Gospel Vision
FROM THE RECTOR
Have you noticed a theme in the gospel readings on Sunday mornings over the last few weeks? “Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out.” “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid.” “None of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.” “You cannot serve God and wealth.”
Since the beginning of August, Jesus has said something about money almost every week. The readings from the Old Testament and the Epistle lessons have often focused on wealth, too. You might wonder whether the authors of the lectionary were trying to do clergy and vestries a favor by selecting passages about finances as the season for annual giving campaigns approaches, but, if you read straight through Luke’s gospel account, you will see that Jesus talks about money more than any other topic. For Jesus, adopting financial practices that reflect kingdom values is the quickest and most direct way to become his disciple.
Not much has changed in two thousand years. If we want to belong fully to God’s reign, we must ask God to help us leave behind the attachments to this world and its ways that we find hardest to forsake in order to give ourselves fully to God. How many of those worldly attachments are manifest in terms of wealth? We live in a world that prizes comfort and material security over the hardship and vulnerability that frequently characterize the lives of the saints. Our culture celebrates independence and financial success instead of the interconnectedness and selfless sacrifice indicative of the Christian community. Getting beyond the worldly expectations of a life built upon our possessions and not on God’s faithfulness is not easy, but, as Jesus’ teachings show us, it starts with concrete, practical steps like giving our money away.
Your annual financial commitment to St. Paul’s helps pay for all of the outreach, formation, worship, music, pastoral care, contemplative practice, and parish life programs that we pursue as a parish. More than that, though, it is a way for you to align your life more fully with the life of God’s reign. Every time we decide to set aside a portion of our wealth and devote it to God’s work in the world, we make the values of the gospel the values of our life. By committing to give back to God a sacrificial portion of our income, we teach ourselves that God’s vision for the world is the right vision for our lives as well.
You may notice that Jesus does not tell us to sell our possessions and give them to the church or the synagogue or the temple. In fact, if anything, Jesus is antipathetic toward the institutional expressions of religion in his day. Accordingly, I do not think it matters whether you write a check to St. Paul’s or 7Hills or Magdalene Serenity House or any other group that is carrying out the work of God’s love in the world. When it comes to your spiritual growth, what matters is that you make that gift a first priority in your life and that it is a significant, life-changing amount—an amount that helps teach you that God, not your bank account, is your true hope.
In a few weeks, on October 30, we will gather at St. Paul’s to celebrate all that God has given us and all that God is helping us accomplish as a parish. That Sunday, at all three services, you will have the opportunity to turn in an estimate of what you will give back to God through St. Paul’s next year. Between now and then, I hope you will think not only of how you can support all the ministries through which we pursue God’s vision for the world but also how you can grow in your own commitment to that vision by thinking of your giving as a spiritual practice.
When thinking about your giving for the coming year, I think there are two helpful places to start. First, start with where you are. How much are you currently giving back to God? What portion of your income does that amount represent? Will you grow in your giving from that current percentage by one or two percent this year? Another place to start is the tithe—the biblical and canonical model for sacrificial giving. How much is ten percent of your income? If you want to grow into a full tithe, how many years would that take if you increased your giving by one or two percent each year?
In the end, the goal is not to raise money for a church budget or to attain some external standard of giving. The goal is to become more fully disciples of Jesus—participants in the reign of God that is breaking into this world. Getting caught up in what God is doing all around us is a wonderful thing, but giving ourselves over to God’s reign is a lot harder when we continue to define our lives according to the values of this world. Thankfully, our money is something we can use to build our faith. When we decide to make God the first priority for our financial lives, we quickly discover what it means to depend on God as the first and most important resource in all aspects of our lives. That is why stewardship really matters, which is why Jesus spent so much time talking it.
Yours Faithfully,
Evan D. Garner