GIVING AS SPIRITUAL PRACTICE
Texts: Romans 12:1-8 and Matthew 6:25-33

Today’s sermon is about giving as spiritual practice.

I’ve been using the language of spiritual practice a lot this fall. Spiritual practices are forms of lived, embodied faith woven into the rhythm of your lives.

They "center" our lives in God and help create a balance to our lives so easily knocked off center.

What we try to do, need to do, is to weave together a set of spiritual practices into what the monastic tradition has called a "rule of life." A rule of life pays attention to what feeds our spirit. It drinks from the wisdom of the ages. Normally a rule of life centers in five commitments which can take many different forms. A commitment:

1) to prayer
2) to study
3) to spiritual community
4) to our own needs
5) to the needs of others

Today’s sermon is about number 5, our commitment to the needs of others: Giving as Spiritual Practice.

I read that on a recent Oprah show each guest was given a thousand dollars to give away to others. It was filled with joy because part of what we need to be happy and fulfilled is to be generous.

Cherrie and I made a covenant early in our marriage. We had lived through a couple of years where we had so obligated ourselves in monthly payments that we had little room left to be generous. Every day we felt the pinch - - not just our pocketbooks; our hearts felt pinched too. So we vowed to leave room always in our budget to be generous with God and with others.

So here are some reflections on giving as spiritual practice. Our scripture texts are our guide.

I

First, we give from the inside out, in response to what God has given us. "I urge you," says Paul, "by the mercies of God, to become living sacrifices," living, breathing offerings to God and to others. "Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your minds that you may prove [discover, discern, live out] what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

Anglican theologian W. H. Vanstone likened the church to a "swimming pool in which all the noise comes from the shallow end." It seems an apt picture of the church, politics, society: All the noise comes from the shallow end.

We need to move to the deep end of the pool: Where deep calls unto deep, where in the quietness of mystery we dwell with God and God with us.

Let your giving come not from the shallow end of the pool but from the deep end of the pool.

II

Second. The giving that is part of the life of God in us is not just the giving of money but the giving of the self, as God has graced us. All we have to give, Carey Dowd said to me recently, is ourselves. Time, talent, treasure, minds, heart, imagination. Thoughts, words, actions. From our fullness into another’s need.

So Paul says, if you’ve been given the gift of prophecy, then prophesy - - but only in measure of the faith you’ve been given. (Don’t preach more than you know!) If you’ve been given the gift of service (ministry,diakonia), then serve. If the gift of teaching, then teach. If exhortation, then exhort. If giving, then in generosity. If in leadership, then with diligence. If in the gift of compassionate acts of mercy, then do so cheerfully. Who wants to be helped by less than a cheerful giver?! (I think of our S.O.S., Saturday of Service, 170 of us engaged in bubbling joyful service to others.)

Go to the deep end of the pool. Reflect on the graces given you by God; and give out of that treasure. In the monastic rule of life called the Jerusalem Rule we hear: "In your heart God has excavated an immense space where he has placed a precious treasure. From now on you have the twofold duty of receiving and giving: sharing the treasure of the kingdom you bear within you and stretching the area of your tent for those around you."

III

Third, we give doxologically - - out of our praise and thanks. As those who know how blessed they are.

A couple of summers ago John Claypool was fighting cancer and had gone into temporary remission. He told the story about the preacher who was driving erratically, and was pulled over by a cop. The policeman looked in and saw an open bottle. What’s in the bottle? The minister said, "Oh, that’s water." The policeman took the bottle and sniffed. "This isn’t water," he said, "This is wine."

The preacher said, "Praise the Lord, he did it again!"

John said, of his remission, "Thank the Lord, he did it again!"

If you are here today, there is something about which you could say, "Thank the Lord, he did it again." You were brought from sleep and given a new day of life: Thank the Lord, he did it again. Your body has recovered from illness: Thank the Lord, he did it again. You have accomplished some private victory: Thank the Lord, he did it again. You are surrounded by family or friends: Thank the Lord, he did it again.

Someone in A. A. recently told me of her church and of her A.A. group: "They loved me back to life." Thank the Lord, he did it again.

We give out of our praise and thanks. Doxologically.

IV

Fourth, giving as spiritual practice springs from a trust in God and a liberation from anxiety. Jesus lived with such trust and intimacy with God whom he called Abba. "Dear Father" or "Dear God" would be a good translation.

I think I would be helped if every day I read the words from Jesus we heard this morning. ‘Do not be anxious - - pulled apart by worry - - about your life, what you shall eat or drink, and what you shall wear. Look at the birds of the air, how the dear Father in heaven takes care of them. Consider the wild flowers of the field, how Abba clothes them. Solomon in all his riches was not arrayed as these.’

‘O you who struggle to trust,’ Jesus said. ‘Do not be anxious about these things as unbelievers are. Your dear Father knows everything you need.’

‘So seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.’

Part of Jesus’ message here is about a simplification of life. Ordering our lives around God’s values rather than conforming to the world’s values, ordering our lives around what we really need rather than around a growing appetite of wants.

We used to go to the market. Now the market comes to us! Endlessly, inescapably, seductively, insistently: T. V., radio, newspaper, telephone, billboard, Internet.

One way to be rich is to increase your income. The other way is to simplify your wants. How can we help each other move to the deep end of the pool about such things?

Quakers call the multiplication of possessions which weigh down our lives "cumber." With many possessions comes much worry. (That sounds like a proverb.)

V

Lastly, giving as a spiritual practice involves making it a regular rhythm of your lives.

The biblical way of giving is proportional giving: Giving a percentage of what God has given you. If you cannot reach the biblical standard of the tithe, 10%, start where you are, then grow. Establish a mark, then pray for the grace to move the mark. Here as in all spiritual practice the rule is: Start where you are, not where you aren’t.

The biblical rhythm of giving is "First fruits on the first day of the week." The idea of "first fruits" comes from the Hebrew practice of giving to God the first fruits of the flock or the farm, not from the end of the flock, the harvest.

Make your check to the church the first check of the month, not the last. Let your giving to God be your first thought not an afterthought.

And "on the first day of the week," that is, on Sunday, as an act of worship.

Every week in worship we take an offering and present our gifts to God as an act of worship. You may make your regular gift to the church by monthly check, or online, or by automatic draft. What makes a gift holy is the intent not the technology. But every week when we pass the plate you can give something. Loose plate offerings go to local missions and ministries. Whatever you give in worship is a symbol of all you give. Then we place the gifts on the altar as we place our lives on the altar and sing,

"Praise God from whom all blessings flow." Doxologically.

In a few minutes after our hymn we will invite you to bring your offerings and pledges to the front and place them in baskets on the communion tables.

We have as of Friday 481families pledging for a total of $1,550,500. Our goal - a worthy goal for such a church as ours - is two million with over 610 families pledging. There are pledge cards in the orders of worship for you who have not already pledged. Children’s pledge cards are in the pews. And if you’ve pledged already we invite you to sign your name and bring the card as the visible, acted-out sign of your devotion to God and the church. Sometimes we need a parade! To see each other’s faith, to act on our own faith.

If you belong to another church and would like to participate, we invite you to write on the card that you are giving to God and serving God where you are.

And the loose offerings which you bring go this month to the Emergency Winter Shelter.

In whatever ways the Spirit leads, we invite you to participate.

Every gift, large or small, of any size, from child, youth or adult, is a holy thing, precious to God and to our church.

Let me tell you the story again. It is almost scripture to me. Steve’s Gospel Chapter 10, verses 12-18.

In a former church I stood to announce the victorious results of a capital campaign. As I stood I debated inside whether to "round off" the number, but decided not to. "This day I’m happy to announce that we how exceeded our goal and have pledged $1,967,249 dollars and 17 cents."

After the service, a little boy came and pulled my robe and said, "That’s my 17 cents."

I was so glad I didn’t round off. God doesn’t round it off. Every gift is precious to God and to us. Every seventeen cents, every widow’s mite, every teenager’s gift, every family’s pledge. They are holy things, gifts worthy of altars. They are our acted-out trust, our living sacrifice. They are us...in relation...to God.