Pentecost 17

Sept. 23, 2007
The Rev. David R. Hackett

Did you hear that Gospel? If you did why aren’t your mouths open in amazement? It is called the parable of the dishonest steward. At first hearing it doesn’t seem it should even be in the Bible, and certainly not something coming from Jesus. This is a story about a real wheeler-dealer; actually, he’s more than that: an embezzler, a crook! This fellow has been swindling his employer and when he’s about to get fired because he’s been found out, he comes up with a master stroke to save his skin. He concocts a scheme to make some of his customers obligated to him so that later on, when he doesn’t have a job, he can remind them of his favor to him and their obligation to him and that way he will be assured of their help.

This parable is really a puzzler. Why would Jesus commend this kind of behavior? I would expect him to condemn that liar and crook. But after lots of reading and study, I’ve come to believe that the idea of Jesus using this embezzler as an example that is so offensive to me (and I suspect to you), is the whole point. This story is designed to get our attention about the kingdom of God that is given to us regardless of how proper and respectable we are or are not. It is a story of grace, of God’s love; a grace that allows us to see that God wants us to turn loose of anything that is keeping us from him, even our ideas of respectability and propriety. That’s really hard for Episcopalians to swallow; after all, we do so want to be respectable and proper. It’s been said that on any given Sunday almost every heresy can be heard from an Episcopal pulpit, and no one will say much, if it is done in good taste!

And then in today’s Gospel, we get to the bottom line. Jesus identifies that which is most likely to get in the way of our relationship with him, and it’s not just our concepts of what is proper. The bottom line is in that last verse, “No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

The word “wealth”, or literally “mammon”, is the Greek transliteration of a Semitic word meaning, “that in which one fully trusts.” And Jesus know you can only “fully trust” one thing. Either you fully trust God or you don’t. So, you cannot serve God and wealth. But…but you can serve God with your wealth. Then our money becomes a servant to God.

How do we serve God with our wealth, with our money? I met with the stewardship committee this past Tuesday and we finalized the schedule for this year’s financial stewardship emphasis. Some on the committee asked me if I minded talking about money. Do I mind? Of course not. Do you know that Jesus talked more about money than he did prayer? Check your New Testament and count up the number of times money is mentioned. Why? Because Jesus knew our temptation is to trust in money more than God.

This week you’ll be receiving a letter from Bob Cochran, chair of the stewardship committee. In the letter you’ll find a pledge card. I do not want you to fill that card and sign it. At least not right away. Don’t just put down what you gave this year. I want you to say your prayers about your commitment to God and his work that goes on through this church, and consider your giving in the light of what has been given to you. Commitment Sunday, the day we turn in our pledge cards, is November 4. That’s only six Sundays from now. You’ll be reading and hearing from a number of your fellow parishioners about their understanding of stewardship. Don’t make your pledge until you’ve really given prayerful and careful thought about our life together here at St. John’s and how we use our finances to serve God.

When we talk about the church’s financial needs, inevitably we hear the complaint, “The church is always talking about money.” Well, I’m not sure that’s so true here at St. John’s. I’ve been here seven months and this is the first time money has been mentioned that I know about. Conversations about money shouldn’t be limited to the Fall Stewardship Drive. But for some people any mention of money from the pulpit makes them uncomfortable. I recently read something which helped put that in perspective for me. Maybe it will be helpful to you as well.

“It is the world which is always asking for money, not the church. When did you last go to the supermarket and the checker failed to ask you for money? Your mortgage company asks for money with unfailing regularity. If you are like most people, each month brings an assortment of bills; are any of them from the church? Who withholds a percentage of every dollar you earn? Your Uncle Sam does that; your Heavenly Father does not. There is no free lunch…except at the church. You can attend worship every week, there is no admission charge. The church building will be here when you need it, clean, comfortable, with kitchen and nursery provided. You make full use of it and never pay one dime! Only the treasurer will ever know whether you contribute or not. If you are sick, the clergy will visit you in the hospital. Where else can you get free counseling when you need it? You have to pay taxes to provide our children with public education, but the church operates a Christian Education program with absolutely no cost or obligation. Some of you are members of clubs for which you pay rather handsomely. The church requires no membership fee, no annual dues. It never sends its members a bill. You receive a statement of what you gave given, not what you owe.”

Maybe that helps put money and the church in perspective. Is there any other organization in the world that functions this way? I don’t know of any. You see, the truth is the church “asks for money” less than anything else you can think of.

Usually we think of our financial stewardship in terms of what I like to call the three “Bs”: buildings, bodies and budgets. Those are important considerations.

Buildings: we need to maintain and care for our physical plant; Bodies: we need to provide services, programs, and training for our members;

Budgets: we need to meet our budgetary goals in order to carry out our mission and ministry.

So, this morning, while the three “Bs” are recognized as important, I also want you to think of your stewardship in terms of the three “Gs”:

Grace, Gratitude, and Generosity.

Our stewardship begins with God and his grace, his freely given love. Everything you and I have comes from the Creator. Our lives, our families, our health, everything that is truly important, even our money, comes from God. It is all about grace. When we come to that realization, there can only be one response, “Thank you, Lord.” Thank you God for all that I am, all that I have, all that I may become. So, from grace comes gratitude. In order to express our gratitude we become generous and give to God and to others. Generosity is the truest response which comes from a grateful heart. The saying is true, “You can give without loving, but you can’t love without giving.”

And so we have God’s economic cycle: Grace which produces Gratitude which produces Generosity. And the cycle continues because when we are generous we become more and more aware of God’s amazing grace.

Back in July we had an instructed Eucharist here at St. John’s and I made the point that during the liturgy we have an Offertory. Most of the time we say we’re taking up the “collection”. But, in truth, we’re doing more than collecting money, we are making an offering. It is an offering of ourselves as represented by our money. Motive is all important. We are not collecting money for the budget; we are offering our money because of our gratitude, our thanksgiving to God.

I ask you to think of these things in the coming weeks. When you receive your pledge card don’t just automatically sign it. Think about what it represents. Pray about your gift to God. And remember Grace produces Gratitude which produces Generosity. Let your generosity be a reflection of how generous God has been to you. Amen.