Roger Lynn
November 15, 2020
Stewardship Emphasis
(CLICK HERE for the audio for this sermon)
(CLICK HERE for the video for this sermon)
(CLICK HERE for the video of the entire service)
Last week I preached a stewardship sermon and barely even mentioned money. Yeah, I know – weird, huh! Well, you can relax because I plan to make up for it this week. But you still don’t need to run for the exits (or shut off your computer, as the case may be). Talking about money in church need not be tedious, or demanding, or any of the other things that so often come up in people’s minds when the topic is mentioned. Giving (or sharing) actually appears frequently within the pages of scripture. Even Jesus mentions it. Often such references don’t specifically include money, but that is because the Bible was written in other cultures at other times when there were various methods by which transactional arrangements were made. In a largely agricultural context, for instance, where barter was a primary means of exchange, money could easily be less important. Different forms for different circumstances.
So it can be helpful to take a step back and begin by looking at the underlying message. In our scripture text for today, for example, (which you may recognize from last week), we hear encouragement to work for justice, to stop oppression, and to end hunger, poverty, and homelessness. Similar messages can be found throughout the Bible. I suspect that most, if not all, of us would find these things to be admirable and worthy goals. And in this passage from Isaiah there is no reference to money. The means by which these admirable and worthy goals are to be achieved are not stipulated. In some cultural contexts they could, perhaps, be accomplished with little or no use of monetary currency. That is not, however, our particular cultural context. For those of us who live in the United States of American in the year 2020, money occupies a central place in terms of how we get things done. This is not because our money has some sort of intrinsic value. The paper on which a dollar bill is printed is not “worth” a dollar. And most certainly this is even more dramatically true for the electronic signal used when I spend $100 at some on-line business by clicking on a digital button. We all know this, but it’s easy to forget. Our money is an intermediary stand in for other things we value – our time, out talents, our treasure. If someone earns $10/hour at their job and then goes to the grocery store to purchase $10 worth of food, what they are really doing is exchanging an hour of their time for something to eat.
So, back to the matter of talking about money in church, what we’re really talking about is something larger than dollars and cents. When we hear the words of Isaiah about working for justice, and stopping oppression, and ending hunger, poverty, and homelessness, and we say (either individually or as a congregation) that we want to take those words seriously and start doing something towards making them a reality in our world, then that conversation is almost certainly going to include a discussion about money. Clearly there are things we can do towards ending hunger that don’t involve money. There are people in our congregation, for example, who volunteer their time at Food Share. The same could be said for all of the other things on Isaiah’s list. When I attended the Black Lives Matter rallies earlier in the year I was, in my own way, working for justice, and it didn’t involve making a financial contribution. But there is so much that needs to be done in all of the areas which Isaiah mentions which requires enormous and specialized attention beyond our individual capacity to address. And so we pool our resources to more efficiently and effectively meet the needs. We give money (a representational substitute for our time and talent) so that experts can be hired and commodities can be purchased on a scale that can actually get the job done.
Our stewardship theme this year is “Keep Reaching Out.” As I mentioned in my sermon last Sunday, I believe that reaching out is built into the very fabric of our being. The drive to connect with the world beyond the boundaries of our own skin is a vital part of what it means to be human. It is part of what it means to be created in the image of God. In the creation story which appears in the second chapter of Genesis, God says, “It is not good that the human should be alone.” We are created to reach out and share connection with the world around us. We are created to care about each other and make a positive difference in the world. When we deny and ignore this aspect of our divinely created nature, we end up living diminished lives.
One of the ways in which we can extend our reaching out beyond the length of our own arms is when we make financial contributions to organizations (like Plymouth Congregational Church) who use our gifts to work on our behalf for causes we believe in. Some of that happens locally. Your financial support allows us to maintain our building. Even in these past nine months when much of our facility has been shutdown there has still been mission and ministry occurring through our building. Children have been cared for in the daycare, now under new management. Alcoholics Anonymous has been able to meet and support sobriety and healthy living for its members. Worship on the lawn (for both Plymouth and the Unitarians) was able to occur in support of people’s spiritual well-being. In addition, we use our collective financial resources to support the work of other agencies in town, including God’s Love, Food Share, and Family Promise. This worship service right now, being streamed on-line through YouTube, is made possible because of your financial support. When the Covid-19 crisis is over and we return to a more “normal” schedule of activities at the church (Bible Study, fellowship events, worship, etc) there will be even more need for available funds, including an expanded and enhanced capacity to stream our services, because we have discovered that we are reaching people who we would not reach otherwise. Some of the work we support happens nationally and globally. Because we are a part of the United Church of Christ denomination we join forces with other UCC congregations by contributing to the work that is accomplished through funds such as Our Church’s Wider Mission (OCWM) and One Great Hour of Sharing. In this way we seek to make a difference in our community, our country, and our world.
If you believe that working for justice, stopping oppression, and ending hunger, poverty, and homelessness are worthwhile causes to support, and if you believe that Plymouth Congregational Church is working on your behalf to promote those values, then I encourage you to reach out through your giving to support us. If you believe that sharing the gospel message of God’s all-inclusive and compassionate love is a worthwhile endeavor, and if you believe that Plymouth Congregational Church is actively engaged in that undertaking, then I encourage you to reach out through your giving to support us. If you believe that the work we do together here at Plymouth makes a positive difference in your life and in the lives of others in our community and in our world, then I encourage you to reach out through your giving to support us.
Stewardship is about everything we do, with everything we have, and everything we are. It will include getting actively and personally involved in a direct and hands-on way. And it will include supporting the larger work beyond ourselves with our financial contributions. I encourage you to be prayerful and intentional in deciding what stewardship looks like in your life. How will you support the things you value and believe in? How much of your time, talent, and treasure will you contribute to support that work, either directly or through your financial gifts? I invite you to keep reaching out, with your living and your giving, so that together we can continue to make a difference in our world. Keep reaching out. Amen.
So it can be helpful to take a step back and begin by looking at the underlying message. In our scripture text for today, for example, (which you may recognize from last week), we hear encouragement to work for justice, to stop oppression, and to end hunger, poverty, and homelessness. Similar messages can be found throughout the Bible. I suspect that most, if not all, of us would find these things to be admirable and worthy goals. And in this passage from Isaiah there is no reference to money. The means by which these admirable and worthy goals are to be achieved are not stipulated. In some cultural contexts they could, perhaps, be accomplished with little or no use of monetary currency. That is not, however, our particular cultural context. For those of us who live in the United States of American in the year 2020, money occupies a central place in terms of how we get things done. This is not because our money has some sort of intrinsic value. The paper on which a dollar bill is printed is not “worth” a dollar. And most certainly this is even more dramatically true for the electronic signal used when I spend $100 at some on-line business by clicking on a digital button. We all know this, but it’s easy to forget. Our money is an intermediary stand in for other things we value – our time, out talents, our treasure. If someone earns $10/hour at their job and then goes to the grocery store to purchase $10 worth of food, what they are really doing is exchanging an hour of their time for something to eat.
So, back to the matter of talking about money in church, what we’re really talking about is something larger than dollars and cents. When we hear the words of Isaiah about working for justice, and stopping oppression, and ending hunger, poverty, and homelessness, and we say (either individually or as a congregation) that we want to take those words seriously and start doing something towards making them a reality in our world, then that conversation is almost certainly going to include a discussion about money. Clearly there are things we can do towards ending hunger that don’t involve money. There are people in our congregation, for example, who volunteer their time at Food Share. The same could be said for all of the other things on Isaiah’s list. When I attended the Black Lives Matter rallies earlier in the year I was, in my own way, working for justice, and it didn’t involve making a financial contribution. But there is so much that needs to be done in all of the areas which Isaiah mentions which requires enormous and specialized attention beyond our individual capacity to address. And so we pool our resources to more efficiently and effectively meet the needs. We give money (a representational substitute for our time and talent) so that experts can be hired and commodities can be purchased on a scale that can actually get the job done.
Our stewardship theme this year is “Keep Reaching Out.” As I mentioned in my sermon last Sunday, I believe that reaching out is built into the very fabric of our being. The drive to connect with the world beyond the boundaries of our own skin is a vital part of what it means to be human. It is part of what it means to be created in the image of God. In the creation story which appears in the second chapter of Genesis, God says, “It is not good that the human should be alone.” We are created to reach out and share connection with the world around us. We are created to care about each other and make a positive difference in the world. When we deny and ignore this aspect of our divinely created nature, we end up living diminished lives.
One of the ways in which we can extend our reaching out beyond the length of our own arms is when we make financial contributions to organizations (like Plymouth Congregational Church) who use our gifts to work on our behalf for causes we believe in. Some of that happens locally. Your financial support allows us to maintain our building. Even in these past nine months when much of our facility has been shutdown there has still been mission and ministry occurring through our building. Children have been cared for in the daycare, now under new management. Alcoholics Anonymous has been able to meet and support sobriety and healthy living for its members. Worship on the lawn (for both Plymouth and the Unitarians) was able to occur in support of people’s spiritual well-being. In addition, we use our collective financial resources to support the work of other agencies in town, including God’s Love, Food Share, and Family Promise. This worship service right now, being streamed on-line through YouTube, is made possible because of your financial support. When the Covid-19 crisis is over and we return to a more “normal” schedule of activities at the church (Bible Study, fellowship events, worship, etc) there will be even more need for available funds, including an expanded and enhanced capacity to stream our services, because we have discovered that we are reaching people who we would not reach otherwise. Some of the work we support happens nationally and globally. Because we are a part of the United Church of Christ denomination we join forces with other UCC congregations by contributing to the work that is accomplished through funds such as Our Church’s Wider Mission (OCWM) and One Great Hour of Sharing. In this way we seek to make a difference in our community, our country, and our world.
If you believe that working for justice, stopping oppression, and ending hunger, poverty, and homelessness are worthwhile causes to support, and if you believe that Plymouth Congregational Church is working on your behalf to promote those values, then I encourage you to reach out through your giving to support us. If you believe that sharing the gospel message of God’s all-inclusive and compassionate love is a worthwhile endeavor, and if you believe that Plymouth Congregational Church is actively engaged in that undertaking, then I encourage you to reach out through your giving to support us. If you believe that the work we do together here at Plymouth makes a positive difference in your life and in the lives of others in our community and in our world, then I encourage you to reach out through your giving to support us.
Stewardship is about everything we do, with everything we have, and everything we are. It will include getting actively and personally involved in a direct and hands-on way. And it will include supporting the larger work beyond ourselves with our financial contributions. I encourage you to be prayerful and intentional in deciding what stewardship looks like in your life. How will you support the things you value and believe in? How much of your time, talent, and treasure will you contribute to support that work, either directly or through your financial gifts? I invite you to keep reaching out, with your living and your giving, so that together we can continue to make a difference in our world. Keep reaching out. Amen.
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