All gifts are good
Mark 12: 38-44
New Ark United Church of Christ, Newark, DE
November 11, 2018 – Stewardship Sunday
November 9 also marked the 29th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Again, this act of restoration did not come about out of nowhere but as a result of actions, some large but many of them small, that came from feelings of tension, conflict, hope, courage, connection, and the desire for struggles that give birth to freedom, interdependence, and justice.
It’s the big actions, big money, the bigshots, big givers that tend to attract our attention, to which we ascribe power, that we enshrine in hierarchical systems and even emulate them and aspire to be like them. Our culture judges baby steps, small contributions, the average person as not enough, a drop in the bucket, something to be stepped on.
Unlike those who preach a prosperity gospel, who give what they’ll never miss, Jesus lifts up the one who gives all that she has out of her poverty. Jesus didn’t call the educated elites and city dwellers or suburbanites to be his disciples but blue collar fishermen and a bean counter and rural folks. Often we can be persuaded that if we give enough, if we are educated enough, it ensures that we are good people. Or no matter how much we give, whether it’s our time or our money or ourselves, it’ll never be good enough, we’ll never be enough.
Shame and pride are killing us. Comparing ourselves to one another is killing us. Greed is killing us. Heaping ever-heavier burdens on the working poor is killing us. Maybe evil sneaks up on us because we don’t celebrate enough the sweet small stuff and all the people that make it possible that makes life so precious. Maybe evil sneaks up on us because sometimes it’s dressed up to look like us. Maybe evil sneaks up on us because it was there all along and we allowed ourselves to be distracted. Maybe evil sneaks up on us not only because we discount and dismiss the small steps toward the dark side but also the small gifts of goodness that happen every day.
One gift of goodness was yesterday’s third annual Day at the Farm at Brewer’s Hideaway Farm in Rising Sun, MD. Our resident farmer, Rachel, had said that we would be harvesting dried corn and Wally beans. I had never heard of Wally beans so I googled them. Of all things, I found a recipe for the baked beans my mother used to make with lima beans, pinto beans, and kidney beans. But I was pretty sure that wasn’t what Rachel meant.
Turns out Wally beans came from none other than our own Wally McCurdy. About six or seven years ago he had a ruined crop of a variety of lima beans and had managed to save five beans, like the five magic beans in “Jack and the Beanstalk”. He gave Rachel a few of those beans and kept a few. Out of a few beans came a row of beans plants now twenty feet long and enough to share.
When we receive our pledge cards, whether in the mail or in worship next week, I invite us to hold that card in prayer and to pledge what we can, whatever it is, as though we are rich in hope.
New Ark United Church of Christ, Newark, DE
November 11, 2018 – Stewardship Sunday
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| The Widow's Mite, James C. Christiansen, 1998 |
Although it is the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, today I want to remember another important day. It was only 20 years later. November 9 marked the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht or Reichskristallnacht or Reichspogromnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, an act of state terrorism against Jews throughout Nazi Germany. This act of evil did not come about out of nowhere but as a result of actions, some large but many of them small, that came from feelings of loss, resentment, anger, fear, hatred, and the desire to control, to affix blame, and exact retribution.
November 9 also marked the 29th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Again, this act of restoration did not come about out of nowhere but as a result of actions, some large but many of them small, that came from feelings of tension, conflict, hope, courage, connection, and the desire for struggles that give birth to freedom, interdependence, and justice.
It’s the big actions, big money, the bigshots, big givers that tend to attract our attention, to which we ascribe power, that we enshrine in hierarchical systems and even emulate them and aspire to be like them. Our culture judges baby steps, small contributions, the average person as not enough, a drop in the bucket, something to be stepped on.
Unlike those who preach a prosperity gospel, who give what they’ll never miss, Jesus lifts up the one who gives all that she has out of her poverty. Jesus didn’t call the educated elites and city dwellers or suburbanites to be his disciples but blue collar fishermen and a bean counter and rural folks. Often we can be persuaded that if we give enough, if we are educated enough, it ensures that we are good people. Or no matter how much we give, whether it’s our time or our money or ourselves, it’ll never be good enough, we’ll never be enough.
One gift of goodness was yesterday’s third annual Day at the Farm at Brewer’s Hideaway Farm in Rising Sun, MD. Our resident farmer, Rachel, had said that we would be harvesting dried corn and Wally beans. I had never heard of Wally beans so I googled them. Of all things, I found a recipe for the baked beans my mother used to make with lima beans, pinto beans, and kidney beans. But I was pretty sure that wasn’t what Rachel meant.
Have you ever paid a bill for a friend, like the water or electricity or internet? Have you ever picked up the tab for everyone at dinner, given a generous tip? Have you ever paid for someone else’s groceries? Have you ever paid for the coffee of the person standing in line behind you? Have you ever paid the toll for the car behind you? Have you ever been on the receiving end of such a gift? Did it feel small? No, it didn’t, did it? If you’ve been on either side, it feels pretty good to give a gift like that and to receive a gift like that. I wonder what the world would be like we did more of this every day.
Have you ever given $5 or $10 to a political campaign or fundraiser or Kickstarter campaign? Facebook is now filled with folks who do small fundraisers in honor of their birthday. We proudly say “One person, one vote” and we know, we know that one vote is no small thing. We who call ourselves progressive appreciate the person running for office who takes no PAC money, even when they lose. The Social Justice committee of the New Ark uses its benevolence funds to give gifts of $100-$500-$1000 to organizations for whom that amount makes such a difference, especially those non-profits that do not receive large grants.
Most Sundays when I invite us to worship God with our offering I try to make it plain that your time here in worship is indeed an offering. In these days of competing attentions and activities and the need for a true day of rest, I consider your presence here to be no small gift at all but indeed, some Sundays you may be giving with your time all you have to live on.
Next Sunday we will all be invited to fill out a pledge card and place it in the wooden ark that will be on the worship table. We tend to think that making a pledge is for a large sum of money. A pledge of a gift is a spiritual practice, no matter the size of the gift. Public radio encourages people to pledge a dollar a day for a year. Imagine every day putting a dollar in a container and then at the end of the week, bringing $7 dollars to church and putting it in the plate. You might think, what is $7 dollars when I could round it up to $10? That’s $520 dollars for the year. That’s a gift that the Social Justice committee can make to the Newark Area Welfare Fund or the Housing Alliance of Delaware or to help LGBTQ youth attend a Pride march in NYC.
All of the gifts we give—time, money, food, ourselves, what we’re good at or what we’d like to learn, the direction of our lives each day—all of these are good, no matter the quantity. Every gift counts. What Jesus is calling our attention to is not the quantity of our gift but the quality of our hearts. The rich who were giving large sums gave what they wouldn’t miss. The widow gave all she had to live on; though she gave out of her poverty she was not poor in spirit but rich in hope.
Most Sundays when I invite us to worship God with our offering I try to make it plain that your time here in worship is indeed an offering. In these days of competing attentions and activities and the need for a true day of rest, I consider your presence here to be no small gift at all but indeed, some Sundays you may be giving with your time all you have to live on.
All of the gifts we give—time, money, food, ourselves, what we’re good at or what we’d like to learn, the direction of our lives each day—all of these are good, no matter the quantity. Every gift counts. What Jesus is calling our attention to is not the quantity of our gift but the quality of our hearts. The rich who were giving large sums gave what they wouldn’t miss. The widow gave all she had to live on; though she gave out of her poverty she was not poor in spirit but rich in hope.
When we receive our pledge cards, whether in the mail or in worship next week, I invite us to hold that card in prayer and to pledge what we can, whatever it is, as though we are rich in hope.
Hope that it is the many small gifts as well as the large ones that make a difference in this world.
Hope that it is kindness and compassion that have the power to restore justice.
Hope that goodness is stronger than evil, love is stronger than hate, light is stronger than darkness, truth is stronger than lies.
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