Genesis 1:29 – 2:3 & Psalm 126
Roger Lynn
October 22, 2017
Stewardship Emphasis - Part 1
(click here for the video of the whole worship service - the sermon starts at 17:00)
In the interest of full disclosure, I want to begin by letting you know that this is a stewardship sermon. Actually, this is the first of two stewardship sermons. And by the time I’m finished preaching next Sunday, I hope you will be convinced that making a generous financial commitment to the church is a really good idea. But before we go any further down that road, I want to make you a promise. You will never hear me say (or even imply) that you “should” give anything. I believe there are any number of really good reasons why you might actually enjoy making the choice to contribute to the work of the church. But guilt and obligation are not on the list. In fact, they are specifically and intentionally excluded from the list. The church is not Costco or a health club. You do not have to pay a fee to participate. Indeed, if someone is giving simply because they think they have to, then most of the value of the gift has been drained away, because stewardship is really about so much more than just raising money. It is about participating in the flow of God’s abundance.
Too often we begin our consideration of giving from a perspective of scarcity rather than abundance. “There isn’t enough to go around.” “I wish I could do more, but I just don’t have enough.” “Enough” is, of course, always subjective and open to interpretation, and can be applied to whatever particular resource is being discussed at the moment -- money, time, people, whatever. So what if we begin in a completely different way? What if, instead of starting with how much we can give, or even how much is needed, we begin with how much we have? Pretend for a moment that this isn’t a stewardship sermon. Or pretend that you don’t already know that stewardship is about giving. Instead just open yourself up to an awareness of being completely immersed in a universe of abundance. The creation story in the first chapter of Genesis ends with the affirmation that there is enough of everything for everyone, and God’s assessment of the whole affair is one of complete satisfaction. We lose sight of this reality when our vision becomes too narrow. We forget that we are a part of community. We forget that we are a part of God. We forget that we aren’t in this life alone and we don’t have to do it all by ourselves. Whenever we try to fly solo, of course we experience scarcity. None of us on our own is completely self-sufficient. None of us on our own has everything we need to survive – to say nothing of what the world needs to survive. But together, in community, in partnership with God, everything anyone could ever need is present and available, from necessary resources like food and shelter to more esoteric needs such as compassion and friendship. We live in a world of abundance. We are participants in that abundance. And everything falls into place in a more helpful and satisfying way when we begin with that awareness.
