Scripture: Luke 12:22-34
22Jesus said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. 23For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! 25And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 26If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? 27Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 28But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! 29And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. 30For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
32”Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Sermon: “Celebrating Stewardship”
Years ago I visited a new UCC church in Boston that my husband Paul helped to start. The most surprising thing about their worship service was not the fact that Paul and I were among the oldest people there—which we were; or that they had a 3-piece band instead of an organ—which they did. The most surprising thing—to me—was how they did the offering. When it was time for the offering, a woman got up and started playing bongo drums. Can you believe it?! Bongo drums! And everyone started singing some kind of praise song that had a Caribbean beat. Then, the kids got up and someone handed them tambourines—and streamers, and they started dancing down the aisle—tambourines or streamers in one hand, money in the other! Then the adults got up—some of them had maracas and castanets in one hand, and if they didn’t dance, they at least all walked with a spring in their step, and they brought their tithes and offerings forward and put them all in a big basket on the altar that was decorated with bows and streamers. It was really quite festive. I whispered to Paul before we got up and took part in the parade down the aisle, “Is this their annual Stewardship Sunday Celebration?” “No,” he whispered back, “They do this every week.”
Every week! Which begs the question, “What, exactly, are they celebrating?” I’ve thought about that a lot since I first witnessed their weekly stewardship celebration, and here is what I’ve come up with.
First and foremost, every week when this church takes their offering, they are celebrating God’s faithfulness, God’s provision for our lives. Like our Scripture lesson reminds us, God faithfully provides for the birds of the air, God faithfully provides for the lilies of the field, so will God not much more faithfully provide for us, God’s children? That’s not to say we should sit on our hands and do nothing, waiting for God to provide, to send the Publishers Clearing House Prize Patrol to come knock on our doors with a million dollar check. No. God gives us each talents and skills to use to work to provide for ourselves, and God expects us to use those talents and skills, just like God expects the ravens mentioned in our scripture to use the wings and beaks God gave them to obtain food. So, we celebrate that God has provided for us by giving us a beautiful planet with amazing raw materials—and by giving us talents and skills to make use of the raw materials.
For isn’t that what stewardship is all about? It is recognizing that everything we are and everything we have comes from and belongs to God. God is the Creator, and we are the creatures. God is the Landlord, and we are the tenants. The truth is—no one actually owns anything; we don’t even own ourselves. We’re just taking care of it all for a while for God.
So when the church I visited engages in a weekly stewardship celebration, they are celebrating two related things: God’s faithful provision—and our part in it.
Yet there is an unspoken dynamic that we need to address before we can celebrate God’s provision and our part in it. And that dynamic is this: in our world, everyone is not provided for equally. We know the truth of this statement, don’t we? We see it lived out in the world every day. Everyone is not provided for equally. Some people, some regions, some countries, some groups, get more of the provision pie than others. Some get more of the raw materials; some even seem to get more of the talents and skills. Which doesn’t seem fair. And, actually, it isn’t fair, particularly when people are left out of the provision pie by the malicious intent--not of God, but of “the people in charge” who want to hold onto their own wealth or power.
For example, in our diversity training this past week, we saw a very enlightening video--backed up by indisputable facts-- that showed how black and indigenous people of color--the acronym is BIPOC--were intentionally left out of the provision pie in our own country. They were left out by state, local, and federal officials and business men who engaged in practices and passed laws to keep black and indigenous people of color from getting home loans, from living in the suburbs, and from giving their children an education that was on par with that of white children. All of which worked--and continues to work-- to perpetuate a cycle of poverty in BIPOC communities from generation to generation.
But let me get back to God. Today’s Scripture makes clear that this type of discrimination and racist behavior--where people in power hold onto the biggest piece of pie for themselves and give others mere crumbs--this is not what God intends. The Bible is clear, from start to finish (Genesis to Revelation), that God’s blessings are always meant to be shared. And when they are shared, there is always more than enough to go around.
For instance, God says to Abraham, the patriarch of Jews, Muslims, and Christians in the Book of Genesis, Chapter 12, “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3) God said through countless prophets in the Old Testament—Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Amos, just to name a few--that God’s people need to take care of the orphans, widows, and the poor living among them—rather than focusing only on the needs of their own families. And God said through Jesus that we in the church are to love and care for “our neighbors as ourselves.” (Matthew 19:19) God’s blessings were never meant just for one person or one family or one group alone—God’s blessings were and are always meant to be shared with the whole world.
So, that’s where we come in—and how we get back to celebrating stewardship. God is counting on us—God’s followers—to be the distributors of God’s blessings. Every week when we give our gifts, tithes and offerings, and our talents and skills in church and beyond, we celebrate that God’s blessings, God’s Love, can--and must-- be shared in our community and throughout the world. And we celebrate that we are called to be the agents of that sharing!
But we celebrate more than that. We celebrate the counter-intuitive fact that when we become agents of sharing, when we step out in faith and share of our time, talent and treasure, we not only benefit others and their well-being, we also benefit ourselves. Because, when we give--whether it’s a pledge to the church or a thankyou note to a friend, we, in effect, remind ourselves that we are not alone. We remind ourselves that, in the words of today’s Scripture, we do not need to worry or focus all our energy on taking care of ourselves. God has provided a kingdom for us--a “kin-dom” of other people with whom we are joined in mutual care.
We heard testimonies last week about saints--other people of faith who impacted our lives and made a difference to us. Stewardship is first and foremost about recognizing our kinship with each other and our joy-filled responsibility to share our love and resources with the people around us, to build up the body of Christ.
So, in this stewardship season, may we continue to celebrate the people whom God has brought into our lives, and may we continue to share our time, talent, and treasure to build up the kin-dom so that all can participate in God’s good gifts and no one is left out.
Rev. Dr. Marlayna Schmidt
Franklin Federated Church
Franklin, MA
[the first part of this sermon was written by Marlayna for a sermon she gave on October 21, 2012.]
Let us pray. Loving God, we thank you for your faithful provision for us. You have given us each time, talent, and treasure to use and to share. Increase our awareness of both our own giftedness and of each other’s needs, so that we can figure out how to share what we have with each other and our world in practical ways that benefit everyone.
Hear now our prayers for the world around us.
Bless the climate summit in Glasgow. May each country make and keep promises that address the needs of our planet and reverse the damage we have done to our planet.
Bless people in Houston, Texas, particularly the families of those who lost their lives in the stampede at the music festival. Surround the grieving families and the people who were injured with your healing love.
Bless the roll out of the Covid vaccine to children between 5 and 12. May education about the vaccine continue, and may all families get accurate information as they weigh any potential risk of the vaccine vs. the danger of getting infected with the virus.
Hear now our prayers for loved ones mentioned in worship today:
SLIPS
PHONE
And hear our individual prayers, in this moment of silence, as we lift up the names of those whom we each hold on our hearts…
And now may we join our hearts and voices together in the Lord’s Prayer, saying:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.