Transcript
Did you all hear the little birdies? Please be seated.
All right, y’all. Here’s the thing. I can preach a sermon on the readings today, or I can preach a sermon on stewardship. But I’m sorry to say I cannot do both. And since today is officially the start of our pledging season – yay – you’ll have to come find me later to get any interpretation of today’s gospel reading. And in case you are wondering, I’m pretty sure it involves hangry Jesus. You know, when you’re so hungry that you’re angry? Anyway. Yes.
Today is the start of pledging season. Now, one commentary said, I should have warned you all about pledging season starting so you all could make those much needed root canal appointments for today, insinuating that a root canal is better than a stewardship sermon. And here’s the thing. That’s not true. Or at least I pray it’s not true, because I want us to normalize stewardship, normalize conversations about giving and money. Normalize conversations about making the church function.
After all, we are the church, right? We talk about it all the time. Jesus says it. It’s repeated in Scripture a bunch. I’m pretty sure I have preached on it just about every single sermon I’ve given thus far.
The church are the people. You. All of you and me. And we are what allows one another to do church. To do all the things we think about when we think about what we love about Saint John’s.
I’ve asked quite a bit of people about that, by the way. I’ve asked the vestry and office volunteers and people have come by to chat this past week. I asked, what are your three favorite things about Saint John’s? And yes, the building and the beautiful stained glass and the graveyard. The physical presence was mentioned and so were the people. The staff, the programing, what we do and how we do it. And that is what pledging season is all about.
It’s not so much about feeling obligated to give money to the church so we can keep the lights on And Deborah paid. We love you, Debra. It’s so that we can continue to imagine and dream and hope about a future for Saint John’s, for us as a community, a family, a camaraderie for everyone who hasn’t quite found Saint John’s yet, even for those who maybe might never find Saint John’s, but somehow because of us, because of that thing called the butterfly effect, perhaps will one day grow in their faith and will find Jesus and will better understand those two greatest commandments to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves. And maybe eventually we’ll even find our church.
I’m not sure if you realize this, but I’ve actually preached a stewardship sermon already. I’ve only been here, what, six, seven weeks? And this will actually be my second stewardship sermon. And that’s pretty standard for me, because I don’t think stewardship should be limited to just one season of 3 or 4 weeks. Instead, I believe stewardship is a year round commitment.
It is something we do every time we agree to serve on a committee, or teach a program, or fill in a spot on a schedule. It is something we do every time we think about what needs to be done around here, both tangibly and abstractly, and now today and for the next three weeks, it is something we do when we think about our money. Some people might think money is a bad word, and once upon a time, there was definitely a culture of not talking about money in the church. After all, why mix spiritually with something as crass as money? But the reality is, money is not crass. It’s a fact of life as much as love and friendship and community and service and time are facts of life.
And while, yes, we all have different approaches to money, we all have different theologies of money. We also all have a relationship with money, and the church does too. And so for these next few weeks, we’re going to talk about stewardship of money. Yes. Stewardship of time and stewardship of gifts are also important. And I’m so beyond grateful for everyone who offers those as well. But pledging season is first and foremost about money. It’s about our own personal theologies of money, the value we place on it, and how it plays a role in our lives, and is about the discernment of how much of that money can also be a part of our faith, part of our prayer life. Part of our theologies of God.
Each of you have a gift, literally. Don’t open it though. As Andy Warhol says, the idea of waiting for something makes it more exciting. So we’re going to make these boxes really exciting because I’m going to talk about them now.
And don’t think that shiny silver packaging was a coincidence. Oh no. That silver paper has been glinting in the light All service. Maybe you even shook ‘em. They do make noise.
And beyond a small silver box tied up in ribbon, kind of like that song My Favorite Things, we have other gifts as well. And today, and these next few weeks, I want you all to think about the monetary gift that you could give, the monetary gift that would allow us to not just continue what we are already doing, but to grow, to dream and imagine, to honor the past and present by giving a gift to the future. By saying yes, I value Saint John’s, I value this community and this church and these people, and I want to continue to support them. And then I want you to pray. Pray about how much you give, how much you can give.
Now, I know that all of you are very generous. I know many of you give of your time and talent, and honestly, most of you give a very generous portion of your money to. And also, I know that as a parish, as a family, there is still room to grow. There’s still room to imagine what could happen if we were willing and able to give just a little bit more. So I invite you to pray on it.
This week you will be getting a letter and a pledge card. Hopefully USPS, you know, permitting. And when that comes, I hope you will sit with it and pray. Pray about what Saint John’s means to you, the gifts you receive from us, and not just little silver boxes tied up in ribbon, but all the other countless gifts that you receive from your church, your faith, even from God. And I want you to pray about what you are able to give back.
Giving, pledging, it should be a discernment process. It should include prayer, and it should conclude a little bit of the heart and a little bit of the soul. And then at the end of this time of prayer and discernment and sermons about money and talking about all the gifts that we have and are given and can give of examining oneself and one’s offerings to the church and to God. I will invite all of us to a party. Yes, a party on Sunday, October 20th. That’s three weeks from today.
We will all celebrate all the hard work each and every single one of us has done, and we will gather together and offer our pledge cards to God at this altar in ingathering Sunday gathering in all the monetary gifts you have offered, all the dreams and hopes and imagining you have done, all the prayers and discernment you have journeyed through, offered in the form of a pledge card, a promise, a reality that for us to do church, to actually do all the amazing ministries that we do and more. You all are the key piece. You all are the purpose and the reason and the catalyst. You all are the true gift.
One more thing. Don’t open the boxes yet. We’ll tell you when you can, but anticipation makes it all the better. So here’s to the anticipation of another pledge season, another chance to express our gratitude to God through the church.
Amen. Amen.