Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18; Matthew 5:38-48
In the third and fourth centuries, hundreds of men and women fled to
the deserts of Egypt and Syria. These people wanted to re-discover the Good
News of Jesus, the power of Christ. What is our faith all about? We know them
collectively as the Desert Fathers and Mothers, and they left behind many
stories of spiritual insight. One such story concerns a younger man named Abba Lot
visiting an older monk named Abba Joseph. And Abba Lot says to him, “Father, as
best as I can, I keep my rule of life. I pray. I fast. I meditate on Scripture.
I try to cleanse my mind of evil thoughts. What more should I do?” And Abba Joseph
replies, “You follow the rules?” Then standing up and stretching out his hands
to heaven, his ten fingers became like ten flames, and he said, “Why not become
fire?”
In our passage from Leviticus today, we have lots of rules. Good rules.
Leave food in the fields for the poor and the aliens. Don’t steal. Don’t
defraud people. Don’t take advantage of the blind and the deaf. Don’t be
partial in judgment. Don’t slander others. Don’t bear grudges. Love your
neighbor as yourself. And Jesus follows up with some other good ones in the
Sermon on the Mount. Turn the other cheek. Give to beggars. Love your enemies.
Pray for those who persecute you. Even if we ignored the rest of the Bible,
just trying to follow these rules would keep us plenty busy. But even if we
could somehow manage to obey them all, we still might fail to connect the dots
and see what binds them all together. We might be like Abba Lot, who somehow
misses the burning core at the center of all of them. You see, we’re not here simply
to follow the rules: we’re here to become fire. When Jesus says, You must be perfect as your heavenly Father
is perfect, he doesn’t mean we must legalistically observe every
commandment: his harshest criticism falls on people like the Pharisees who do
just that. To be perfect is to shine with the light of God.
And the brilliant, blinding light that unites all of these various
rules and commandments today is one of extraordinary generosity. In God’s
economy, there is always more than enough to go around: more than enough food,
more than enough justice, more than enough goodness, more than enough love,
even for our enemies, even for those who wish us harm. It doesn’t really have
anything to do with what people deserve or don’t deserve. This is a staggering
thought for us, but then again, we worship a staggering God who is not like us.
As Jesus points out, our Father in heaven makes
the sun to shine on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and
on the unrighteous. To shine like that is to be like Christ ― and to know
the generous and abundant life that Christ makes possible.
There are many ways we try to live this out in the church. And today I
just want to talk about one of them, which is our financial stewardship. Yes, I
know it’s February, not October: we’re not supposed to talk about stewardship
now. But if I can surprise you enough to get your attention, that will be a
good thing. As I hope most of you know, when we build our annual budget, which
is our ministry statement for the year, we do not take a fundraising approach:
okay, we need x number of dollars, so
come on, hand it over. We don’t take that approach because it does not
encourage an attitude of abundance. The goal is not to somehow collect the bare
minimum for us to get by as a parish. Instead, following Scripture and
Tradition, we have encouraged proportionate giving, asking people to give ten
percent of their income to the work of God in the church, or at least move in
that direction. To offer such a percentage upfront is a powerful spiritual and
theological statement: it affirms that there is always enough. We can always be
generous. And the more generous we are in our giving as individuals, the more
generous we are as a parish: in our ministries, our outreach, in all that we do
to know and share the love of God.
I raise this now because last month the Vestry approved a budget with a
large deficit. We can cover that deficit because the Rev. Jennifer Durant, who
died two years ago yesterday, left this parish a generous gift of money as an
act of love and gratitude. But we will not be able to cover such a deficit next
year. And what it comes down to for us is having three full-time ministry
positions: a Rector, an Associate Rector, and a Youth Minister. For many years
we had Associates right out of seminary who were paid accordingly and who did
not need health insurance. That is no longer the case. We have an experienced and
gifted staff, all of whom need health insurance, the cost of which continues to
rise. If our giving does not also increase to reflect that, a year from now we
will not be able to afford three full-time ministry positions.
I believe we want and need people in those positions. It enables us to
offer the best possible worship experience, the best pastoral care, the best spiritual
formation programs. It allows us to nurture a strong and thriving youth
community. It empowers us to fulfill our mission: to grow a community in Christ
and to share Christ’s love with the world.
I am telling you this in February so that in December people don’t say,
“Hey, I didn’t know we were in this situation!” Well, now you know. And I share
this with you feeling genuinely hopeful. We have a very generous congregation;
there is great strength to build on. We have welcomed many new members, and our
average pledge has gone up. So there is a lot good news. And in that spirit, here
are the two things I would ask you to do. First, the Finance Commission is
holding a special parish meeting on March 5 at 10:15. Please come. It won’t be
a hard sell, but a chance to hear all the details about our financial situation
and allow people to ask any questions they might have. We want to be fully
transparent. Second, it is never too late to pledge or to increase the
proportion of your income you offer to the work of God in this parish. If you
are giving three percent, please consider raising it to five percent. If you’re
giving eight percent, consider raising it to ten percent. Ultimately, what we
need is not an emergency fundraising effort. That is not sustainable. What we
are trying to foster is a congregation where everyone gives proportionately. If
we all tithed, we would have more than enough to do all God calls us to do. And
we can move in that direction, we can approach that very goal. The
extraordinary generosity of God calls us to nothing less. We are not here to
survive: we are here to become fire and to shine with God’s light ― in our
loving, our caring, our reaching out, our worshiping, and our giving.
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