Lectionary Year A, Proper 27: November 10, 2002, Stewardship Sunday

Tony Campolo tells the story of a trip he took back to Philadelphia. [1] He had to take the red-eye flight, and was met by his secretary at 8:30 AM at the airport. She told him that he had a speaking engagement at ten that morning. She said, "I don't know how we missed this one." This particular engagement had just fallen between the cracks. It was one of those World Day of Prayer services, and Tony was supposed to deliver a 'missionary' message at a Baptist church.

When Tony got to the church, he wasn't thinking clearly. He was tired, hungry, and perhaps a little annoyed. The prayer leader announced that she had a prayer request from a doctor in Venezuela who had given her life to serving the poor in Caracas. The missionary doctor needed $5000 to build a new addition to her clinic. It was a worthwhile project but Tony was tired. When asked to lead the prayer asking the Lord to provide the $5000 needed by their sister in Venezuela, Tony said, "No." He then said, "But what I will do is take all the money I am carrying on me and put it on the altar." He went on to challenge everybody in the congregation to do the same. At the end, he said that they would count the money, and then Tony would lead them in prayer to make up the difference between what they collected and the $5000 that was needed.

Tony says that this was a good day to pull this off because he only had $2.25 in his pocket, but he put it on the altar anyway. The prayer leader smiled, and said, "We've all gotten the point haven't we." Tony, now probably getting warmed up a bit, said, "No! I don't think we have! My $2.25 is on the altar. Now it's your turn!" The prayer leader was stunned by Tony's aggressiveness, but pulled out her purse, opened her wallet, and added $110 to Tony's meager offering. Then Tony said, " We're on our way! We've got $112.25. Now it's your turn!"

Tony then pointed to a woman in the front pew. She looked around a bit, but got up and added some cash to the $112.25. Tony got the next person, and then the next to do the same. It took him more than 25 minutes to get everyone to place their money on the communion table. When they finished, the money was counted and they had taken in more than $8000. Tony says that even then he knew he hadn't gotten all their cash. Some came up and put in meager offerings, holding back most of their cash, giving Tony dirty looks.

There wasn't time for Tony to preach. After all, more than 25 minutes had been taken up with the collection, and even that was getting a bit long for a Baptist service! So all Tony said was, "The audacity of asking God for $5000, when [God] has already provided us with more than $8000. We should not be asking God to supply our needs. [God] already has!"

In the Gospel lesson today, five of the bridesmaids took extra flasks of oil with them to the wedding banquet, and five did not. So many details in this story are completely improbable, which is Matthew's way of giving us that wink and a nod that it is not to be taken literally. For example, where is the bride? There is no mention of her in this story. The bridegroom was late. While we can all imagine being late to a celebration – after all, maybe the donkey just wouldn't go fast enough – but how could the groom be so late as to arrive at midnight? And how can we accept the notion that there would be oil shops open at midnight where the foolish bridesmaids could buy oil? [2] These are all ways that Matthew winks and clues us in that this is no ordinary story. It is a metaphor for the relationship between the church as the bride and Christ as the bridegroom. Matthew was warning his people that whenever Jesus came into this world again that they needed to be ready. When Jesus called to them, they needed to be ready. The people at Tony Campolo's prayer meeting were a little like Matthew's bridesmaids. Like them, the people at the prayer meeting showed up at the appointed hour. Some of them were ready to respond to the call when it came, whereas others weren't. Some gave their all, and some held back. The wise intentionally prepared themselves. The foolish did not.

Last Sunday, we launched the Fall stewardship drive for St. Paul's. We had great fun – just like the wedding banquets Matthew describes in his Gospel. Several people in our congregation spoke, and Lowell gave us a pictorial reflection of the changes that have taken place here at St. Paul's over the past year. As you know, I am the newcomer to this parish, and while I struggle to remember your names, learn where you live, and find my way around northwest Arkansas, there is one thing I have learned about this place: St. Paul's is a vital community of good, loving people who genuinely care about each other. But more than that, we are a community of people bound together by our love of God. And that love is the inward grace that expresses itself outwardly in our involvement in so many important ministries and programs. I am privileged to be a part of this community, and I am grateful to you for welcoming me into your lives.

What exactly is stewardship? Peter Gomes, professor of Christian morals at Harvard College defines stewardship quite simply: It is the wise and prudent use of one's resources. [3] The wise and prudent use of one's own resources. But at the same time, we must acknowledge that what we possess is really not our own: it is what we hold in trust for God. What we possess does not refer only to money, stocks, bonds, property, and the like. It also refers to our talents, innate gifts and abilities, our passions, our avocations, and our vocations. There is an old Sunday school song that reflects this. It goes:

To Peter Gomes' definition of stewardship, I would add that the wise and prudent use of resources is something that we do intentionally, like taking an extra flask of oil for the lamps. We are all part of the Body of Christ, and each of those body parts works together for the betterment of the whole. It is how you and I work together to bring about the Kingdom of God here on earth. It is something that we do intentionally and with a mind that what we have can benefit others. We come to the understanding that it is by good stewardship of our gifts that we can truly honor each other and love our neighbors as ourselves. In so doing, we honor the whole Body of Christ – all of God's people – and fulfill the first a great commandment: To love the Lord God with all thy heart, all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

So how can we, at St. Paul's, do good stewardship? First, we need to take an inventory of what we have to give in terms of our time, talent, and treasure. Second, we need to look at the Church and its ministries and programs.

Time is one thing that we all seem to have too little of. I have found that if I intentionally look at how I spend my time, I can often find more time than I thought I had before. I also do not feel as harried, and I enjoy how I spend my time more. Maybe that will work for you too.

There are several ways that we can financially support the church. The Bible teaches us that tithing is one way. [5] Tithing regularly is a way of steadily contributing to the church, and it avoids the 'bridesmaid's rush.' So, if you like setting up a regular budget, tithing may be a method that works well for you. Tithing made especially good sense when the church was the major social welfare institution of Christendom. But today, there are many important and worthwhile charitable and social institutions and organizations that contribute to the visible and invisible support structures of culture and society. So, for some, the idea of proportionate giving may make sense. In proportionate giving, you use your sense of stewardship to decide what proportion of your total income is to be given to others – including the church. This is what Brandy and I do – we give to a variety of worthwhile charities and programs, and we reassess the proportion that we contribute each year. Ideally, proportionate giving also allows one to intentionally adjust the percentage that you give as your resources allow.

St. Paul's offers an extensive array of programs, activities, and ministries, including more than a dozen Christian educational programs for children and adults, a vigorous and exciting youth program, a truly one-of-a-kind music program with six choirs, Yoga programs, visitations at hospitals and nursing homes, the Stephen Ministries, and of course, St. Martin's campus ministry. People at St. Paul's have many talents and gifts to offer. But some of you may not know what gifts you have. One way to discover them is to dabble in the more than one-hundred ministries and programs St. Paul's has to offer. Your stewardship packet has an informational sheet that lists these programs. Take a look at it, and see if there is something that sounds interesting to you. There may be a program that will allow you to discover a talent or a gift you didn't know you had.

There are two parts to the financial stewardship campaign this Fall. The first is the annual campaign that supports the annual recurring costs of the parish. These things include salaries for the administrative and clergy staff as well as the many programs I mentioned previously. The second component is a special request related to the new construction. The new spaces we enjoy – the parish hall, the kitchen, the new areas for children – cost more than the original Raise the Roof projection due to differences between the architect and the construction company estimates. When the Raise the Roof Campaign ends in June 2003, we will have about a $500,000 debt to service for the construction overage. The McMichael endowment can be used to pay that debt service, but if we do that, we will have to cut back on our ministries and programs. So, we are asking you to extend your current Raise the Roof Pledge for one more year to pay off this debt. Doing so will save not only a huge amount in debt service, but will allow us to continue to enjoy our important programs and ministries and to implement new ones.

It seems to me that everything about stewardship at St. Paul's is centered around worship. Time, talent, and treasure are the three things we have stressed today – but those three rest on the cornerstone of the worship of God. The presence of God, and the celebration of God's deep and limitless love for us is really what supports and sustains everything we do at St. Paul's. It is the love of God and our love of each other that draws us together week after week. It is the presence of God in our lives and in each other that we celebrate and enjoy so much. It is that love that welcomes the stranger to dine with us at this table. It is that love which motivates us to volunteer our time, our talent, and our financial resources to feed the hungry through the community meals program. It is that love which ministers to the sick, and provides medical and dental care to the underserved in Northwest Arkansas through the Community Clinic. Loving God with all our hearts and all our minds and all our souls is what drives us to treat our neighbors as ourselves.

Fred Craddock tells the story of a mule his family owned when he was a boy. [6] The mule didn't have a name; they just called it "the red mule." The fences around Fred's home were poor, and the mule would get out, and it was Fred's job to find the red mule and bring it back. This would invariably involve going up over a hill, across the back wood, to the old family cemetery. This was one of those cemeteries with leaning headstones and graves going back to the 1700's. The wind blew through the old pines, and the carpet of pine needles was so thick you couldn't see which way the graves were laid out; the crooked headstones weren't much help. Fred hated going through that creepy cemetery, but he had no choice. To make matters worse, his Mom told him, "When you go through the cemetery, make sure you don't step on the graves. Graves are sacred ground, so don't you go steppin' on 'em." He said that he must have looked ridiculous tiptoeing and taking long and short steps trying to avoid stepping on the sacred ground. He would also whistle and make noises to convince himself that he wasn't afraid. He went home one day and told his Mamma, "I just can't tell what part is sacred. And his Mamma said, "Well, I know, it looks the same. But if you'll just treat it all as sacred, you'll never miss."

Time, talent, and treasure are the three things that we all hold in trust from God. They are all sacred things because they come to us from God. If we treat them as sacred, just as sacredly as we treat our fellow creatures and beings on this earthly pilgrimage, stewardship will just happen. We'll never miss.

Let those who seek my life be ashamed
and altogether dismayed; *
let those who take pleasure in my misfortune
draw back and be disgraced.

Let those who say to me "Aha!" and gloat over me turn back, *
because they are ashamed.

Let all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; *
let those who love your salvation say for ever,
"Great is the LORD!"

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died. For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died. For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel's call and with the sound of God's trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Jesus said, "Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a shout, 'Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.' Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' But the wise replied, 'No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.' And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, 'Lord, lord, open to us.' But he replied, 'Truly I tell you, I do not know you.' Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

[1] This story is taken from Tony Campolo. "He Already Has!" Let Me Tell You a Story. (W Publishing Group, 2000), 153-154.

[2] M. Eugene Boring. "The Gospel of Matthew." The New Interpreter's Bible, Vol VIII, Leander E. Keck, Senior Editor. (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995) 450

[3] Peter J. Gomes. "The Bible and Wealth." The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Mind and Heart. (San Francisco, CA: HarperSanFrancisco), 287.

[4] William W. How as quoted in Peter J. Gomes. 287.

[5] Lev 27:30-33; Num 18:25-27; Deut 14:22-29.

[6] Fred B. Craddock. Craddock Stories. Mike Graves and Richard F. Ward, editors. (St. Louis, MO: Chalice Press, 2001), 91.

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