Showing posts with label Stewardship. Show all posts

This, in a nutshell, is our Practice of Stewardship for the Week.

It is true that I sacrificed a cow on Sunday.

It is true that the cow was up on the altar.

I hit it with a hammer.

It was a powerful sermon illustration, one that I'll use again.

It is also true that the cow was merely a "piggy bank cow" and was only 12 inches tall.

It was empty.

It was spray-painted gold.

And it was dramatically broken into many more pieces than I could have hoped for.

Sunday we talked about the Golden Calf from Exodus, where Aaron and the faith-challenged Hebrews got worried when Moses was way too long up the mountain talking with God. They kinda' forgot all that God had done for them, even though he had just dramatically delivered them from captivity in Egypt. They wanted to put their trust in something more tangible, something they could touch...a cow statue. And it just so happened that this statue was made out of gold earrings...a sign of their wealth and material belongings -- things we too make an idol of.

Anyway, during the children's time, before the sermon, we talked about the golden idol the Hebrews had made and put our little golden cow on our altar in place of our cross. The cow was front and center and we talked about the worship that we offer to God (singing, prayers, offerings) that we could offer to the cow instead. That's what the Hebrews did. And that worship is reserved for God alone.

As we continued, the cow remained on the altar and more than one person said afterwards that they wanted to tell me I had forgotten to move it off the altar.  But it was there by design, taking the awkward space that's usually reserved for the cross, right there next to the communion elements.

Then, during the sermon we talked about the love and providence of our God and how, since the Hebrews, who had such a dramatic connection to our God, could forget God, that it must be must easier for us to forget.  Our experiences of deliverance are much smaller.  If the Hebrews wanted to put their faith in a God that was more tangible and material and understandable by making an idol, we, too, must have that problem.  And so, when we forget to offer God thanks and praise for what God has done, we'll find ourselves making idols of other things; putting our trust where it doesn't belong. We may not actually melt down our jewelry to fashion a statue, but we'll trust relationships, families, job situations, and, in our consumeristic western culture, MONEY.  And that "golden calf" comes in and takes the spot reserved for God.

All the while, our piggy bank cow was front and center.

So, as we kicked off our stewardship campaign, I challenged the congregation to PRACTICE THANKFULNESS this week; to remember what God has done for them and to put our trust and faith and hope in his providential care of us. If we remember to offer God thanks, then we'll keep him in his rightful place as the object of our worship and we'll destroy the golden calves, the sacred cows, of our lives.  We'll find that we don't need to put our trust and faith and hope in anything else.

I was passionate.

I was moved.

It was one of those times where I could tell I had been swept out of the way in the sermon and the Spirit was moving.

I was pumped.

At that point I grabbed a hammer from the pulpit and smashed the cow, sending pieces flying.

And I put the cross back on the altar.

It was dramatic.

...

And that's why I sacrificed a cow on the altar on Sunday.

Next time I'll go a little easier with the hammer.

I kinda' broke the plexiglass protective cover to the altar.

Nevertheless, it was a God-thing.

This week we begin our Annual Stewardship Drive. There's an irony to that phrase, "Annual Stewardship Drive"... as if stewardship was something that was an annual thing, occurring sometime around October and ending around Thanksgiving with the ceremonial turning in of the pledge cards.

But, of course not. Stewardship is more than this. It's a whole shape of one's life, lived by trusting in the providence of our Lord.

Tithing is one of the practices that help us do this. It's a tangible reminder that God can and does provide for us and it's reminder that all that we have is God's alone even if we just tell ourselves that by giving back a small percentage.

Too often, however, we have a posture of scarcity in this life, living like there isn't enough to go around and that we'd never make it if gave up a percentage, anywhere close to 10% back to God.

Too often, however, this posture of scarcity leads us to trust in consumption.  We fail to see that there is great freedom in bucking the trend and finding peace and joy in getting by with less, in not finding our identity in so many of the wonderful material things we have at our disposal.

It was Elise Boulding who said the following:

Frugality is one of the most beautiful and joyful words in the English language, and yet one that we are culturally cut off from understanding and enjoying. The consumption society has made us feel that happiness lies in having things, and has failed to teach us the happiness of not having things.

In our culture, it can be a great task for the preacher to convey this to a congregation.

It's even a great task in trying to convey this to my own family.

And, if I'm honest, it's a great task in trying to convince myself.

Image via WikipediaWhen I have any money I get rid of it as quickly as possible, lest it find a way into my heart. —John Wesley

photo © 2007 Fabio Venni | more info (via: Wylio)
Text:  Philippians 4:10-14 & Deuteronomy 8:11-18
Title:  “Simple Stewardship:  Simply Give”

Because we had such a great presentation from the Gideons, I’m going to keep this a little shorter than usual today…and probably quite a bit shorter than many “concluding sermons” for a stewardship drive.  This would probably be the sermon where the pastor pulls out all the stops, pulls on every heartstrings, tells you to think about the children, and implies that an angel cries when you give anything less than 10% of your income to the church.

As fun as that may sound, this is “Simple Stewardship.”

We’ve been saying that stewardship could be simplified to some base concepts.

FIRST -- SIMPLY BELIEVE – Believe that we have a God who’s big enough to provide for you…and when you give, God will take care of you.  God, the creator of the heavens and the earth will be with you if you nudge up your giving.  Believing that you couldn’t possibly give more…for almost everybody…is a belief that God couldn’t possibly provide enough.  Don’t sell him short. 

SECOND -- SIMPLY SERVE – Our giving is an act of service.  Because you give, we can have a food pantry, we can have someone to counsel those who have lost loved ones, we can have Vacation Bible School, and we can, “through our apportionments (our giving to the Alaska United Methodist Conference) be in mission and ministry around the world.  When we give, we think beyond ourselves to others.

And, today, it’s SIMPLY GIVE.

But why?

Image by crunklygill via FlickrText:  2 Corinthians 8:1-15 & John 13:31-25
Title:  “Simple Stewardship:  Simply Serve”

A little over a month ago I went into the Alaska United Methodist Conference office with Sheila _______ (our money person) and Steve _______ (our “building” person).  To meet with Dave _______ and Leila _______ (our Conference Leadership Persons).  We met with them to talk about our church finances, which, the farther along we’ve been getting in our construction without actually occupying the building, the harder it’s been.  And we knew that this year, as we were looking at what we’ve had on our plate to get heat and start worshipping over there, it was becoming more and more evident that our “income” wasn’t meeting up with out “outgo.” 

And we’ve tried to be honest and forthcoming here.  The longer we’ve had to wait for construction to finish, we’ve been paying bills for a building we’ve not been able to occupy.  And we could see that it was going to get a little too close for comfort as we got to the second half of this year and into the beginning next year as we’ve had some large chunks of money due at one time while giving has gone down a bit.

This is a good video as we look at Stewardship, which confronts consumerism in our culture...and, indeed, in our church.  This short video is also about how we get the church to avoid idolatry.


Confronting Idols & Making Disciples from Bill Kinnon on Vimeo.


(HT to The Blind Beggar for the Video)

Image by Hamed Saber via Flickr
Almighty God, we do not deserve the Promised Land; we deserve endless exile. We say that money does not buy happiness but then live as if money is the chief source of happiness. We are quick to be haughty, thinking ourselves better than others. The poor starve while we supersize our snacks. We place some money in a plate or jar and tell ourselves we've done our part to fight poverty. We are inconsistent stewards when it comes to what you have entrusted to us.

By the blood of Jesus the Steward-Master, forgive us. Please. Yes.

Amen.




This is a prayer by David von Schlichten and found over at Allan Bevere's blog.

If I see a gift as mine alone to give, I might give hesitantly, even grudgingly, considering my options, then giving from a sense of ought. If I see the gift as God's who allows me to use it for a time, then the gift can flow more freely, as I join with others to be a channel for God's love and mercy.

- Roberta Porter, from her poem, "Grace in Giving"