Tom Lenhart

Sermon October 15, 2006

“Stewardship: Making a Difference”

Mark 10: 17-31 and 1 Peter 7-11

Let us pray.

 I was given this baseball bat recently when I told an experienced ministerial colleague that I was preaching my first stewardship sermon. He insisted that the baseball bat was the modern liturgical symbol for stewardship. Though some of you may feel as if over the years you have been figuratively and literally smacked over the head about pledging, I have checked with the major liturgical experts and the baseball bat is unfortunately not a recognized stewardship symbol so I will put it away, but I will keep it handy!  In all seriousness, Stewardship Sunday is, at least for me, not about hectoring anyone with respect to pledging or giving. I would not presume to tell anyone other than myself how precisely to respond to this church’s stewardship request. What you give is a personal matter that at best is informed by your life situation and your faith.

What I think Stewardship Sunday is truly about is focusing on that over which we are stewards. The Greek word oikonomos that is translated “steward” is made up of two parts – one is a word that means “house”, and the other that means “to oversee”.  A steward is, thus, one who is placed over a house, and stewardship is the act of overseeing, managing and sustaining that house. {I am preaching from the balcony not as a gimmick today but because for this one Sunday I don’t really want you to look at me. But rather I want you to look around at your church--this building, the people in it, and its symbols. Stewardship is really about what you see – about this house of God.  It is about what you understand this Church to be and your role in overseeing and supporting it.

            Today’s gospel text from Mark was not the one I originally planned on for this Sunday. As the church office will attest, I changed my mind after the bulletin was prepared in draft. The passage from Mark that Van just read is the lectionary text for this week. As I read and reread it in preparation for our bible study class, I became   convinced that -- in combination with our passage from first Peter -- it provided a way to think about stewardship. The passage is the famous one about the rich man’s efforts to get into heaven. It contains that most familiar of lines, informing us “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

 So I suspect some of you are saying what does this have to with stewardship?  Rest assured there are no stewardship baskets at the back of the church with signs saying “this way to heaven, please place all money, credit cards and check books here.” This passage does, however, challenge us, but not quite in the way it literally seems. Let’s look at it. It is about discipleship. In Jesus’ day what did that mean? It meant following Jesus literally. Discipleship meant leaving home and occupation – think of those fishermen who one day left their nets and boats and walked away, not even returning home to pack. It meant becoming itinerant –walking the dusty roads of Galilee with Jesus--sleeping often outside or on the floor, and being dependent upon the hospitality of other followers.

Is it surprising that Jesus tells the rich young man to sell everything? He could not follow Jesus on that continuing journey and bring with him the barrels of salt, frankincense and all the other items that signaled his wealth. This was a good man, however, who came to Jesus – one who had been obedient to the law all his life. He was also   hard working or else it is unlikely that he would have accumulated riches.  This same story is in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. They refer to the visitor as the rich young man or ruler. In all of these gospel accounts this man is identified by and with riches.[1] He isn’t the “lawful young man”’ who follows the commandments or the “hard working young man” who has been rewarded for his hard work; no, he is the rich young man. And in that description is a key to this passage. For you see, contrary to some interpretations I do not see this as the condemnation of wealth per se any more than I see it as a paean to poverty.  As Barbara Brown Taylor, an Episcopal rector, said in discussing this passage   from Mark, “the Kingdom of God is not for sale. The poor cannot buy it with their poverty any more than the rich can buy it with their riches.” It is not that the young man has riches but that he is defined by them.  The proof of this is, of course, in his inability to give them up. The point of this passage is that wealth can become the thing in itself. His fixation on riches was a barrier to discipleship. As good as the rich young man was, the possession of things – riches –was more important than following Jesus. The issue is, thus, not wealth per se but those things which we allow to separate us from discipleship and faith.  In our day and age it often is wealth as we fall victim to the need for the latest riches that are “somehow essential.” The list of such riches is long, from powerful cars, to designer outfits, to ever more sophisticated electronic equipment that allows us to be constantly tethered to a world beyond ourselves, to the newest sporting equipment that will give us better control, more power and greater touch all in one. Of course, in this age it is not just things that separate us from discipleship, but a desire for power and/or a need for status, among other matters.

Our text, however, focuses on riches, so I shall as well. If Jesus is not really telling us that we must give up all our riches what is he saying? He is saying what matters is how you use them. The acquisition of things and riches cannot be the goal of one’s life. John Chrysostom, the 4^th century saint, said, “Recall that money is like water. It goes bad if it stands still.”[2] More recently one of my former ministers put it this way, “Money is worth nothing in your pocket. It has worth only in terms of what you can exchange it for.”[3] Jesus is telling us that our assets -- our riches  -- are not ends in themselves; they are not to be worshiped and hoarded and accumulated, but are to be used as vehicles of discipleship. They are to be exchanged for things that matter.  It is not that we must sell everything, but that we must use what we have in service – that is, to make a difference. And in using what we have we, of course, must keep enough to continue in our discipleship.

Why should we do this -- use our riches in service? It is not because it will assure us of eternal life and entering the Kingdom of Heaven. Those concerns may not weigh heavily on our modern, sophisticated minds, but for Mark’s audience they did, for they were being persecuted by Nero. The hereafter was literally just a stone’s throw – a stoning – away for them. But Jesus reminds even that audience that all things are possible for God. God’s promise of life eternal is not earned; it is granted as a matter of grace. The kingdom may await even a rich man. No, the reason we should use our riches and talents in service -- is that is what it means to follow Jesus. The reward is in the act. To serve is to be a steward of God’s grace to us. 

A friend tells the story of a group of high school students from a well-to-do community in Massachusetts – not dissimilar to this one. That church youth group went on a work retreat to Appalachia to help a family put an addition on a house and to help to bring electricity to another home. As my friend said, more than anything else these kids “brought themselves – they laughed, worked and prayed with those mountain folks.”⁴ What they said when they returned is revealing “We came to Appalachia expecting to spread love to our neighbors who [were] less fortunate than ourselves. We weren’t prepared for what we got in return. I felt more love and peace from the people I met and friends I made than I ever imagined.”⁵ And another said “I’ll never forget the wonderful feeling they gave me when they opened their hearts and let us share their lives.”[4] The lesson is that discipleship – making a difference -- is transforming for those who are helped and served but in the process of service we too are transformed. As Peter said in his letter, “Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, (and I would add of the riches and talents that we have received from our Creator) serve one another with what ever gift each of you has received.

We live in a world in which there is much positive, important service. There are wonderful organizations that need our time and riches to help them find the cure for diseases, provide shelter to the homeless, protect the vulnerable, and lift the shackles of poverty from the shoulders of the different and the excluded.  They warrant our support. But in these final moments I want to talk about this church and how it makes a difference.  That is why, I think, you will agree that it warrants your generous support. Let’s start with the Cross above the altar. Look at it. It represents – the ultimate gift by God of his Son to us -- a gift that turned defeat into victory and gave us new life. But look at the Cross again. In its form it symbolizes why the church is different from those other worthy service organizations. Essentially, the Cross is two pieces of wood – one running vertically and the other horizontally. And in that geometry lurks what makes us different and how we as a church make a difference. The vertical piece reminds us that this place is about our connection to God. How do we do that? In many ways but certainly, I submit, we do that through worship. Think about those varied times you have been in this sanctuary.  At its best, worship challenges us to explore faith and the meaning of life and to think about what is important and what is not. It also recharges our spiritual batteries and re-centers our moral compasses.

Some years ago I was interviewing a whistle blower – a senior officer in a company-- who had finally gone to the outside directors to reveal a fraud. I asked why he had finally come forward. Among the factors that lead him to that moment was a Sunday service he had attended. It helped him to reset his moral compass to do what he needed to do despite the consequences. There are moments in our lives when we struggle with what to do in our work and in our personal lives. Worship in all its aspects -- in prayer, scripture and sermons -- helps us to make those decisions in a more faithful way by connecting us to God.

Worship also at times opens us to the healing touch of God when we walk through our own dark valleys. And worship uplifts us – it connects us with a loving creator who has given us much for which to be thankful. I become especially aware of that when I hear our choir and our wonderful organ. In music the divine is often made present in my life, perhaps also in yours. Worship, I believe, makes a difference.

But our Cross also has a horizontal piece that reflects our interconnectedness to each other. Look around you to your friends and neighbors in the pews. We are all part of a community that makes a difference in each other’s lives.  Think about the children who were just here. Through Christian education this church provides resources of information and ideas that help enable our children and even those of us who are adults to make hard decisions and to navigate through those inevitable disappointments that touch all of us somewhere on our journey. But it is not simply ideas, ideals and stories that we impart to our children. It is the awareness that they are respected, valued and loved by this faith community, and by God. In this world, that is important beyond words.

Nearly twenty years ago my family and I went on a retreat that intentionally sought to mix families with young children with the church’s senior members. One of the activities that weekend was a trust walk. Now a trust walk involves one person being blindfolded while another leads the one blindfolded through an obstacle course, or in this case around the edge of a lake. The catch is that after the one person has been lead around the two roles are reversed. So it was that I watched my 9 year-old son lead a 73-year-old man around this lake perilously close to the edge of the dock and around various obstacles.  And then I watched the scene reversed with all of the same perils approached but ultimately avoided. But what was memorable is how the two of them bonded and not simply for the weekend. Years later when my shy teenager was forced to attend coffee hour he would gravitate to his older friend and they would share a few words.  They had a special bond of friendship, trust and respect. So too, I expect, it is here with some confirmands and their mentors.  Church does make a difference.

Think also about the fellowship opportunities that the church provides -- the Barn Sale, Art Auction, dinners and, yes, Pastor’s Pancake breakfasts – where friendships are forged and renewed. After 4 months here it is quite clear to me that we are wonderful at providing community for each other.  I am reminded of the story of the lost toddler. She had wandered off from a farm in the Midwest and become lost in a maze of cornfields. Dozens of people looked for her to no avail. Then a woman said let us link arms and walk through the fields together. They did and they found the lost child. At our best that is what we do -- we lock arms in hopes that no one becomes lost or stays lost. 

Certainly, we also make a difference in our outreach beyond the walls of this sanctuary.  Through our funds and hands-on efforts we support those who suffer from economic hardship, from the perils of natural disasters, from illness and from the sting of oppression and discrimination. We will again this winter be housing and feeding for two weeks the homeless from our community. Having spent more than two years working with the homeless on the streets of Cambridge Massachusetts I know how much it means -- sometimes the difference between life and death  -- to provide such food and shelter. But it is also transforming of those who serve. It truly is an act of discipleship.

So you see what makes the church unique is that the two arms of the Cross -- the vertical and the horizontal -- intersect. This house of God over which we are stewards requires both the vertical and the horizontal – our relationship with God involves our relationship with each other and vice versa.

All that we do here -- the differences we make -- takes time and money. Indeed, they always require more from year to year   because our costs go up, as do the needs we serve.  God is still speaking and there is more to be done. Stewardship is about overseeing this house of God that makes a difference.   Jesus doesn’t ask us to join him on the dusty roads of Galilee but he does ask us to join him here in discipleship and in being generous stewards of his and our house. Amen