November 10, 2013

Once upon a time, there were three ambitious employees in corporate America, talking together one day over their mid-morning lattes.  As their conversation shifted from talking about things to the ever popular office gossip, the topic of the boss’ annual Christmas party came up.  Every year, the boss hosted a Christmas party at her large home, to which everyone in the company was invited.

          Remembering this upcoming party, the first employee said, “I have to go.   It’s not written in my contract, but it was made clear when they hired me that I have to go to these sorts of business functions.”

          The second employee chimed in, “I ought to go.  I never got the impression that I was required to, but it seems like the smart thing to do if you want to succeed.  I’ll be there unless something better for me comes along that night.”

          Now it was time for the third employee to comment.  “I can’t wait to go.  I love parties.  It’s a great house.  It’s fun to see the boss in a less formal setting and her family are always very gracious hosts.  The food is wonderful and I always meet some interesting people there who I never realized worked here.”

“I have to go.”  “I ought to go.”  “I can’t wait to go.”  I believe this modern day parable sums up the attitudes that many people have about much of what goes on in their lives. 

For some, everything in life seems to be mandated.  These folks go through the motions of living every day, feeling as if they are reading a script, living a life in response to the requirements of others.  And their attitudes show how much of life they begrudge, feeling that they live their lives according to the laws that others have made for them.  Doing things they have to do.

For others, the days of their lives are experienced as one set of expectations after another.  These folks live their lives doing all those things others have told them they ought to do.  They give up their freedom for the safety of conformity and predictability.  Choices in daily life are based on a set of unspoken assurances.  “Do the right thing and you’ll live life with a minimum of trouble.”  And their attitudes reflect the safety and conformity as well as the resentment they have chosen to live by.    Doing things they ought to do.

And then there are those who live life open to the daily wonders and joys, and who have nurtured a thankful heart.  Those who make daily choices based not on obligations or expectations, but on meeting their own needs, following their own bliss, or in their understanding of faithful living.  Who seem to seek out and pursue in life that which brings them satisfaction and meaning and who seem to find joy in much of what others experience as routine.  Doing things they can’t wait to do.

To me, in many ways, this modern day parable, spells out the attitudes of many regarding the questions of stewardship in their everyday lives.  “I have to, I ought to, I want to.”  And how one approaches the question of stewardship reveals so much about the rest of our lives. 

For the “I have to’s,” giving is done out of a sense of requirement and is usually joyless.   It is experienced more as a burden than a privilege.  And in many ways, nothing much is really truly given.  For no matter the size of the gift, the gift offered because it is required is not offered with a thankful heart, and as a result, no matter how big or small, it’s true worth is diminished.

For the “I ought to’s,” giving is done out of a sense of duty and while this is an improvement and reveals a certain level of responsibility, it is still a long way from giving with a generous heart.  Theirs is obligatory giving.  It lacks joy and caring, hope and a spirit of investment.  It is done out of sense of meeting the expectations of others rather than out of a spirit of enthusiasm and compassion. 

For the “I can’t wait to’s,” giving is done with a spirit of thanks and is joyful giving.  It feels like a privilege and it warms the hearts of both the giver and the receiver.  There is a sense of anticipation and hope in joyful giving as well as a sense of confidence that the gift will make a difference in the life of the one who will receive it.   (Gleaned from “A Christian Attitude Toward Money” by Alexander Stewart.)

I invite you to find yourself on that spectrum today.  It is my hope that by the time we conclude worship this morning; you may find yourself moving elsewhere on this spectrum which spans from seeing giving as a requirement, to giving as a duty, to seeing giving as an act of thanks.

As we each give thought in these days about the resources and amount of time we will invest in and commit ourselves to in the many ministries we share in at Spring Glen Church next year, I want to offer for your reflection this morning, some of the ideas which have shaped and influenced my theology of stewardship over the years.  I offer them as the illustrations and ideas which have fed me over the years in the hopes that they may deepen and enrich your understandings and faith.

          The Sermon on the Mount is considered by many to be the most influential speech in human history.  Mahatma Gandhi called it the most important influence in his life and several years ago, I heard Mortimer Adler, the first editor of the Encyclopedia Britannica, call it the “most revolutionary speech” he had ever heard.  This morning, we hear a portion of that sermon, which includes Jesus’ remarks on giving.  Words which reminds us to take stock in life of what we possess and of what possess’ us.  And Jesus’ thoughts on this conclude with the words that sum up what stewardship is all about, “for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  Or as one pastor puts it so well, “The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.”  (Peterson, The Message, p. 20)

One of the spiritual disciplines I use in sermon preparation is to read the Scripture that I will be preaching on just before I go to bed and then again, as soon as I awake.  The other morning, I read these lessons early in the day, as I was making coffee and preparing to take my dog Snuba for her morning walk.  As we came back from our time down the street, I picked up the Hartford Courant, poured a cup of coffee, and opened up the paper to read it.  And as I started to sort out the sections and figure out which to read first, Jesus’ words took on new meaning.  I think one measure of where your treasure is can be determined by which section of the morning newspaper you read first.  For many years for me, that was the sports section, sad to say.  Then for several years, when tensions were escalating in the world, it was the editorial and op-ed pages.  There was a time when it was the business section, with a quick glance and figuring in my head, how the monies I have invested in the stock market are performing.  I’m not going to tell you which section of the paper I read first these days.  I’ll leave that for your speculation, but I will ask you to give thought to the priority in which you sort out the morning news each day. 

And since for many, a morning newspaper is no longer part of their routine, I would ask you to ask yourself, “What time of the day do you first think about God?”  “How long into the day do you go before giving thought to the One who has blessed you with life?”  “For where your treasure is, your heart will be also.  And the place where you want to be is the place you’ll end up being.”

One of the core ingredients in faithful giving is the idea of the “first fruits.”  This idea is first spoken of in Moses’ lengthy speech found in Exodus.  And the concept of first fruits is this.  You bring to God as your offering the choicest of your first fruits.  As your fruit tree begins to bud, blossom and develop fruit, you pick the choicest, the best; the fruit with no blemish, no worm digging out, and that is the fruit you bring to offer to God.  While this idea of offering the first fruit has much to teach us as to how our ancestors gave, perhaps more demanding to us in this day and age is not so much the idea of the perfection of the first fruit, but that it came first.  An offering was made to God before anyone else ate from that tree.  An offering was made to God of good fruit and good fruit first. 

Think for a moment of what it means to make your offering to God first in a world without Doppler 3000, which warn us of storms coming days ahead of time, storms which could very likely destroy the crops and the trees themselves.  And of what it might be like to live in a land where you are dependent on the fruit trees blossoming on time in order to survive.  And the threat that there may be a storm brewing that could destroy them all.  Think of what it means to make your offering to God first in a land without refrigeration or any of the other modern means which we have of storing and preserving food.  Think of what it means to make your offering to God first, living in a nomadic culture, being part of a heritage which has recently included living in a desert for 40 years and of living in a land encircled by your enemy.  The faith in God that fueled our ancestors was experienced by them on so many levels that may be foreign to us today.  And I, for one, am humbled as I look at how I live as a steward of God’s blessings today.

I believe that in this day and age, and in this land of such abundance and deeply ingrained blessings, charitable giving needs to have a special priority in our lives.  I believe we need to reclaim for ourselves this notion of “first fruits” giving.  Charitable giving, whether it be to the local church or other groups, needs to be “first fruits” giving and it needs to be proportional giving.  And today, I would ask some of you and I would challenge others, to do your homework in the days to come.  To look and see what percentage of your income you give away for the benefit of others.  As you do that, to also take a spiritual inventory, listing all that you have been blessed with beyond your deserving.  And to figure out for yourself and your family, what percentage you choose to commit yourself to giving away, either through the offerings gathered in this place of worship or by supporting other worthy charities. 

And as you do that, take note of the spirit in which it is offered.  Obligation, duty or thanksgiving?   And if it’s not offered in a spirit of thanksgiving, take your spiritual inventory again. 

          In the end, we give to the church and other charities for one of three reasons—fear, guilt or thanksgiving.  “Have to, ought to, want to”   The God who is revealed to us in Jesus Christ is a summoning and an inviting God.  Jesus seldom threatens those who seek to follow with fear or shame them with guilt.  But time and time again, he calls us as he called others.  To look at our lives and to ask ourselves, “Can we be anything but thankful?” 

          When we gather here on November 24th, in the course of worship, we will gather in our pledges for 2014.  It is my hope that the pledges gathered on that day will reflect a spirit of thanksgiving for the blessings of life known to date, a spirit of hope for the blessings that we will know in the days to come, and a spirit of caring that others may know the good news we glory in each day.

          May God bless us each with a rich spirit of discernment as in the days to come, we seek to know just where our treasure is, and where our hope will be.  Amen.