Sermon preached by Rev. Lillie Mae Henley 12 Nov 2006
Through my research, I have read many sermons on “stewardship” and “giving.” Many of them began with an “explanation.” Here are a couple of examples:
Talking about money is difficult, but sometimes, a preacher has to do what a preacher has to do!
I read a story about a parishioner with had a weak heart who unexpectedly inherited two million dollars. His wife received the news first, but was afraid to tell him for fear he’d have a heart attack. She called their pastor and asked him to come over and break the good news as gently as possible. The pastor arrived and pulled up a chair next to Stan. He said, “Stan, let me ask you a hypothetical question. Suppose you inherited two million dollars, what would you do with it? Stan thought for a very short time, and said, “The first thing I’d do is give one million dollars to the church.” And then the pastor died of a heart attack.
Well, I hope that if any of you decide to give a million dollars to the church, you will have someone else tell me!
It isn’t hard for me to talk about money. I guess it is because I was trained as a marketing representative in the corporate world. When it came to the bottom line, this is what the computer system cost, when do you want it delivered, I could always ask for the customer’s commitment.
In today’s sermon, I’ll be asking you to begin to think about your commitment to this church and this congregation.
I’ll be asking you to think of your stewardship.
Generally when we hear the word stewardship, we think of our stewardship of the earth. And it is imperative for us to be good stewards of our planet.
The stewardship I’m talking about today is taking care of that which you have been given. When you were little, and you got a real nice gift, didn’t your mother or father say, “Now, you’re going to have to take real good care of that.”
Look around, what do we see?
A church built over 75 years ago. Not just by the Universalists in Washington, but by Universalists from all over the United States. We worship in this beautiful place built by hands not our own and paid for by generations of Universalists who are no longer living. Someone said that one of our members remembers saving her nickels and dimes to send to Washington, DC, to build this church.
We have inherited this building.
We have inherited the money that maintains this beautiful place.
Given by Universalists who left the treasures they accumulated in their lifetimes to ensure that Universalism would not die in Washington.
This is what I understand about the church’s story, and if it is different, please let me know:
Membership has declined since Reverend Brooks retired in 1978,
The membership to sustain this wonderful building, has not been large enough to keep it up since Reverend Brooks retired? The only time there was significant growth was when Reverend Vanessa Southern was here between 1995 and 2000, first as associate and then as the full-time pastor.
Nevertheless, the membership has not been large enough to sustain the upkeep of the church, and if it weren’t for generous gifts in the past, there would have been no way the congregation could have kept us the repair and maintenance on this beautiful building.
We’ll come back to this later. Let’s look at something that was in the Washington Post yesterday?
Did you read about the new church over in Georgetown that named itself The Apostles of O’Neill. There are nine friends from the University who started a church in a row house so they could all live together? They found a loophole in the zoning laws; they incorporated because up to 15 non-related people can live together if they are a religious organization.
From what I read, it looks like they are living out the meaning of religion:
They say they are a non-profit organization that gives to charities and their mission is “’to be active and positive members of our community.’”
We bind ourselves together to worship God and we organize around religious scruples. We are a nonprofit religious organization, and our mission is “creating a loving community for worship and service in the spirit of Jesus.”
Are the “Apostles of O’Neill” really a church?
Are they different than us, or any other church along Sixteenth Street?
It’s a good question, and one the City zoning commission will have to figure out.
It does bring us face to face with our own reality.
What makes us a church, other than our incorporation, our bylaws, and this building?
Hundreds of years ago, when the great cathedrals of Europe were being built, it sometimes took a century or more to complete one cathedral. The entire community worked at building the immense, inspiring architectural marvel.
Once a visitor entered the town of Chartres, France, when the great cathedral of Chartres was under construction.
The visitor saw the architect who was planning the pillars, and he asked him what he was doing, thinking that the architect would share something about the drawings. The architect said, “Why, I’m building a cathedral.”
The visitor then went up to a man who was busy cutting stones, hoping the man would share something about cutting the huge marble stones. “What are you doing?” he the visitor asked.
“I’m building a cathedral.”
Not far from the stonemason was a man carving some wood. “What are you doing?” he asked the man. “I’m building a cathedral,” was the answer.
Several other workers from several more occupations all said the same thing.
He saw the solicitor, the person seeking donations. He asked the same question, and got the same answer.
Off in the distance was a peasant woman with a large broom, sweeping up the sawdust, stone chips, glass fragments and other debris, tidying up after the workers had finished with their many tasks.
To her, the question was the same: “What are you doing?” The woman stopped sweeping, stood up straight and turned toward the visitor with a broad and proud smile. “Me?” she said, “Why I am building a magnificent cathedral!”
One person cannot build a cathedral.
One person cannot build a church.
It takes a community of people to build a cathedral and it takes a community of people to transform a building into a church.
We, the people, make this a church.
In our Old Testament reading this morning from I Kings, we see Yahweh providing food and shelter for Isaiah the prophet. Between the generosity of the widow and by the miraculous gifts of meal and oil, Isaiah does not have to do anything. Yahweh and the widow provide for him.
The story continues, past our reading, and we know that Isaiah has work to do. Not to earn the gifts he has been given, but to be a steward of his people. He is expected to take care of the tribe.
We have been given this building.
We didn’t earn it, we didn’t build it, and as far as I know, we haven’t added to the endowment. We are, expected by God, to take care of our gifts.
There’s a poem that speaks of what God expects of us.
Go bring to the needy
sweet charity's bread,
for giving is living,"
the angel said.
"Must I give again and again?
"Oh no!" said the angel
chilling me through
"Give only 'til God
stops giving to you!
Stewards give of their time, talents, and treasure. Where your heart is, that is where your treasure lies. What does this church give you that inspires you want to give back? What do you find here on Sunday morning, that leads you to give your time, talents, and treasure?
The Old Testament asks the Hebrews to give a tithe, ten percent of their income, and today’s Jewish community is expected to give above their tithe. The Koran asks for more than a tithe, too. Jesus, steeped in the Old Law, said to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and give to Yahweh what is Yahweh’s. Paul never mentioned tithing. He did ask them to support their new Christian churches, and he asked them to take up collections for struggling churches.
Whatever the circumstances, whatever the reality of our situation at Universalist National Memorial Church, if we gather to worship and celebrate God’s gifts to us, we are also called to stewardship.
This is the part where I share with you what I plan to do.
Believing that God brought me here for a purpose, no, many purposes, and that the Holy Spirit sustains me in my work, giving me meal and oil; believing that this place, this corner, this congregation has a potential that we have yet to dream, but God knows what it is and what it can be, I am going to give as much as I can give.
First, I am going to tithe my salary, before taxes, to God’s work. I am going to give five percent to charities and five percent to this church. Beginning January 1, 2007, five percent of my salary will be my pledge. Now, I didn’t consider my housing allowance, mostly because I have a $600 a month seminary loan payment. But, as I get more settled here, I will each year, increase my pledge.
How can I ask you to give five percent of your hard-earned treasures to the church if I don’t make that pledge?
How can I ask you to be stewards of this congregation, giving of your time, talents, and treasures, if I don’t set an example?
One person cannot build a cathedral.
One person cannot build a church.
It takes a community of people to build a cathedral and it takes a community of people to transform a building into a church.
Now, let’s get to the hard part, because we need to do something even harder than giving money.
We need to figure out how we can grow this church, grow this congregation. That means radical change on the part of the congregation. Today, at our congregational meeting, the welcome and membership committee and I will talk about what it takes to grow a church in our society and culture today.
It will be a new way of sharing God’s words and works.
It will be something that few Unitarian Universalist churches do, but a few do, and they are growing.
It will be something that is working in many Christian churches today.
What is the difference between the Apostles of O’Neill and this church and all the churches along Sixteenth Street?
Intent
Purpose
Reason for being
We are here because it is a place where God can help us meet the needs of each other. Where we can provide a place where we can be nourished and nurtured in God and of God. Where we can find the strength to live our lives as God would have us live our lives. A place where we find the courage and fortitude to make a difference in the world, to create Jesus’ kingdom, just as he asked, right here, right now, on earth.
My prayer today, is that we open our hearts to the word, not only to your Word God, but to the words of those that can help us, live out your plan for us.
Blessed be and Amen
Readings
Reading I: 1 Kings 17:8-16
Reading II
Sacrifice is a word not much heard in Unitarian Universalism. We are in many ways a very comfortable religion. We have no creeds, no commandments. We ask people to think for themselves and to accept one another, which are nothing to sneeze at, but by and large I’d say our yoke is easy and our burden is light. Yet while we count something less than 250,000 members, evangelical Christian churches and Muslim mosques draw in millions upon millions worldwide. The reasons are many and not all positive, but one may be that those religions demand something. The third pillar of Islam is zakah, a mandatory alms tax of two-and-a-half percent on any personal surplus retained for one year. Literally, zakah means purification, because money is purified when dedicated to the needy. In many evangelical Christian churches, a fundamental expectation of membership is a tithe to the church—ten percent of one’s income. This is sacrifice, a gift that transforms the giver. Perhaps there is something in each of us that wants to sacrifice, that yearns for transformation.