Guilt, Gratuity, Gift, Gratitude RUMC October 25, 2015

Guilt, Gratuity, Gift, Gratitude

RUMC October 25, 2015

I want to start today with a question. Are you a little tired of emergency appeals from the church to keep up with expenses? I’ll admit I am. I want to be the first to point we have only had two cash flow pinch points this year instead of 4 or 5 when I came here 7 years ago. Things are getting better, and I am thankful for that and proud of the growth we have seen. I am also grateful that when the church asks for help you come through with flying colors like this last week. We had only $700 in the offering plate two weeks ago. The offering from last Sunday and throughout the week was $7,000. You are generous people. Thank you.

Finally, I want to point out that we are not unique. Almost every church… no matter the size or the location has these same issues and struggles. We are not alone.

I don’t know about you, but none of that really makes me feel better when I get the email or hear the appeal for emergency funds.

So let’s start with a quick lesson in church finances.

 Just like your personal budget, the church expenses vary depending on a variety of issues like utilities, insurance, withholdings, snow removal and more.

  Most of us have a predictable income. We pretty much know how much our paychecks are going to be month to month. The church income varies from week to week. Farmers, salesmen and others, also face this situation. For the church, this variation depends on the week of the month, season of the year, travel, harvest, economy, holidays attendance, giving habits, and a whole bunch of unknown and uncontrollable factors.

  In an ideal world, those expense and income cycles would match.

 But they rarely do. When those expense and income cycles are out of sync… that is when we experience the cash flow pinch points and we have to issue the appeal. The Finance team does a top-notch job trying to anticipate and prepare for these events, and they do the very difficult task of dealing with these cash flow pinches when they come. We need to applaud them and thank them for their hard work, but the Finance team can only work with what we give them.

 One thing that would help them would be to minimize the fluctuation in our offerings. You have an insert in your bulletin describing options of how you might help make the church’s income more predictable.

 Also the Finance Team or I would be glad to answer any questions you have about how the church finances work.

  NOTICE, HOWEVER, … I said leveling off the income cycle is a PARTIAL solution.

The MOST IMPORTANT part of the solution cannot be graphed or calculated

The MOST IMPORTANT part of the solution is not economic, because the problem is not an economic issue. The median family income in Grundy County puts us in the top ¼ of 1% of the world’s richest households. In global terms, we are the 1%ers. The poorest households in Reinbeck are still richer than 85% of the rest of the world.

I don’t say that to minimize anyone’s financial struggles. I have been there. Believe me. I know how hard it is to choose between buying food and paying a medical bill. I am not criticizing anyone. I am simply pointing out that at its heart; this is not an economic issue. If it were, the money would not have appeared in the last week.

The MOST IMPORTANT part of the solution is not psychological. If the sin of greed were at the heart of the problem, using the psychological tool of making people feel guilty would be appropriate. But you are not greedy, or again the money would not have come in last week.

The MOST IMPORTANT part of the solution is not administrative. Our budget is lean and our spending is very well monitored. There is nothing the office or the leadership team can do to solve this problem, because it is not administrative.

Well, I’ve told you what the problem is not. So what is it? Let’s turn to the scripture lesson for the morning.

 Ten Lepers came to Jesus. Lepers were not only religiously unclean, they were feared in Jesus day, forced to live as outcasts in shantytowns outside of the “Real” cities. They had no contact with anyone outside of their own little quarantined shantytown. If they violated that rule, they were summarily stoned to death.

Ten lepers approached Jesus, keeping their distance so as not to make him unclean. They cried out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” Jesus did have mercy on them and told them to, “Go and show themselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean.

What a miracle! Except that is not the end.

On the way to the priest, who was the only person who could examine them and declare them healed, one Leper who had been healed said, you know we ought to go back and give thanks to Jesus.

One of the others said, “You know what, I deserve to be healed. I have been sick for so long, I think Jesus only gave me what I deserved. You go back if you want; I am going to the priest.”

The second leper who had been cleansed said, “Jesus is a healer. He was just doing his job. You go back if you want; I am going to the priest.”

The third leper who had been cleansed said, “How do we know it’s real? It might come back tomorrow. You go back if you want; I am going to the priest.”

The fourth leper who had been cleansed said, “I’ll see Jesus later. There’s plenty of time to thank him. You go back if you want; I am going to the priest.”

The fifth leper who had been cleansed said, “I was getting better anyway. You go back if you want; I am going to the priest.”

The sixth leper who had been cleansed said, “I don’t care what Jesus did, it is the priest who will declare the disease gone. You go back if you want; I am going to the priest.”

The seventh leper who had been cleansed said, “Any rabbi could have done it. You go back if you want; I am going to the priest.”

The eighth leper who had been cleansed said, “I haven’t hugged my kids for 7 years. I have to get home. You go back if you want; I am going to the priest.”

The ninth leper who had been cleansed said, “I don’t think I really had leprosy any way. You go back if you want; I am going to the priest.”

Only one solitary former leper “turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him.”

 Are you more like the nine who didn’t return, or the one who did?

 None of us has leprosy, thank goodness. Unfortunately, we have something far worse. Terminal Sinfulness. Figuratively speaking, I’m a leper, you’re a leper. We are all lepers in the eyes of God until Jesus died on the cross and healed us of our disease. And as if that weren’t enough, look around you at the people who surround you and love you. And as if that weren’t enough, think about your family and friends. And as if that weren’t enough, look around at this beautiful building and think of your nice comfortable house. And as if that weren’t enough, open your eyes and see the glory of the fall colors, the miracle of a bountiful harvest. And as if that weren’t enough, think about the fact that God loves you… even you… even though you in no way deserve it.

If all those things added together don’t make you overflow with gratitude, I think there is something wrong with you. We have a lot to be grateful for, and as we come closer and closer to God, we come to realize more and more the magnitude and multitude of God’s blessings, and our hearts are filled again and again to overflowing with gratitude.

There are some people who give to the church out of guilt. Thinking, not consciously of course, but in the back of their minds that they somehow owe a debt (either to God or the church) and they feel guilty not paying for it. If that is you, bless you. But God doesn’t want your guilt, he would much rather have your gratitude.

 There are some people who give to God as though they are leaving a gratuity. For them the offering plate is a tip jar. Their giving depends on how they feel. If they had a good week, they might drop in a little more. If God didn’t give them what they asked for in prayer, maybe they drop in a little less. If the preacher didn’t wave at them as they spend by on the highway at 60 miles an hour they don’t give anything. It is all dependent on how they feel at the moment the plate comes by. Thank you, but God doesn’t want your gratuity, he would much rather have your gratitude.

Then there are some people I call the "gifters" (not givers, but gifters). They give because they feel like they should. The rule is, if you come to the party, you bring a gift. These folks give because they think they have to. Or because they always have. They may even give the exact same dollar amount they always have, even though times have changed dramatically. They may even look around to see how their gift compares to the offering of the person next to them, but they give to the church because they believe it is expected. Thank you, but God doesn’t want your gift, he would much rather have your gratitude.

There are lots of reasons to give and I am not holding judgment on anyone.

I do want to point out, however that:

•           I don’t think God wants us to put up pictures of sad puppies so people will feel guilty and give.

•           God doesn’t want us to put out a tip jar so that folks can give him a gratuity.

•           God doesn’t expect that we will give because we feel like we have to.

God wants us to give out of gratitude. God wants us to give because our hearts are overflowing with thanksgiving for all that he is and does. God wants us to give because we feel blessed by God. God wants us to give because our hearts are bursting with joy over him! God wants us to give because our hearts are bursting with delight in God’s ways! God wants us to give just because we love him so much that we want to give anything and everything we have, anything and everything we are to him in loving gratitude.  

God wants us to want to come back to Jesus like the one leper just because we are grateful

God’s instruction to tithe in the Old Testament was not a tax on success. It was an opportunity to bring the first fruits of the harvest in to God in gratitude and thanksgiving.

God wants our offering to be like the wonderful parade that lead the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. 2 Samuel says, “David and all the house of Israel were dancing before the Lord with all their might, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals.”

That’s what our offerings should look like. That’s what next Sunday should look like as we bring God our estimates of giving. It should be a great party, “Dancing before the Lord with all our might, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals.”

I’m not going to go so far as one preacher who told his congregation that if they couldn’t give out of gratitude that he didn’t want them to give at all. The chairman of the finance committee was kind of upset with him and told him, “It’s OK preacher, we’ll take money from grumpy givers and we’ll add the gratitude ourselves.” I’m not going to go as far as that preacher, but I will say that God will take gratitude over grumpy any day.

Anthony Demello, one of my new favorite authors tells a story “One evening a wise man was just getting ready to sleep under a tree when he was approached by a villager who came running up to him asking that he give him a precious stone. “ What stone” the wise man asked? “I had a dream last night and told me that if I came to this place at dusk tonight a wise man would give me a precious stone that would make me unbelievably rich. The wise man rummaged in his bag for a moment and, smiling, said, “You probably meant this one. I found it in the forest today and you certainly can have it.” The villager gazed at the diamond in wonder. It was as large as his fist and, even in the fading light, filled with luminosity. He took it and walked away. But, that night he couldn’t sleep. He was deeply troubled. Next morning at dawn, he rushed back to the wise man, and thrust the diamond back into his hands. “I don’t want it,” he said. “What I want is whatever you have that makes it possible for you to give it away so easily.”

In other words, Generosity.

It is not the gift. It is not the offering. It is not the size of the check, or how much of a sacrifice it is to us. Christian stewardship is growing into such love for God that we are more than happy to give whatever we have just out of gratitude for who God is and what God does.

AMEN