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November
12, 2006: PAID UP, FAIR & SQUARE Eileen Parfrey - Springwater Presbyterian Church
The love story of Ruth and Boaz always brings me back to a work camp trip to Juarez with my home church. One day during siesta, several of us single women were oiling the scalp between the cornrow braids of a beautiful black woman in our group. We were chatting about what it would take for us to ever get into a relationship again with a man. I said that I would need a Boaz, which my Pentecostal sisters promised to pray for. Looking back, I think I was looking for someone whose interest in my well-being and that of my family was as strong as his interest in his own well-being. Boaz personified the standard of care of Israel's widows set by God-a care as deep as God's own. Well, as you may have guessed, I ran into my Boaz, and my life changed. Last week I said if we do not give, it is because our lives have not been changed, that we have not personally experienced God's transformative work. I made that statement in a condition of blissful ignorance, so Lloyd Olson's announcement later in the service came as a shock to me. His stewardship announcement that 15 giving units in our congregation-1/3-is not a giver of record. This figure is not about people who opt not to pledge or make a commitment to giving. This figure reflects those who have not in some way identified a financial gift as coming from them, either by writing a check or putting cash in an envelope. Anonymous gifts are classified as "loose offering." We are grateful for such gifts, but because they are anonymous, we can't know how much to expect, nor who to thank. If you are one of those types of givers, I hope you understand that what I am about to say is not part of a wish to offend. I am truly baffled by the large percentage of our congregation that wishes not to be known in their giving. I don't know details of anybody's giving, let alone those who are not givers of record, so I can't call and ask you why. I can only guess the reasons. My surprise at this news is genuine, my concern arising out of a deep interest in your spiritual well-being, a desire for you to be as blessed in tithing as Rick and I are. I do not wish to give you giving-guilt-it is such a poor giving motive. But, session and I have taken promises to be concerned for you spiritually. Giving is one measure of spiritual health-individual and congregational. Today's scripture lessons make the point so well that giving is an essential spiritual discipline: Boaz's generosity to widows, Jesus' criticism of the self-righteous giving of the scribes, his praise for the committed giving of the widow. They cry out for speculation about non-recorded giving at Springwater. I assume that you give something. Maybe unrecorded givers have theological scruples about taking tax deductions for charitable giving. That's OK, but it's not a theology Presbyterians hold. Maybe these people can only give cash, but we've got envelopes for that purpose. Maybe they're embarrassed about the size of their gift and don't want the church to know what they give. Size of gift should not be a concern in a denomination that puts into the stewardship lectionary the story of the widow's tiny offering. This is not about bookkeeping. Commitment to personal spiritual growth and the mission of the church is what's at stake. So maybe these non-givers don't approve of the mission of the church or they don't understand how vital their support of it is. If so, shame on session for not interpreting the mission adequately and conveying the spiritual message. But if approval of the church's mission is the issue for the unrecorded givers, why don't they speak up? Maybe what the church is doing seems too risky. Maybe they aren't aware of the promises God makes to givers, or they know, but they don't think it applies to them. Today's take-home bulletin insert about Biblical promises to givers should interest all of you. God promises to bless us when we give! Maybe non-givers think they don't have enough money to give. Experts tell us that, on the whole, rich people are the least generous givers. The Bible even says that! Rich people give less in actual dollars than people with limited resources, who know how much they depend on the generosity of God and others. But 1/3 of the potential givers in our congregation are not givers of record. Another 17 giving units give less than $20 a week-less than what it costs for burgers and fries for 4 at McDonald's or a week of lattes at Starbucks. This must mean there are a lot more rich people here than I suspected. Not only does the Bible command us to give, God has expectations about it. I'd like to mention three expectations right now, and you'll find chapter and verse on your take home paper. The first expectation is that when we give, needs are met. Joining our gifts together as a church makes ministry and mission possible. Someone said that God's invitation to give is a call to action. No neutral ground here-either you give or you don't, and when we don't respond, we're not saying "no" to the church, we're saying "no" to God. Second, our giving pleases God. When we consider that 1/3 of what Jesus said in his ministry was about giving and possessions, we get the picture that stewardship is important to God. Not that God needs anything. But God's work needs our resources in order to happen. Finally, this is where things get outrageous. But it's in the Bible! When we give, God blesses us. I am not promising you a Cadillac for tithing. This is not the "gospel of prosperity" televangelists promise. But Jesus did say that, if you sow sparingly you'll reap sparingly. When I was a kid taking piano lessons, my teacher expected three things at every practice session: review of old pieces, practice of new ones, and something called "techniques." Techniques were supposed to start every practice, and they were things like playing scales and thirds, chording, and tricky fingerings. They might make for boring music, but they are the skeleton on which any pianist's talent is fleshed out. We call this "discipline"-the intentional work toward a goal. In the Christian faith, we exercise disciplines to grow into God's dreams for us. Those disciplines include prayer, scripture reading, commitment to a faith community, and giving. Giving isn't for God. God doesn't "need" our gifts. We need to give. Giving is indispensable to discipleship. Giving shows our priorities, values, love. Giving connects us with the mission of the whole church. It is part of the process of maturing. That's why we call it a discipline. Stewardship of everything given us by God-our time, our money, our talents-is not demonstrated by how much we give, but by how we react when there is not enough. We will never give if we wait until there is "enough." That's why the Bible tells us to give to God first-the firstfruits, the best and freshest, what you get before you're absolutely positive there will be an "adequate" amount. Despite what I just said, don't be misled and think that giving proves anything. We don't have to prove anything to God. Giving shows that we accept the extraordinary truth that we are already loved by a God who only wants to embrace us. A God who waits patiently for an opportunity to embrace us. Remember those movie love scenes where the boy and girl finally figure out they're in love? Their eyes meet, they hesitate, the music swells, they move slowly together, until finally they meet in sweet embrace. Our giving enacts that scene between us and God. Don't think this talk about giving and falling in love with God is like the boys who pressure girls for sex by saying, "If you really loved me you would." Giving shows that we trust God to provide for us. And that we can stake our lives on God's generosity. Because God's love of us is endless. Because we cannot lose that love. Because God is pleased by our giving. We are blessed to be givers.
Stewardship
Scriptures In order to understand what God is calling us to do, we need to understand God's expectations of us and accept our responsibility in regard to giving. Read 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, Philippians 4 to learn: When we give, needs are met Giving is pleasing to God When we give we're blessed God
commands us to give, but also promises us blessings when
we do. Read the following and write those blessings on
the line:
Word facts about stewardship and faith disciplines in the Bible
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