A Spiritual Matter

Mary Rodgers, November 6, 2005

All Saints Sunday is a day that I anticipate and look forward to. It hasn't always been this way though. I used to think it was so very sad and I wondered why we put ourselves through it every year. I didn't like the lump in my throat that I'd get when the names of those who have died were read during communion. That all changed when my Dad died. The year after his death I dreaded All Saints Sunday knowing that I was going to hear his name out loud. I thought I might get emotional and I was afraid I might break down and then have to get up and say the benediction or something like that…..But that wasn't my experience. Don't get me wrong, I was sad but when we got to the part of the communion prayer when we say "therefore we praise you joining our voices with all the faithful of every time and place something clicked. Joining our voices with the faithful of every time and place. Even though I've said it a hundred times, this time I understood it with my heart not just my head. Just the thought of my Dad and I praising God at the same time and participating in the presence of Christ together, the thought of being connected to my Dad in that way changed my whole attitude about All Saints Sunday and I've loved it ever since. I am convinced that this moment was a God-moment, a gift for me.

In so many ways this special Sunday gets at the heart of what we often experience when someone we love so much dies… intense sadness and intense joy. Sadness because we wonder how we are ever going live without our loved one, joy because their suffering is over and they now know with certainty what we only know by faith: the eternal love of God in its fullness. Intense sadness and intense joy, at the same time. All Saints is one of my favorite days. Which is why I felt conflicted when Stewardship Sunday fell on the same day. I struggled to know how to give both important topics its due. On the one hand there's intense sadness, intense joy, joining with the faithful of every time and place (All Saints Sunday) and on the other hand there's our belief about money and time and how we use it (Stewardship Sunday). Both are worthy topics but could they be joined together? I spent the first part of the week thinking about and remembering our saints. I even got out a few of the lists of saints that have been read during communion in years past. I took some time to read some of the names that are written on the scrolls that are hanging in the office wing. Names of faithful people, many of whom are now with God. I thought about Arlice Stewart and Dallas Hunter, Margaret McMillan and others who built this church, not just the buildings, but the people who knocked on doors and invited people in, the ones who held some of you on their laps, the ones who arranged the flowers, the ones who fixed the toilets, and changed the light bulbs, and kept the books. I thought about all the ones who dreamed and visioned us to where we are today. The ones who shared the gospel with those who did not have it…I thought about all those people and I concluded that if at the heart of our Christian understanding of death is intense sadness, intense joy and eternal life, then at the heart of our Christian understanding of a life is how we use out time and our money because in the world we live in today they are two of the most valuable commodities. They have every thing to do with living a Christian life. "My life with God" and "My life with money" are not mutually exclusive. Our saints knew this. Biblically it makes perfect sense. Jesus talked more about money than he did about sin, death or even love. Since Jesus is the model of how we live as Christians, what does this say about the importance of speaking together as a family of faith about money and the things we have? If you do word a search in the Bible, the word "believe" is in the Bible 273 times, "Pray" appears 371 times, "love appears 714 times" and the word "give" appears 2,172 times. We cannot separate our life with God and our life with money because At the core, of our understanding of giving is that it is a spiritual endeavor, not a financial effort. In so many ways our money represents us. We exchange time, our intelligence, abilities, and energy for the money we receive and how we use our money states what we believe. So financial giving is essential in helping is form, retain, and grow in our own spiritual connection with God. Jesus said he came so that we might have life. He did not say that he came so that we might have religion. He did not even say that he came so that we can give offerings to support churches. Jesus came with the good news that God seeks each of us, and asks us to put God first in our lives. That is the prime purpose of giving to God not merely so that the church can accomplish ministries or pay its bills but so that we do not put something else first, ahead of God. I like the way Winston Churchill put it: "We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give." If we were all to take a look at our checkbooks today what would they say about what we believe? Is there evidence of a tithe? 10 percent of our income for God and 90 percent for the things we want and need?

In biblical days tithing meant leaving some of the crop you planted un-harvested. If you planted ten acres of corn you only picked nine of them you did this because you remembered that you weren't the one who made it rain, or the one who had made the seeds grow, you understood that you didn't make the hands that held the plow, you realized that while you had worked hard, all that you had was really God's. Because you understood this, you left the tenth acre of crops unpicked so that the poor could come and pick food for themselves, so that they too could experience the gift of life and food even in their hardship. But, the most important reason you left the cropped unpicked was so that you would never be tempted to believe that you had what you had because you created it, or made it, the tenth crop reminded you that everything is a Gift of God.

I must confess that I have had a rocky relationship with tithing. I learned about tithing from Salem Baptist church in Saluda, South Carolina (my grandmother's church). They talked about tithing every week. So I knew what a tithe was but in my Presbyterian home it wasn't emphasized or even discussed. So I never tithed. I have often wished my parents had made me take 10 cents from every dollar I was given and put in the offering plate on Sunday teaching me that all we have is God's which is why we give some back. Teaching me that it's a way that we say "thank you" (90 cents for you Mary, 10 cents for God). When I graduated from Seminary and came to Providence as a new minister I struggled during the first stewardship campaign. I knew I couldn't stand up in this pulpit and preach tithing and not tithe myself. But honestly, even though I knew all the biblical reasons in my head, I did not know them in my heart. Ten percent was a lot! In the end I ended up tithing not because of any spiritual issue. It was a because of a should and an ought. "I should tithe because I'm a Pastor, I ought to tithe because the Bible tells ms so." Looking back on it I'm glad for the "should and the ought" because even those were a gift from God. God worked through those to get to my heart. God knew that "how much" wasn't my spiritual issue but "how" with what kind of heart do I give was my area of spiritual growth. Every year that annual stewardship campaign comes around it gets a little less hard and a little more joyful. Thanks be to God that sometimes God works in us in spite of us. Now let me say this too. Looking back on it, in practice (not attitude) it was easy for me to begin to tithe because I went from being in school with "no income" to being a Pastor "some income" so even having 90% of my new income seemed like a lot to me. I know that is not the case for most of you. If you already have an income and have not been tithing then it is harder to jump up several percentage points at one time which is why the church encourages percentage giving with the goal of tithing. If you are giving 4 percent, move up to 5 or 6 percent. In five years or less you will be tithing. At its core, giving is a spiritual endeavor. It conveys our commitment and where we put our trust.

I want to tell you a story I told in the sixth sermon I ever preached at Providence (In 1999). First though I need to set the context. I was talking about where we place our trust and how hard it is not to put our trust in things. About how most of us live under the assumption that we own everything that we have. It's even reflected in our words. We say things like: it's my home, my job, my body, my children, my money, my yard, my future and my life. We sometimes forget that God gave us the creativity, the intelligence and the ability to work and make money. We forget that these things are not really ours they are simply entrusted into our care. How different would our lives be if we came to the realization that God owns everything and we are simple trustees of the gifts and responsibilities God has given us? Would our checkbooks look different? It is so tempting to put our trust in things that are tangible instead of God. The problem with putting our trust in things is that these things never fulfill us.

That's the context, now here is the story. When I got out of college I was driving this old beat up white Honda Civic. And I hated it. I dreamed about the day I could buy my own car. I knew what I wanted. I wanted a black Honda accord EX not LX! I wanted power windows, and a nice stereo WITH a CD player. In the early days of my teaching career I'd ride around Charlotte in my dumpy ole civic, see an accord and I could just imagine how happy I would be if I could just have that car. I'd take such good care of it; I'd never want another one. I wanted it and I wanted it BAD. So, three years into my teaching career, I took the plunge. I bought a one year old black Honda Accord EX, power lock power windows and a CD player. And I was so happy. I'd bound out of the bed each morning just excited to get into my NEW car. Well, my car is now seven years old; it's full of dents and knicks. the stereo speakers vibrate and the odometer reads 104,000 miles. I can barely even remember that feeling of fulfillment and happiness I felt when I first bought it, except when I think about the new Jeep Grand Cherokee I'm going to buy when I become a rich pastor! How hard it is to not put our trust in things. Since I told you that story almost seven years ago I've had another Honda and I now have an SUV and already the odometer is up and it's got a lot of dings. And every time I think about that Hybrid Toyota Highlander, well, you know my struggle. Giving is a spiritual matter.

Next week is commitment Sunday. Over the next few days there are two questions for each of us to think about and more importantly pray about. What is my commitment to Christ? What is God calling me to give? Next week bring your pledge card to worship and at the appropriate time, as believers of every time and place have done before us, we'll walk forward and recommit ourselves to God. Because at it's core, giving is a spiritual matter.

Amen

© Copyright, 2005, Rev. Mary Rodgers
All Rights Reserved.
Providence Presbyterian Church
Fairfax, Virginia