Rev. Tom Lenhart
Sermon October 14, 2007
“Stewardship: Catching the Spirit”

1 Peter 4: 7-11 and Luke 17: 11-19

Let us pray.

Most powerful Holy Spirit, come down upon us in this moment of worship and calm us. From heaven where the ordinary is made glorious and glory seems but ordinary, bathe us with the brilliance of your light like dew. Amen

Years ago as the fall would progress, I can recall my father would go into a minor funk as his church approached the Sunday when the annual stewardship campaign was to kick off. Now don’t get me wrong he was not one of those ministers, who left the stewardship campaign to the Holy Spirit. That’s like skipping the studying and leaving success on a test to divine intervention. The times I tried that it didn’t work! No, my father believed that there is nothing wrong in discussing the reality that the church, like any modern institution, needs resources – money -- to pay insurance premiums, gas bills, salaries and invoices for Sunday school curricula. It needs money for outreach -- to help our neighbors who need it for housing, hurricane relief, re-training, medical care and so on. What bothered him was that everything that could be said had been said and even in the best of circumstances many people did not seem eager to hear yet another hectoring stewardship sermon. I confess that when I have sat where you are I sometimes have associated this Sunday with a dentist appointment. It was something that I had to do, might even be good for me, but I would rather have been elsewhere. So I share your pain but I am required to preach on stewardship in order to keep my ministry card valid. And besides, I promised the stewardship board I would.  But I plan to avoid “a give until it hurts” sermon -- though should you feel so moved operators are standing by. 

The Greek word eikonomos that is translated “steward” is made up of two parts – one is a word that means, “house” and the other 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. What I want to talk about today is what we are stewards of and why. Then, and only briefly, will I suggest some things to think about as each of us responds to this fall’s stewardship campaign.

Let’s start with the question; what is this church of which we are stewards?   As we answer that question lets look at this enlarged picture of our church building, bequeathed to us through the generous stewardship of those who have come before us. It is a substantial and stately building; indeed, this picture cannot do it justice. Take a second to look around -- it some times becomes so familiar that we do not really see its beauty -- see the wall hangings, the paraments draped on the pulpit and lectern, the organ pipes, the altar and the cross. It is our task to see that this place remains inviting and inspiring to those who seek its sanctuary. Close your eyes and picture the educational wing, the parish hall, the memorial room – it is, indeed, a full house of faith, which we oversee.

But this building is, of course, in the most fundamental sense not the church but a necessary home for it. In essence we are the church -- that is we do and are the things, which a Church is meant to be and do. This sanctuary serves as a place for worship -- the place we come to often when our spiritual batteries have been worn down by (i) a hectic and stressful work life, (ii) by the unceasing demands of family life, (iii) by the reality that our dreams have not come true, (iv) by disappointing relationships or (v) by the illness or death of a friend or loved one. Here we find inspiring music, prayer, scripture and sermons, which recharge our spirits, assuage our souls, reset our moral compasses, and brightened our vision of the future.   Through worship we become aware of and transformed by the abiding love and acceptance of God and our neighbors.

This is the place where in memorial services we acknowledge our loss of friends and loved ones yet celebrate their wonderful lives and reaffirm that life in some profound, yet mysterious, way has overcome death through Jesus Christ. This church is also the place where through baptism we welcome new members into this and the wider community of the faithful. As we did this morning we acknowledge in this sacrament that here in this community -- like no other in our society -- there are “no outsiders or insiders for all are part of God’s love.”

This church is also the place where we -- young and old alike--receive through our educational ministry strength for life’s journey. Where else can young and old alike talk about the meaning of life, the reality of our missteps and the comfort of divine forgiveness, which gives us repeatedly the opportunity of fresh start.

This is the place where we find fellowship -- in coffee hours, Art Auctions, the Barn Sale, and in oh, so many others ways. This is the community where we make and renew our friendships and share with others our joys and trials – always assured that the members of this community of faith are there when we need them.

And this is the place from which we reach out to our neighbors by the housing of the homeless, by the raising of funds for Dafur and countless service groups, and by seeking to be better stewards of this world that we have been given. And there is so much more that we do here as a church. Each of you will have your own list of how this church engages and touches you. This church is certainly more than a building.

I continue to believe that Paul in his letter to the Ephesians captured the heart of what a church is in these words:  

1.      It is the dwelling place for God (2:23).

2.      Christ is its cornerstone and binds it together (2:20 –21)

3.      It is the household of God and we are all members of that family. (2:19)

4.      There are no strangers or aliens in the church. (2:19)

5.      There are no dividing walls or hostility between individuals and groups in the true church. (2: 14, 16)

6.       It is the place of God’s proclamation of peace. (2: 14, 17)  

Ephesians reminds us the church is the dwelling place of God and Christ is its cornerstone and its glue. It is not a place about us but about God.  It is about spreading the Good News and making a difference within and without the walls of the sanctuary.  It encompasses outreach and social justice.  But it would be wrong to think of Church as simply ministry to the world. Church is, of course, also about what we do within our faith communities.   As Ephesians reminds us, church is about elimination of barriers – that there are no strangers and no aliens in churches. The church’s spiritual doors, not just its physical doors, are to be wide open.  As Paul wrote, here there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free man, but Christ is all and in all.’ (Col. 3:11)”  At our best we are the church of loving kindness.  We are not, however, simply a social service organization to the less fortunate though we certainly encompass that ministry. No unlike many of the wonderful social service organizations that deal with eradicating disease and injustice we also seek to minister to people’s spiritual needs.  While we never fully succeed in being all these things, if you look around and think about what we do here at 210 Orchard Ridge Road and beyond I think you will agree we do seek to be kind and loving to each other in and outside our faith community. 

Now that we know what we are to manage, oversee and sustain -- why are or should we be its stewards?   One way to approach the question is to do a kind of cost benefit analysis. What do we do and for what cost? How do I and the people and issues that are important to me benefit from this church? It costs more than $1515 every day to be this church – not only to turn on the lights and to do all the things that you see listed in the bulletin and in the Carillon, but also to do those intangibles often known only in the hearts of those who have left better for having been here. That is often the way we look at our charitable giving. How does the group use its money? How important is the cause? How well managed are the finances of the group?  What difference does the organization make? I think FCC does quite well when evaluated in that way-- understanding the breadth of our cause – which is no more and no less that loving our neighbors and loving God.

But I submit there is a different way to look at our stewardship and that is through the eyes of faith. Think back to the parable we just heard from Luke. It is an interesting story about Jesus healing ten lepers.  But really it is about how the lepers acted after they were healed. Nine of them did what one would expect – they left Jesus, seeking priests who could certify that they were healed, thereby allowing them back into the society from which they had been excluded as lepers. The 10^th leper, however, ignores this calculated and quite sensible approach. Upon realizing that Jesus has healed him, he turns, throws himself at Jesus’ feet and thanks him.  In his action we are reminded that a part of faith is thanksgiving. We should not forget to be grateful for what we have been given by God – the gift of creation and the love of Jesus Christ that never ceases.  And so it is that I think the most important reason for being good stewards is gratitude for what we have been given by God as embodied, albeit imperfectly, in this community of faith.       

The second aspect of faith that underpins our stewardship is the notion that the gifts of God are not ours alone. From the beginning the disciples recognized that God’s gift in Jesus Christ was not theirs alone but was for all -- Jew and gentile, free and slave and for all who were to come after them. Our faith requires that we pass on what we have. This church -- if it is truly to be a community of faith -- cannot live in the memory of yesterday, the immediacy of the present moment but must be ready to soar into the future inviting all of our neighbors to join us. The 10^th Leper caught the spirit of faith – the other nine did not. Jesus said to the tenth leper “get up go on you way; your faith has made you well.” In other words you’ve caught the spirit, now get up and soar into the future and spread that spirit. That’s what I think stewardship is about. It’s about giving -- not because you have to or ought to -- but because you want to out of gratitude, to spread the spirit.

Finally, how should one specifically respond to the campaign this year? I would not presume to answer that question for anyone but myself. There are many ways to approach the question; none are wrong. This year   I have found myself drawn more than I have been in the past to the biblical approach. Now, I can hear you thinking, “Here it comes -- the pitch for the biblical tithe of 10% to the church.” I make no such pitch as I think the biblical tithe should be relegated to biblical times. Our world is so different from those times as to defy full description. In those days, there were neither government safety nets nor 501(c) 3 non-profit organizations doing wonderful things. The biblical tithe ignores those modern realities.

No, what attracts me is the idea that underlies the biblical approach to stewardship, namely proportional giving. The biblical approach recognizes that our giving arises out of faithful gratitude for all that God has given us. So the question becomes -- what portion of what you have in life do you want to give back in gratitude? Let us each Catch the Spirit and help the church to soar into the future.  Amen.