Holy Trinity Episcopal Church
Clearwater, Florida
October 4, 2015
Genesis 2:18-24, Psalm 8, Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12, Mark 10:2-16
God the Giver: Richard Felton, Executive Director of the Episcopal Network for Stewardship (TENS)
Help us oh God…
Good morning! It’s an honor to be with you this morning as Holy Trinity kicks off its annual Stewardship Pledge Drive with the theme, “God the Giver”. It’s been a privilege to work with Randy Hehr and members of your Stewardship Committee. It was great fun to be with many of you, last night, as we launched the pledge drive with great food, conversation and community building.
The reading from Genesis and Psalm 8 highlight God’s awesome generosity to each of us who God considered, in the words from Hebrews just “lower than the angels”.
The eighth Psalm spoke to my soul. While beautiful, as read this morning, I found Eugene Peterson’s interpretation of it in “The Message” especially captivating. Here is how Peterson writes the eighth Psalm.
God, brilliant Lord,
yours is a household name.
Nursing infants gurgle choruses about you;
toddlers shout the songs
That drown out enemy talk,
and silence atheist babble.
I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous,
your handmade sky-jewelry,
Moon and stars mounted in their settings.
Then I look at my micro-self and wonder,
Why do you bother with us?
Why take a second look our way?
Yet we’ve so narrowly missed being gods,
bright with Eden’s dawn light.
You put us in charge of your handcrafted world,
repeated to us your Genesis-charge,
Made us lords of sheep and cattle,
even animals out in the wild,
Birds flying and fish swimming,
whales singing in the ocean deeps.
God, brilliant Lord,
your name echoes around the world.
Wow! This so beautifully outlines all God has given us. The whole creation has been gifted to us for our hopefully intelligent use.
Or as our Eucharistic prayer C declares, “At your command all things came to be: the vast expanse of interstellar space, galaxies, suns, the planets in their courses, and this fragile earth our island home.” The prayer continues, “From the primal elements you brought forth the human race, and blessed us with memory, reason, and skill. You made us the rulers of creation.”
God has indeed given us everything. What we’ve heard from Genesis and the eighth Psalm confirms that and we acknowledge that in the Eucharistic prayer. When we walk out of church, however, do we believe it?
Or do we believe that God gave us the grandness of creation and we’ve had to fight tooth and nail for our portion of it? Do we believe that it is our hard work, our education, our skill that has gotten us to where we are today?
The way we decide between the two alternatives of believing in God’s awesome abundance or believing in our own hard work most often determines how generous we are. Of course, most of us, I believe fall somewhere in between those two options; and we try to find our way along that middle course
Archbishop Desmond Tutu in his book, “In God’s Hands” says, “This is a God who intervenes on our behalf, not because we deserve it, but because God’s love is freely given. It is grace. It is not earned; it cannot be earned. It does not need to be earned.” Think on that for a moment. God’s grace does not need to be earned.
In today’s Gospel, however, Jesus notes the hard heartedness or the unyielding hearts of the people during the time of Moses. God also decried to Moses in Exodus that his people were “stiff-necked people” for they built the golden calf to worship.
Being hard hearted or stiff necked seems to be something we should avoid. Instead, God shows us, through God’s generosity a different way to live.
So we have a choice to make. We can be hard hearted or our hearts can be open and generous. My friend, Dave Toycen, writes in his book, “The Power of Generosity”, “I believe we have to make a choice between people being encouraged in their lives or being discouraged. And that matters for both spiritual and moral reasons. The idea that everyone should be left alone to hope for the best is grossly inadequate. I have experienced the personal joy and uplift when someone goes out of his or her way to be generous and caring. If I am generous to someone, that person will likely be generous to someone else. There is an argument to be made that the universe was created to operate this way.”
We are called to embrace a generosity in and with all things. Generosity in friendships. Generosity in spirit. Generosity by inviting others to worship. Generosity in forgiveness. Generosity in volunteering. Generosity with money.
Being generous with our money, and even talking about such generosity is difficult.
Toycen also writes about this challenge. “Money brings stability because everyone needs it and wants it. Money is a resource that provides food, shelter and clothing. It’s a human construct that gives order to the exchange of things that we value. In our capitalist world, it’s the only way to get on and get along. But there is a difference between a rightful place in our lives and one that dominates and becomes obsessive.”
He continues, “On the one hand it serves the intent of those who use it as a tool and on the other hand it brings some baggage because of what it stands for. Money gets worshipped, as something in itself, which will bring satisfaction and fulfillment. The tool suddenly becomes the prized possession instead of a step in a process that leads to a fulfilled life. The choice faces everyone. The Bible says you cannot serve God and money. The statement is making a point that you cannot have a transcendent value in your life while still holding money of equal importance. You have to make a choice. Your ultimate value will come in conflict with your desire to gain and hold money at all costs.”
Think about what is important in your life. How important is money? Is it a tool for you or a master of you? I have to admit it’s been both at different times in my life. My wife and I have not always used it wisely and we have not always given generously. Though we strive to tithe, we haven’t always succeeded. What I’ve learned, however, is that we are happiest when we are being generous. Generosity frees us to live a life that is positive, transformational, and meaningful.
Acknowledging God’s generosity to us and living into that generosity transforms our lives. Embracing God’s generosity will help you make Holy Trinity a thriving parish making a difference in Clearwater and beyond.
John F. Kennedy finished his inaugural address with these words, “With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God’s work must truly be our own.”
Said another way, Teresa of Avila wrote:
“Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”
At the table, we will be given the bread and wine made holy with words affirming that for us, they are the body and blood of Jesus. We take them to give us meaning, salvation, and strength. We take them so that we can be Christ’s body in the world and do the work God is calling us to do.
Our generosity can never match God’s awesome abundance, but that must not keep us from living generously and giving abundantly to God’s work through Holy Trinity. Only through the generosity of this congregation can Holy Trinity be the eyes, the hands and the feet of Christ in Clearwater and beyond.
Amen
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