November 22, 2009
The Last Sunday of Pentecost (Year B)
Christ the King Sunday
2 Samuel 23:1-7; Psalm 132:1-19; Revelation 1:4b-8;
John 18:33-37
Today is Christ the King Day, the last day of Pentecost, the last week before we begin again with Advent and the new year. Today is also the week before Thanksgiving, and the week the Stewardship Committee has asked me to speak about pledging.
So wrap that all up into today’s lessons!
Truly it is not so impossible to do! For one of the things that the gospel lesson says is that the kingdom of Jesus is not of this world. And for many of us this is a wonderful distinction. We can put the things of God’s kingdom aside, like the coins with the face of Caesar on them, and give to the world its due, implying that we can keep all that apart from what we know by faith to be God’s kingdom. It’s much more than the separation of church and state; it’s the separation of holy and secular.
And we all know that as human beings, we do live and must live in the secular reality in which we find ourselves.
We can tell ourselves that God’s kingdom is not of this place, not from here. Yet I would like to suggest that as citizens of the Kingdom of God we are together responsible for this particular branch office. I have come to believe that the Kingdom of God is not a place apart from this world or this life. It is continuous, begun here certainly, but going forward forever into eternity. It is not a place apart as the gospel of John – and this passage in particular would suggest, but it is real and alive in each of us and in the practice of holiness, or “marks of citizenship” that we are able to give testimony to with our lives and ways.
If we consider the marks of holiness, what things come to mind? Surely Jesus, born, teaching, living, forgiving, healing, sacrificing, reconciling – LOVING! Jesus is the primary means we have of knowing what holiness looks like. And by knowing Jesus, not only as a historical figure or ruler of some eternal kingdom far, far off yet, to which we will belong upon arriving at the pearly gates, but as a very real and holy presence in our lives today, Jesus and all that holiness is in our hearts, in our hands, in our actions when we serve each other in Christ’s name. Jesus is our truth, the truth of holiness, selflessness, healing and love.
It’s impossible to separate that holiness and kingdom from the reality of the world here and now. Jesus didn’t do it, though he had a good time sparring with the authorities, both religious and secular who were incapable of understanding the connection! He didn’t separate the two, and neither can we. Yet, frankly, most of us would like to do just that because we would be far less accountable to God and certainly to one another.
And, good people, make no mistake: we are accountable to one another . . . not as we are accountable to God, of course, but because we are accountable to God. Here sits, in this parish, this day and every day, all the years past and all the years to come, here sits God’s own beloved people, and for this time, in these times of test, trial, fear, and hardship that mark our world right now, we are the ones most entrusted to care for each other and for this particular geographic space in God’s kingdom. We are accountable to each other in God’s name, in the name of the Kingdom of God, ruled by our king Jesus. We are the ones God has prepared and whom God will support now. It is not the people coming next, not the people who founded the church, but us, all of us, together, and between us we have the means, the skills, the knowledge, the compassion, the creativity, the will, the imagination, and, yes, the faith to do the work God has given us to do. And even more sobering we have the resources between us, all of them, spiritual, temporal, and financial to do that work.
Many years during stewardship time, we have parishioners testify about why they give to Good Shepherd and what the community means to them. We are not doing that this year although we do plan to put some of the videos we have from years past on the web site. But I have never told my pledging story, at least not publicly, and so this year I thought it might be a good time to share why I pledge the way I do.
Many years ago when I was married, we learned to tithe. We did it when we had small children, one income and not many resources. As a single mother, I was never able alone to get up to a full ten percent tithe. But since coming to Good Shepherd, I have been working my way up each year until I was very close to tithing – until this past year. This past year I let fear overtake me. I attended a Credo program for clergy planning. They look at our spiritual, working, and financial lives and help us to make better decisions. And the financial advisor told me I was pledging too much, that I needed to save more and give away less. I was stunned by that. This was a church group that was doling out such advice! But then the tension here increased, and I worried that I would not have a job, or that it would be reduced dramatically and I would lose my home, so I justified reducing my pledge.
No one really knows, I told myself – except the book keeper – how much I give because it is taken right off the top, out of my pay check. And I figured no one would really even know if I stopped. When I started thinking that way, I should have known I was using doublespeak, and smoke and mirrors to justify a very bad decision.
You see, I knew. And God knew. And after about four months of reduced giving and enjoying the real difference It made in my pay check, I once again had the greater amount taken out. It has changed me internally to do so. You probably won’t notice the difference, but I certainly do. I feel freer. I feel stronger. Frankly, I feel closer to God and more able to trust that God will indeed see to it that this community is cared for in every way, and that my part, however small, but not small minded, is a sign of my devotion to this branch office of the Kingdom of God. There may be the delusion out there in the parish that as rector I have complete control of how money is spent and where it is spent, but spending is and has always been a group decision. I speak strongly about and for what I think best serves this community – as you might imagine, but I only have one vote.
What I know is that by increasing the amount I give to this parish, back to the original “first fruit” giving before I do anything else with my paycheck, I actually do not feel as determined to protect my viewpoint, rather I am free to allow God’s viewpoint to be spoken through the community of those who work together to do the best for this congregation, those who were elected and called to it certainly, but all of us together who share our gifts and talent and skills and resources to provide for this particular expression of God’s love in this particular place. Fear is not motivating me as much. Love is. Trust in God is.
That is not to say I am not concerned about my personal finances. Who isn’t in these times? And I am very concerned, still, very concerned, about the church’s finances. But I feel free to let go and trust that through the Spirit working in and through and around all of us, that my money now given freely is my portion of helping to care for this community. That is an utterly freeing way to live.
We are responsible for the care of Good Shepherd, all of us, every single one of us. We need $250,000 in pledges to make it possible to maintain this parish, to just do the things we are doing, without creating new programs. It will allow us to hire a permanent music minister, not one with the experience, skills, and resume that we have had in the past or have, but it will allow us to find someone who would consistently be here to lead us in worship and work with our choirs.
If we have, as we did last year, one hundred and twenty-six families pledging, and we were to divide it evenly between us that would mean each of us is responsible for about $2000 a year. That is possible for some, impossible for others. Some of us give far more than that; most give far less. But our average is close to that. It is a good bench mark, something to think about when making a decision about what to give. The pledge letters are in the mail, and another will be coming to help guide you as you deliberate about what God is calling you to give this year, even in these times.
I hope that when you talk it over, pray about it, and begin to make your decision about your pledge, about your contribution to the ongoing care and work of this parish, I hope you will find the freedom that I have found in letting go. Just letting go and trusting that the way we can continue to be vibrant and alive as God’s branch office in these woods, is by trusting each other to use the resources we all provide in ways that reflect God’s kingdom and the holiness that each and every one of us contains within us. We are in this world, in the here and now, in the Kingdom of God!
And so may “holy generosity” and “holy letting go” mark all of our pledges this year, that those who are faced with or in the middle of, job loss, corporate reductions, cost cutting, and all the other economic woes that plague us from the outside, will be covered by those of us who are more fortunate. May the secular economic woes never make any difference in this oasis in the woods, as we who are able become more generous on behalf of those who are so plagued!
Amen.
The Reverend Dr. Gale Davis Morris
Church of the Good Shepherd