Loading...Sermon October 4, 2015
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, LSW
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen, Newport, PA
Pentecost XIX Proper 22, Track 2
What are human beings that you are mindful of them, or mortals, that you care for them? Psalm 8:4 as quoted in Hebrews 2:6
Please be seated.
In 1979, at the age of 23, I became a single parent with two small children, ages 3 and 4. Luckily, my parents were nearby and helped me as they could. I probably could have lived with them, even, but I wanted to be on my own. It wasn’t easy finding an apartment, because at the time, many landlords didn’t want to rent to a single parent. And, frankly, I didn’t have a lot of income. I was a legal secretary.
I also had a wonderful church community. I was Lutheran at the time and attended Messiah Lutheran Church in Harrisburg. I had started attending that church when I was 9 years old and so many people knew me and had watched me grow up.
Eventually, I found an apartment in Wormleysburg, from a landlord who wanted to help me out. It was a second floor and an attic that had been fixed up. It was right in front of the railroad tracks and sometimes when the trains went by, the vibration turned the dining room light on!
With the help of my father and a bank loan from my father’s friend, I was able to purchase a little used Fiat. It was bright green and we called it The Green Apple.
As you can imagine, things were tight. Luckily little children don’t have expensive tastes. We had a lot of grilled cheese sandwiches with grape jelly or fish sticks or the generic macaroni and cheese from a box with peas and hot dogs.
One Saturday, there was a knock on the door. I wasn’t expecting anyone. I opened the door to find my Pastor holding a bag of groceries. Messiah had one of the earliest Food Pantries, established in 1972 after the big flood. My Pastor had put together a bag of food that we’d enjoy. I really don’t remember now what was in it. And he’d also brought me a check for $25, which went a lot farther in those days! When I checked this out, I found out it would be nearly $87 today!
Over 35 years later, I still can picture Pastor Fries at my door. I still remember that gift, freely given through the church community who loved me…who loved my children…and who cared about me.
“What are human beings that you are mindful of them, or mortals, that you care for them?,” the Psalmist asks and the writer of Hebrews notes. How did we come to find notice and favor with God? And as the story continues, how did we come to be so important that God would send God’s son down to earth to be with us and teach us how to live…teach us how to love?
God loves us and Jesus loves us and our response to that love requires us to be good stewards or managers or caretakers of God’s creation. For those of us who understand that God made us for relationship and therefore community is very important, we know that being good stewards together is necessary…that giving of our time, our skills and joyful talents, and our money allows us to do more together to bring God’s kingdom and reign of love than trying to operate on our own.
In order to do God’s work, we must know the time, talent and treasure we have here at The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen. So, today, you’re being given a packet that asks you to prayerfully consider the portion of what God has given you in talent, time and treasure you will return to this church community during 2016. This is also known as making a pledge.
Pledging can be scary, though. Giving up our precious time…giving up our skills…and parting with some of our money can be scary. We here at The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen are human beings. We may not always do with your time, talent and treasure what you personally think needs to be done. Maybe we’ll misuse our gift. Maybe we won’t always be grateful. In other words, we fall short. However, the point is, that you’ve given freely to God, just like God gives freely to us and forgives us time and time again when we fall short. Making this pledge is a way to model the life God wants us to live.
Pledging is also scary, because we don’t know what the next year will bring. What if we can’t keep our commitments? What if circumstances in our lives change? Well, a pledge is an “intention.” It’s what you think you’ll be able to do given your current circumstances. And if your circumstances change, you can change what you’re doing. You can give more, possibly or you may need to give less.
Through the years, this church community has been fortunate to receive some large endowments. Can you imagine the people like Bechtel, Deckard, and Ullery who freely left their fortunes to us without even knowing us or knowing what we’d be like? They trusted God and trusted us that we’d be doing God’s work in this place. These endowments allow us to do so much more, covering 75% of our operating expenses. Yet, we still must contribute the remaining 25%, or nearly $63,000.
When we collaborate and work together, we make life better for our neighbors and frankly for ourselves. Pray and listen to what God is asking you to do and then return your intention of time, talent and treasure by October 25. There’s an envelope in your packet and you can stick it in the offering plate OR send it in.
What are human beings that you are mindful of them, or mortals, that you care for them? What will you return to God through our community so we can love our neighbors and care for each other?
Amen
