SERMON OF NOVEMBER 8, 2009
M. Bruce McKay
Pilgrim-St.Luke's United Church of Christ
“The Gift of Giving”
Psalm 146, Malachi 3:6-10, Mark 12:38-44

 
One Sunday a family was driving home from church.  They all started talking about the service.  The father had something less than flattering to say about the sermon.  The mother questioned the hymns, saying that not one of them was singable.  The son just listened and finally said, “It wasn’t all that bad.  After all, what do you expect for a dollar?” (Lectionary Homiletics, Oct.-Nov. 2009, p.54)
This is the Sunday when I am supposed to preach about money.  Since money isn’t something that most of us want to talk about, including me, I’m tempted to settle for telling a few jokes and calling it a day.
Now I could have gotten away with doing that if it hadn’t been for today’s text from the lectionary – the 3 year cycle of Bible passages that we turn to each week to listen to our Still Speaking God.
I could have gotten way with a few jokes and a lighthearted nod toward stewardship if today’s text had been something like “God loves a cheerful giver,” (2 Corinthians 9:7) or the one that goes, "where your treasure is, there will your heart be also," (Matthew 6:21) or the one that says, "Give whatever you want and don't worry about it."
 Oops!  I guess that last one is one I wish was in the Bible, but haven't been able to find. 
It was Mark Twain who said, “People are always talking about how troubled they are by the parts of the Bible they don’t understand.  But what troubles me most aren’t the parts I don’t understand, but the ones I do.”
 Today’s text from Mark is one of the texts that troubles me not because I don’t understand it – but because I do.
 Jesus is sitting in the temple opposite the treasury - the large receptacle in which people put their tithes and offerings.
 Many rich people put in large sums.  These were the people most people noticed.  A poor widow comes and puts in two copper coins which are worth a penny.
 Widows, along with orphans, were the most powerless people in the days of Jesus.  With the deaths of their husbands they lost any economic security and social standing that they may have once had.  They lived precariously on the margins of a society that denied their dignity as children of God.
 And Jesus says it’s this poor, nameless, faceless widow who gives more than anyone else to the temple treasury because everyone else gave out of their abundance.  She gave out of her poverty “…everything she had, all she had to life on.”
 The Greek literally means “her whole life.”
 She gave her whole life to God – so much for proportional giving – so much for tithing!
 Ten percent seems like a pretty good deal – compared to 100%.
 Do you see why this text troubles me? – Not because it’s hard to understand – But because its meaning is all too clear.
 This poor widow trusted God enough to put her entire life in God’s hands.
 There's an old Methodist hymnal that includes the hymn, "Jesus Demands My All." 
 An asterisk appears next to the title, so that as the singers read, "Jesus Demands My All" their eyes drop to the bottom of the page where the footnote reads, "For an easier version, see #438."
 This Sunday I was all set to preach on the virtues of tithing – recognizing that in the minds of many of us – including me – this is a huge act of trust in the God who knit each of us together in our mother’s womb.
 This Sunday, when I was all set to challenge each of us to give 10% to God we hear God say, “I want 100%.”
 Do you see why this text troubles me?
 Here I was, all set to say that the gold standard in Trusting God is giving 10% of our income for God’s work in the world – and God shows up and says I’m off by 90%.
 So what is it that Jesus was trying to teach his disciples that day in the temple – and what is it that he’s trying to teach us?
 First, he’s teaching his disciples, then and now, that stewardship isn’t essentially about money but about relationships.  It’s about our relationship with God and our relationships with one another.
 The First and Greatest Commandment is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbor as ourself.
 We can’t love God with 10% of our heart, 10% of our soul, 10% of our mind and 10% of our strength – so why should we think that we can give to God just 10% of what we have and who we are when it comes to our time, our talents and our treasure?
 Even to give God half means we’re giving half heartedly.
 The poor widow put in everything she had – all she had to live on – her whole life.
 The defining relationship in her life was her relationship with God and she gave God everything she had.
 Maude Royden, a British social worker and reformer, puts it this way, “When you have nothing left but God, then for the first time you become aware that God is enough.” (Lectionary Homiletics, Oct. /Nov. 2006, p.59)
 All that we’ve got comes from God - sometimes directly - sometimes through other people – sometimes through our own efforts – but in the end, as in the beginning, all that we’ve got comes from God and God wants everything we’ve got to give. 
In doing this, as the old hymn reminds us, “We Give Thee but Thine Own.” 
Stewardship isn’t first about money.  It isn’t first about time, talents or treasure.  It’s about our relationship with God and putting that relationship at the center of our life.
“Jesus Demands Our All.” 
There is no easier version.  There is no softer message. 
Secondly, stewardship is about grace.  As this year’s theme reminds us, “From Jesus’ fullness, we have all received Grace upon Grace.” (John 1:16) 
 
Stewardship is about our own personal experience of God’s grace in our lives and how we let that experience shape who we are and what we do.  As our Witnessing Stewards, Jay, Mary and Anne have reminded us over the last 3 weeks there is nothing more personal, more powerful or more precious than our own experience of God’s grace.
Jacques Ellul, the French theologian, writes: “`Giving is a sacrament of grace, a physical witness to the reality of God’s grace in giving and to the work of grace in our hearts…Giving must always be done with freedom and joy…If in your giving you feel no freedom, no joy, don’t give.  You’re giving for the wrong reasons.’” (Lectionary Homiletics, Oct. /Nov. 2006, p. 59)
There was a city church in Columbus, Ohio that had been running a shelter for the homeless for several years.  The joy in this ministry had largely dissipated and people were going through the motions of offering hospitality to the homeless, but their hearts weren’t in it.
One day the pastor and a few church members were plastering and painting in the church, when one of the residents at their shelter asked to speak with the pastor.
“Pastor,” the man said, “I just found out I won the lottery – and here’s the ticket.  When I had no where to go, you took me in.  I’ll always be grateful for that, so I’d like to give this ticket to the church.”
The painters suddenly stopped talking and paid attention.  The lottery jackpot was over 10 million dollars.  They now saw a person standing there and not just a client of their shelter.
That night the painting crew, including the pastor, gathered in front of the church’s television set.  All of the numbers on the ticket they’d been given were correct - but they were out of sequence. 
As this story was told in the church, their members began to see their homeless shelter as more than a means of offering charity to the poor.  They were reminded of how much they received themselves through this ministry.   And if a homeless man could give away what he thought was a winning lottery ticket, then they could find ways to give more than they had in the past – and do so with gratitude and with joy.
Giving is grounded in our relationship with God and in our gratitude for God’s grace in our lives.
A week ago last Wednesday night I heard Steve Lopez speak at UB as part of the Distinguished Speaker Series.  Lopez is a reporter for the Los Angeles Times and the author of The Soloist.  He befriended a homeless musician named Nathaniel Anthony Ayers who at one time had been a student at Juilliard, but had been living on the streets for years because of debilitating mental illness. 
Nathaniel organized his shopping cart that carried all his possessions with great care because he wasn’t able to organize his mind in ways that enabled him to get off the streets.
Living on skid row in LA, in what Lopez called, “a human landfill” Nathaniel continued to play music, even though all he had was a 2 string violin.  Following an article Lopez wrote about Nathaniel in the LA Times there was an outpouring of support from countless people wanting to help give Nathaniel a second chance.
Lopez told the story of his evolving friendship with Nathaniel without sugarcoating the challenges, anxiety and struggle of befriending someone with severe mental illness. 
What was most remarkable in the story Lopez told wasn’t how much he did for Nathaniel, but how much Nathaniel did for him.  Nathaniel never demonstrated an ounce of regret or self-pity.  His passion in life was music and he gave, as the poor widow gave, “everything he had” in the pursuit of this passion.
“In doing this,” Lopez, said, Nathaniel reconnected me with the passion in my life for writing.  Through Nathaniel, I’ve felt this grace that I never knew existed.”
When we pour ourselves with passion into the life God created us to live we will always receive “grace upon grace.” 
We will always receive the gift of giving.
The poor widow understood this.
Maude Royden understood this.
Jacques Ellul understood this.
The city church in Columbus understood this.
Nathaniel Anthony Ayers understands this.
Steve Lopez understands this.
Once we understand this as well, today’s text won’t be quite so troubling.
For we too can give to God everything we have with gratitude and with joy knowing that we too will receive “grace upon grace.”
Knowing that we too will receive the gift of giving!
Amen!