved enough, trusted enough, to exercise stewardship over the spiritual and temporal manifestations of the Church where we are.  But, be not deceived; should we fail in that stewardship, the Church of Jesus the Christ continues.  The gates of hell cannot prevail against it!

We may not recognize it, but as long as it is being led by the Holy Spirit, it will be the Church.

     I must tell you how distraught I was to learn at the September vestry meeting that we are more than $22,000 behind in 2006 pledge payments.  Is it that some of you don’t care?  Is it that you give to the church as an afterthought?  Are some of you wrongly thinking you can influence decisions by not honoring your pledge?  I don’t know the reason; no one has shared with me a concern about where we are or what’s going on.  Therefore, my feeling is that nothing I have said has been heard.  I have failed miserably with stewardship education.  But, as long as I am the rector here and as long as your letter of membership is here, I will say again: you will not grow spiritually and reach that place where what you have does not define who you are until you turn all that over to God and reestablish that sacred space between self and possessions, which is where God can meet us.

     On October 29^th, Stewardship Sunday, we will be given an opportunity to pledge to the work of this congregation.  The needs of this congregation continue to grow.  We have been placed in the vineyard and asked to serve as stewards.  I hope you will remember that tithing is not something we have to do.  In the same way that we do not have to worship together, we do not have to pray together, nor do we have to give.  We are allowed to do those things by the grace and love of a God great enough to give us that kind of freedom.  We are not puppets on a string.  We are given freedom to make crucial choices.  God will not violate our personality and God will not crash our party.  God in Christ operates in, around, under, and through us on the basis of invitation only.

     Yes, I believe God in Christ desires to be included, involved in every area of our life.  God wishes to be consulted before we decide a particular course of action.  Making a decision about tithing, agreeing to pledge for the work of the Church, consciously moving to a higher level of sacrificial giving should be done only after thoughtful prayer.  If others are affected by our level of giving, they should be involved in the discussion and decision. 

     Should we conclude that God is leading us to make a leap of faith, God will also help us see that we will lack nothing because of that decision.  Giving until it feels good always make better sense than giving until it hurts.

     A politician asked a ministerial association what he might do to help churches.  An older minister said, “Outlaw the one-dollar bill.”  Maybe make just a few for little girls who might want to help a little old working lady by buying her candy. 

                                                                      Peace