Lent III19.3.06

Christ Church

Morningside

Stewardship

"The last part of a person’s life to be converted is usually their wallet".  I hope that those of you who have heard me say this before will forgive me quoting Martin Luther one more time…

I hope that you will also forgive me for making reference to one of my favourite Biblical statistics which is:

  • Surprisingly, here are only around a dozen or so references in the Bible to sex and sexuality – a topic which has and continues to cause a great deal of heat but not much in the way of light both in church circles and beyond.

  • By contrast there are more than two and a half thousand references in the Scriptures to money and wealth.

Interesting… why is this?  And why am I talking about money this morning?

It’s not often that I stray from preaching on the readings for the day, but today is an exception.  And it’s an exception because today I want to talk about the dreaded ‘S’ word.  And what is the dreaded ‘S’ word?  Well, it’s not the Scriptures, it has nothing to do with sanctuary, sanctity or even the Spirit… the dreaded ‘S’ word is Stewardship.

In a few days time we will all be receiving a little brown envelope from The Church.  Don’t throw it away, and don’t put it on the ‘to read later’ (often much later) pile either!  Open it and read it!

Now, before I really begin, I want to say two very important things about Stewardship:

 

“Stewardship is not about raising money for the church.
Stewardship is a journey.
It’s about life.  In fact
Stewardship is a way of life…”
“Stewardship is everything I do after I say, ‘I believe’.”
(quoted and adapted from the Episcopal Network for Stewardship)

What on earth am I talking about?

Well, first, let me try to put what I want to say into context.

Every four years at Christ Church we hold a Stewardship Campaign.  And this Stewardship Campaign gives all of us an opportunity to think about our financial support to the ministry and mission of our (emphasis on the our) church.

But or rather I should say and because the Stewardship Campaign gives us an precious opportunity to take a look at the whole issue of money and finance and to see what wisdom the Christian tradition might have to offer an the subject.

With this in mind let me paint a picture.  It looks something like this:

From the earliest and most tender age we are taught two mutually conflicting things about money:

  • First, money is scare, money is precious and there isn’t ever really quite enough of it (at least in our family).  So we have to save it, we have to be careful with it, we have to think and worry about it and use it wisely.  But with care and attention we will be able to save enough of it to be safe, secure, independent, even free.

  • Second, we are bombarded with ads and messages which tell us that the way to happiness and fulfillment is to own more stuff and to do ever more exciting and exotic things.  Of course this entails spending our money.

First, we are told that we have to save our money so that we will be safe and secure.  But then we are told that we can’t really be happy unless we spend our money.  No wonder that so many people are confused, conflicted and anxious about their money.  Does this look like a familiar picture?

What can be done then?  What has our faith tradition to say to us?  Is there another way to think and feel about our money, a less anxious place to stand?

Yes.  Yes, there is a less anxious place to stand.  And yes, our faith tradition does have something to say.

Let’s look very briefly at the first picture we painted, the picture that says if we save enough we can be safe and secure.

Well, actually this is a myth.  Unless you are very wealthy – and we are talking serious wealth here, many millions – unless you are very wealthy you aren’t really that far from the poorhouse.  For example:

  • If you lost your job and couldn’t get another similarly paid one for a year or two.

  • If the pension scheme you draw from suddenly went broke.

  • If there was a stock-market crash.

  • If you had a sudden, debilitating illness that required round the clock medical and nursing care.

Now, I’m not trying to deliberately scare anyone by saying these things.  Only to point out a home truth: The truth which is that we are all financially vulnerable to some extent or another.  For the vast majority of us there is no such thing as financial security.  It’s a myth and an illusion, but a very powerful one at that!  And the Bible, Jesus, has something to say about this:

“Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear.  Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes… consider how the lilies grow.  They do not labour or spin.  Yet, I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you…” (Luke 12:22 – 28)

Now, one can either say to oneself, ‘what a lovely piece of religious naivety.  Good sentiments for in church but totally useless when you step outside.’  Or one can hear these words as an invitation.  An invitation to be less anxious.  An invitation to trust.  To trust that God both knows our needs and will take care of them.  Two very simple examples come to my mind of God’s provision:

  • I have never gone unwillingly hungry or thirsty

  • I have never had to go to sleep without shelter

(I know that there are people in our community who do suffer these things, and there are complex reasons for this sad state of affairs, but that’s the topic for another sermon!)

1/.        We are invited to trust

“All things come from you [God], and of your own do we give you.”

We say these words every time we come into church and worship.

What do they mean?  What are they saying to us?

Here, I believe we come to the heart of Christian Stewardship – the reason why it’s called stewardship and not – raising-money-for-the-church.  The reason why Martin Luther talked about conversion of the wallet.  The reason why I’m talking about money this morning.

“All things come from you, and of your own do we give you.”

For me, this reminds me that I don’t actually own anything in my own right.  This is made easier for me and my family because we live in tied housing, someone else’s property.  But this is true for all of us.  We don’t really own anything.  All of it, all of the money, all of the property, the precious things will have to given back one day.

And so the real issue is not how much stuff we can acquire and sock-away but what are we going to do with what has already been given into our (temporary) care?

1/.        We are invited to trust

2/.        We are invited to be creative and generous with what God has placed into our care

Let me finish with just saying a word or two about how this works out in practical terms for Michele and me and for our family.

First, “All things come from you, and of your own do we give you…”and everything that this implies.

A few years ago we started to look at our financial support of the mission of the church and other charitable organizations that we believed in in a rather different way.  Up to then we had thought about our financial support in purely monetary terms – how many pounds and pence can we give?

Now, we try to decide what percentage of our overall income (income that has been given to us by God) that we will use to support the things that we believe in.  So, right now, we are committed to using 5% of our pre-tax income in this way.  Most of that money goes to support the mission of Christ Church and the remainder to support other organizations that we believe in.

Second, “Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear.”

The funny thing is that by looking at our money in this way.  By trying to see it not as an exclusive possession or a burden but as a gift (and we are far from perfect in this regard!).  By trying to remember that everything comes from God, that God knows of our needs and will, in some way, provide for those needs…

We now find that we are standing in a much less anxious, guilty and conflicted place that we were. 

And that’s what stewardship is really all about:

Standing in a much less anxious, guilty and conflicted place when it comes to money and finance.

So, as I said, all of us will be receiving a brown envelope from church in the next week or so.  Don’t bin it.  Don’t put it to one side.  Open it.  Because inside there is some good news!

Amen. 

If anyone would like to speak to me in confidence about any of the issues raise din this sermon they are most welcome to do so.

                                                    229 6556 or rector@6a.org.uk

                          Simon Justice 
                                                                     Lent III 19.3.06

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