Celebrating Our Gifts with Our Giving (a stewardship sermon)

Deuteronomy 14: 22-29

Roger Lynn

November 10, 2019

Stewardship Commitment Sunday
(click here for the audio for this sermon)

In the interest of truth in advertising, I need to let you know right up front that this is a stewardship sermon. Money will be talked about. In fact, the discussion will include the suggestion that you might want to consider giving some of your money away. For those of you who might be visiting for the first time, please know that this is not the topic of most of my sermons. You just happened to arrive on the day which fits in with the old stereotype that all churches ever talk about is money. At the same time, however, I preach this sermon without apology or hesitation. If a church is doing its job as a community of faith, there there ought to be some truth to the stereotype. We, as the church, need to be talking about anything and everything that is an important part of life, and money certainly fits that description.

So, at the risk of repeating myself, please allow me to remind you of a bit of what I said last week about stewardship. Stewardship is based on the understanding that all we have is a gift from God and as such we need to be intentional and responsible about its use. Put another way, stewardship is about everything we do with everything we have, and everything we are. This means that stewardship is about so much more than just raising money to underwrite the church’s budget. It is about remembering our connection with God and celebrating that connection. It is about appreciating the gifts we have been given and discovering ways to put them to good use. I went on to suggest that perhaps a good place to start would be to do an inventory of what we’ve been given and then celebrating those gifts. I still think that is sound advice, and I hope you found an opportunity sometime this past week to engage in a bit of life assessment and rejoicing.

At some point, however, it is not enough to simply take inventory and celebrate. As vital as these activities are in establishing a solid foundation for our living, discovering true fulfillment involves building on that foundation. There is something integral to the very essence of who we are that prompts us to reach out beyond ourselves – a reflection of the Creator, revealed in the impulse to share ourselves with the world. It is an interesting paradox about human nature that to be truly whole we must give ourselves away. 

Such giving takes a variety of forms, from “lending a helping hand” by offering our time and energy, to contributing money for causes we believe in. Every so often we hear stories about a child who first becomes aware of the needs of others, perhaps in the form of a family who lost everything in a fire, or the hungry and homeless in her community, or another child who is sick and in the hospital. Their response upon having their awareness expanded is to give. And not reluctantly or with reservation, but gladly and abundantly. They offer their favorite toys or other prized possessions. Such an impulse is buried inside each of us, just waiting to be discovered and released.

We see this in the instructions regarding the tithe that we read from Deuteronomy, after the details about when and where and how to throw the party, there is another important detail. It is specifically and intentionally included in order to point us towards our own true selves, to remind us that when it comes to our giving, we need to always be striving to expand our horizons. “Every third year you shall bring out the full tithe of your produce for that year, and store it within your towns; the Levites, because they have no allotment or inheritance with you, as well as the resident aliens, the orphans, and the widows in your towns, may come and eat their fill...” (Deuteronomy 14: 28-29) The real celebration doesn’t begin until everyone is invited to the party. We are encouraged to give not only so that we can remember God’s gifts, but also so others might experience those gifts as well. 

Which brings us to the heart of a delicate matter. I said at the beginning that stewardship is about so much more than just underwriting the church’s budget. And that is true. But that does not mean the church’s budget is irrelevant. Giving ourselves away is an important component in the process of responding to God and reaching out to those around us. And sometimes that will take the form of giving away our money. But never is money an end in itself. Always it represents resources we can share – a means of accomplishing our mission. At our annual Congregational Meeting in January, when you are asked to approve the budget for the coming year, what you are really being asked to approve is the specific details regarding our congregation’s mission plan for 2020. The dollars we receive and spend represent our best efforts to touch the lives of others with God’s love. In a very real way our giving is sharing our tithe with the Levites, the aliens, the orphans, and the widows. That happens in lots of ways – including the money we send to the United Church of Christ, both at the national and the Conference level, in support of global, regional, and local mission efforts; the various local organizations we support; the upkeep of our wonderful facility so that it is available as both a place of worship and a place of ministry in our community. 

Paying attention to our giving is important, both in terms of realizing our full potential as people with an impulse to reach beyond ourselves, and in terms of remembering and maintaining the connection with the other people with whom we share life on this planet. We give because we have a need to give, and because the world has a need which our giving helps to meet. What we give makes an enormous difference, both in our own lives and in the lives of those whom we are thus enabled to reach out and touch.

Stewardship is a spiritual practice. It puts us in touch with ourselves, with each other, and with God. There is joy to be found when we learn to give ourselves away. So as we make our commitments for the coming year, as we place our money in the offering plate, as we share ourselves in all of the various ways in which that happens, may we continue to recognize such occasions as both spiritual practice and opportunities for celebration. We have been richly and abundantly blessed by God. May we respond with nothing less than our whole lives, including our giving. Let the celebration begin.