I want to talk to you about something tender, something urgent. I want to talk with you about teenage suicide especially the pain that bullied teens face. And we all know that teens coming to terms with their sexuality are at a very tender place. And we all know that teens who come to understand that they are attracted to others of the same gender are vulnerable. But not today. I commend the link sent out on yesterday’s Trinity Tweet, a message from our Bishop posted on Youtube as part of the “It Gets Better Project. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPZ5eUrNF24 Next week during coffee hour I invite you to sit down with me and talk about this timely, urgent concern.
This week, I would like to focus on something a little less tender. Let’s talk about tithing. We all know that it’s the biblical expectation yet its so hard to do. The best story Ive ever heard Charles Lafond tell was about a visit several years ago to a small congregation that was, years after our Bishop was elected, still very upset and on the verge of leaving the Episcopal Church. Of course a parish cannot leave the Diocese. People go where the spirit leads them, often sadly, and painfully. When people feel they must go for the sake of their spirit it is our responsibility to send them with our love, and with the Blessing of this Church. People may go, but the parish remains.
Anyway, years ago Charles Lafond visited a troubled parish for a talk on stewardship. One of the unhappy leaders asked him a question about interpretation of scripture on the issue of sexuality. His response was something like: if you take seriously the word of scripture as printed in the Bible, how many of you Tithe? That one question affirmed their faithfulness and challenged it. That one question turned the tide in the congregation and they are today a small community growing more and more loving to each other and to the people around them.
So we are called by God to tithe – to render unto Ceasar what is Ceasar’s and to render unto God what is God’s. And its all God’s. All that we are, all that we have flows from our magnificently giving and loving God. God protected the first flawed humans by making them clothes. God watched over and revealed God’s self to Abraham, and promised him abundant flocks and children in his old age. Sarah laughed, disbelieving and yet God kept the promise. God protected humans, and the beasts, when the Earth was devastated by a flood and set a sign of God’s promise in the sky. God protected the youth in his Technicolor dream coat, abandoned by his brothers and sold into slavery. Through Joseph God’s whole famine stricken family was fed. God protected the abused slaves through the mighty prophet Moses. And in Jeremiah’s time, when the people had again been carried into captivity as a result of their failure to live wise and lovingly, even then God watched over the remnant and renewed the promise of fidelity, of protection, of return to faithfulness.
Through Jeremiah we have these words of hope: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, "Know the LORD," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
God claims us again and again. God knows we are stubborn stiff necked people, who have a hard time trusting God’s promise. Jeremiah says that God is going to write the promise not on tablets that need to be carried around and protected and interpreted – tablets that can get stolen or mutilated. God is going to carve the promise on us, on our very hearts. Can we let our hearts be carved?
Can we allow God cut into us, into our busy lives and long long ‘to do’ lists? Can we sit still long enough for God to take a scalpel to the masks that we put on to hide our true selves from people who might not like us if they knew how flawed we are? Can we permit God pierce the barrier that we wrap around our tears so that our pain will not show? Can we let God’s sharp knife of grace open us up to the new life that is ready to burst our from inside if we would only give it a chance?
God knows how hard it is to follow the Way of love. God knows how hard it is for humans to trust in the promises that if we only love each other all shall be well. That is why God sent Jesus, the Way revealed in flesh and blood. That is why God calls us to gather week by week around to hear the Good News and to practice generosity, really practice it. We are gathered to stretch and extend our generosity muscles until they give us some twinges just enough that we know we are alive, and healthy. We gather to share the bread.
This table to which God invites us, is that place where we can let ourselves be stretched and filled with encouragement, joy and comfort. That is why God sends bread for eating, and wine for drinking, God’s very own life poured out for our life. Perhaps God is like the persistent widow, pounding on the door, waiting with longing for our response.
May our hearts might be strengthened to resist the work that doesn’t need to be done, to resist the evil we are tempted to do and to stop the evil done on our behalf. May we who gather at this Holy Table be reminded again that we are forgiven, beloved and free from all that holds us back from doing the work that we are given to do.
May we allow the Cross to be carved on us, letting God’s light shine through us, onto the world. AMEN
This week, I would like to focus on something a little less tender. Let’s talk about tithing. We all know that it’s the biblical expectation yet its so hard to do. The best story Ive ever heard Charles Lafond tell was about a visit several years ago to a small congregation that was, years after our Bishop was elected, still very upset and on the verge of leaving the Episcopal Church. Of course a parish cannot leave the Diocese. People go where the spirit leads them, often sadly, and painfully. When people feel they must go for the sake of their spirit it is our responsibility to send them with our love, and with the Blessing of this Church. People may go, but the parish remains.
Anyway, years ago Charles Lafond visited a troubled parish for a talk on stewardship. One of the unhappy leaders asked him a question about interpretation of scripture on the issue of sexuality. His response was something like: if you take seriously the word of scripture as printed in the Bible, how many of you Tithe? That one question affirmed their faithfulness and challenged it. That one question turned the tide in the congregation and they are today a small community growing more and more loving to each other and to the people around them.
So we are called by God to tithe – to render unto Ceasar what is Ceasar’s and to render unto God what is God’s. And its all God’s. All that we are, all that we have flows from our magnificently giving and loving God. God protected the first flawed humans by making them clothes. God watched over and revealed God’s self to Abraham, and promised him abundant flocks and children in his old age. Sarah laughed, disbelieving and yet God kept the promise. God protected humans, and the beasts, when the Earth was devastated by a flood and set a sign of God’s promise in the sky. God protected the youth in his Technicolor dream coat, abandoned by his brothers and sold into slavery. Through Joseph God’s whole famine stricken family was fed. God protected the abused slaves through the mighty prophet Moses. And in Jeremiah’s time, when the people had again been carried into captivity as a result of their failure to live wise and lovingly, even then God watched over the remnant and renewed the promise of fidelity, of protection, of return to faithfulness.
Through Jeremiah we have these words of hope: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, "Know the LORD," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
God claims us again and again. God knows we are stubborn stiff necked people, who have a hard time trusting God’s promise. Jeremiah says that God is going to write the promise not on tablets that need to be carried around and protected and interpreted – tablets that can get stolen or mutilated. God is going to carve the promise on us, on our very hearts. Can we let our hearts be carved?
Can we allow God cut into us, into our busy lives and long long ‘to do’ lists? Can we sit still long enough for God to take a scalpel to the masks that we put on to hide our true selves from people who might not like us if they knew how flawed we are? Can we permit God pierce the barrier that we wrap around our tears so that our pain will not show? Can we let God’s sharp knife of grace open us up to the new life that is ready to burst our from inside if we would only give it a chance?
God knows how hard it is to follow the Way of love. God knows how hard it is for humans to trust in the promises that if we only love each other all shall be well. That is why God sent Jesus, the Way revealed in flesh and blood. That is why God calls us to gather week by week around to hear the Good News and to practice generosity, really practice it. We are gathered to stretch and extend our generosity muscles until they give us some twinges just enough that we know we are alive, and healthy. We gather to share the bread.
This table to which God invites us, is that place where we can let ourselves be stretched and filled with encouragement, joy and comfort. That is why God sends bread for eating, and wine for drinking, God’s very own life poured out for our life. Perhaps God is like the persistent widow, pounding on the door, waiting with longing for our response.
May our hearts might be strengthened to resist the work that doesn’t need to be done, to resist the evil we are tempted to do and to stop the evil done on our behalf. May we who gather at this Holy Table be reminded again that we are forgiven, beloved and free from all that holds us back from doing the work that we are given to do.
May we allow the Cross to be carved on us, letting God’s light shine through us, onto the world. AMEN
Thank you Susan! This is such a great reminder the difficulties children face today! They can be hungry, live in abusive homes, be cold but the one thing we can not fix unless WE LISTEN is their heart! - Shelly
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