Past Sermon

Sermon Title: "What We Give For God's Work "
Date: November 12, 2006
Minister: Rev. Charles E. Ensley, Jr.

Lesson:  Mark 12:38-44

Last Saturday evening, just before the wedding, the father of the groom asked me if we are having trouble.  “What do you mean?” I asked, somewhat confused.  “I read your newsletter, and you mentioned ‘contentious’ times.”  Understanding now what he meant, I told him we were behind in our finances, and that opinions were divided among the congregation and the community on whether to install a cellular phone antenna.  “Well,” he responded, “I’m sure all churches go through something at one time or another.”  I assured him all of them do.  Later, after the ceremony was over, he approached me again and said, “I can sense the Holy Spirit is present in this place.  Not all churches seem to have it.”  That was indeed a good impression to hear from this gentleman who had no other association with our church than the site of his daughter’s wedding.

Since the pledge letter has gone out from the Business Affairs Commission, and we are a week away from a budget informational meeting, it is usually expected that somewhere around this time of year I will give a stewardship sermon.  And it is quite by coincidence that the Gospel lesson for this 23rd Sunday after Pentecost is Mark’s account of the widow’s gift to the temple treasury.

While many Christian denominations in the past few years have been embroiled in discussions over homosexuality, or divorce and remarriage, these matters come up only a few times in scripture.  If truth be told, there are about 900 more references in the Bible to money than to sexuality.  If I preached about money as much as the Bible preaches about money, you would be hearing about money more than one Sunday in November!

Some churches got a head start on us.  Last month, when I was off on sabbatical, I heard stewardship announcements in the three churches where we worshipped. 

The first, at a Presbyterian church in northern Michigan, a lay leader told of an admonition she had heard years before.  Since many of the people from the area were executives in the auto industry, a preacher had told them they ought to consider giving their church each month no less than an amount equal to their country club dues.

Now, I have never belonged to a country club or a yacht club, so I have no idea what their dues are.  However, I did help out at a charity golf tournament at Old Ranch Country Club last month, and there was a sign advertising membership in their Golf Club.  Initiation was $4,000; monthly dues were $550; and the monthly food charge was $92.  I wondered how many members we would have if we charged an initiation fee?  But I allowed as how a monthly pledge to the church the same as one pays for country club dues might be a helpful guideline to some, and certainly beneficial to the church!

The second church we attended was a non-denominational union church in a very-upscale suburb north of Chicago.  In the worship bulletin were these four pages, listing the names of all those who had pledged to-date for the year 2007, with this closing statement:  “Our common goal is to fulfill [senior minister] Dr. Bowen’s dream of having everyone participate in Loyalty Sunday.”

When I told someone here of this list, their first question was, “Did they list the amount?”  No, they did not, nor would we.  Everyone must give according to their ability, as today’s story of the widow points out.  There are those who, because of their means, are able to contribute substantially more than an older person on a fixed income, or a college student.  When I was in seminary, I could only afford to pledge one dollar a week to the church.  I was on a work-study program with my earnings from working in the seminary library going toward my tuition.  On weekends, when the dining hall was closed, I heated a cup of water and made bullion for lunch.  So, pledging a dollar a week to the church was a significant portion of what little money I had, but I wanted to make that commitment.

We would not care to see how much anyone gives so as not to give more preferential treatment to those who contribute more and less to those who give less.  My mother-in-law lives with us, and writes a check to the church weekly, but I do not know how much she gives.  My daughter contributes by credit card once a month, as do we and 48 other persons.  But I do not know how much she gives or anyone else gives—only what Charlie and Peggy Ensley contribute.

The third church we attended was the United Church of Christ in Los Alamitos, where I grew up.  Their moderator stood to give the stewardship moment.  Apparently the challenge last year was to raise pledges by 15 percent, and they were issuing the same challenge this year.  As you will discover at next week’s budget meeting, we too must increase our pledges if we wish to maintain our current level of staffing and programs.

Over the past three years, we have lost about ten families.  About twice as many have ceased giving to the church, or stopped pledging and only contribute when they attend.  This makes it very difficult for any church or business to come up with a budget or business plan if they do not know how many members will be contributing, or how many customers will be buying.

The important thing is to give something, whatever your means enable you to give, for the work of God.

Today’s gospel is the beloved account of the widow’s mite, the generous, extravagantly generous woman who gave all that she had in the temple treasury.  It is said that to call her a poor widow is redundant.  Widows of that time, as well as widows in Iraq today, were left with very little.  They could not own property on their own, inherit it, or work to earn a living.  They were entirely dependent on the charity of family to provide and care for them.  Two scholars who focused on the plight of women in the ancient Biblical world offer this analysis of the text:

“The widow who comes to the treasury, then, is not only disadvantaged by poverty but also by her vulnerable status, which makes her almost invisible in the legal, religious, political, and social eyes of her society.  Jesus had been watching many rich people put in large sums of money when he observed the widow throw in the tiny amount of a penny.  However, to his disciples he asserts that the widow’s offering is greater than any of the others because she has given all that she has, ‘her whole living.’  Besides indicating that what matters to God is the nature of the act of giving itself rather than the gross amount given, Jesus’ saying also underlines the ultimate or total nature of the financial sacrifices made by the widow.  For one whose only protection from complete destitution is the little money she possesses, to give all of it to the temple is to consign herself to disaster.  Yet, this she does without fanfare or desire for glory, but out of faith.  Such indifference to conventional human desires for security, wealth, and status stand as a very appropriate introduction to Jesus’ teaching on the coming end of the world, for at that time, faith in God and not faith in human wealth and status will establish one’s membership in the saved elect of the coming kingdom.” 

(Carol A. Newsom and Sharon H. Ringe, eds., The Women’s Bible Commentary, Westminster/John Knox Press, 1992, pp. 269-270.)

The most popular stewardship sermon I ever preached was on this text.  I delivered it in two churches I served, and was asked to give is as a guest preacher in another church.  It told the story of Elizabeth, an elderly widow in my last church, who every month gave the church 10 percent of her only income, her Social Security check.  At one point her pledge was $37.42.  I only knew because when I would call on her, she would give me the check to turn in at church.  Because of her poor health, I never knew her to attend church in my eight-and-a-half years there.  Then one time the check was for $41.93.  I asked Elizabeth why the change and why the odd amount.  “I received a raise in my Social Security,” she replied matter-of-factly, “so that’s a tithe of the new amount.”

I conducted Elizabeth’s funeral twenty years ago, just before I left that church to come here.  Yet, I never read this gospel lesson without thinking of her generosity.  What interests me most in this beloved story is this phrase of Jesus:  “but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had.” (Mark 12:44)  Those of us who practice a more moderate, balanced form of Christianity, for whom religious faith is a matter of reasoned deliberation and cautious examination, we are judged by the testimony of this anonymous widow.  This Sunday is a good time to be reminded of the extravagance of those who may have so little, yet give so much of it for God’s work.