PEOPLE'S CHURCH OF DOVER

Mark 12:38-44                                                                                                    Mammon
Sermon November 8, 2009:  People’s United Church of Christ, Dover, DE:  The Rev. Dan Griggs

            This story about the “Widow’s Mite” is fully consistent with what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount:[1]

He said some more things about mammon.[2]

“Mammon,” of course, means “possessions,” or “what you have.”[3]  It means your money, your investments, your income, your property.  When Jesus compares “mammon” to God, he uses a figure of speech that your English teacher called “personification”—he spoke as if “Mammon” were the name of another master—sort of like when we say “the almighty Dollar.”  In later Christian theology Saint Augustin used the word as if it was the name of a god.  John Milton amplified that personification in Paradise Lost when he wrote that “Antichrist is Mammon’s son.”[4]  But we know what the subject is.  It’s our use of, our servitude to, our mastery of money. 

            I suspect that you’ve figured out by now that this sermon is about stewardship.  You’ve probably received in the mail a letter from the Board of Finance asking you to fill out an Estimate of Giving card and bring it back, so when the Trustees write the budget for next year they can have a good idea of the income the church can expect.  I hope you’ve already brought the card back, but if not, please do it during November. 

            But I have to tell you, I’m not very comfortable standing in the pulpit preaching on stewardship this year—I’m probably more uncomfortable than you are hearing me.  What a year this has been!  One of our deacons spoke for a lot of people when he said, “After the stock market collapse, I might not ever be able to retire.”  It’s easier to hear a sermon on Jesus’ words about “God or mammon” when the economy is okay and employment is high and people on Social Security are getting a cost of living increase.  Our check books have to be at least a little more comfortable before a sermon about church and money goes down well; and I’m very aware of that.  But shall we therefore muzzle Jesus Christ?  Especially when we’re under pressure, we must choose what we love most, and act on it. 

            We’re all aware that the reason we ask for Estimates of Giving is that the church has bills to pay, and our bylaws require a balanced budget; so the Trustees need to know how much will come in to balance what they plan to spend next year.  There is a practical aspect to this project, and we can all appreciate that this year. 

            But somebody says, “Practical is okay, but the church is always asking for money in some form.”  If the church is panhandling, that’s a valid criticism.  But let me ask you this:  Does the church, your church, ask for money because the church loves mammon, or in order to use mammon to serve Christ’s mission?  In other words, who’s in charge—God or mammon?  I really do think the church is devoted to God, and the money serves God’s intentions. 

            A couple of weeks ago Cliff and Dorothy Biddle’s daughter and her husband brought their second child forward to receive Christian baptism:  remember she was fussy until I poured the water on her head, and then she really enjoyed the walk we took up the aisle.  She looked around at you as if she really understood what I was saying.  Do you remember what I said?  I said, “All these people have just made a promise to be your Christian family, to help you learn how to live as a Christian.  Welcome to the family.”  Now how could we do that if those people a hundred years ago had not laid the cornerstone for this church, and each succeeding generation done their part to sustain the mission and ministries of People’s Church?  Yes, I do think the church is devoted to God, and the money serves God’s intentions.  And I think you share that belief. 

            It’s just that sometimes circumstances, situations make it hard for us to do our part to sustain it.  The price of petroleum products is going up again, and that means that the price of food will go up some.  Christmas is coming.  We don’t know how cold it’s going to get this winter.  Some of us are helping family members who are out of work.  Finances right now are twitchy.  We believe in our deepest soul that God will help us get through this recession, but we also believe we need to be wise with our resources.  That’s all true.  But remember what I suggested a few minutes ago:  Especially when we’re under pressure, we must choose what we love most, and act on it.  

            In my thirty nine years in ministry I’ve had the privilege of knowing hundreds of good people who have gladly given of their time, talents and treasure in serving God by serving their church.  I’ve known many men who said “no” when they were asked to lead a committee, but if the wiring needed repairs, if the ice needed to be removed, if the furnace broke down, they were right there to put their hands and their hearts into it—serving God by serving their church.  Back in the 1970’s we were living in suburban Cleveland.  I took the week after Christmas as a vacation week.  When I got back January 2 and unlocked the front door and walked down the church hall, the ceiling had all been torn out, the insulation was lying in mountains along the floor, and the water pipes were visible.  A couple of days after Christmas the pipes had frozen and burst, water had filled the hallway, the custodian had called the chairman of the property committee, and half a dozen men of the church had showed up to pull out all the soaked ceiling, plug the cracks in the pipes, and start the repairs.  They had the hallway cleared in time for the following Sunday, and they had the water running within the week.  They did it themselves.  It was a practical thing to do, but they came out and did it as service to God by serving their church.  I’ve seen that attitude lived out here, too—and so have you. 

            This summer I received a letter from that church in suburban Cleveland, from the woman who had been the chairperson of the Pastor Search Committee that brought me there.  Her name is Gloria.  She is now the chairperson of the Memorial Committee, and they’ve been beautifying the back yard of the property.  They’ve built a large picnic shelter and a Memory Garden.  In the letter Gloria said that they wanted to expand the Memory Garden with paving bricks, and they wanted to imprint the names of all their former pastors on some of the bricks—one brick per pastor.  She was writing to invite Harriet and me back to share the celebration with them.  Well, we couldn’t go—our vacation time was already planned and our schedule was full; so we missed it.  Last month Gloria sent us a nice note with a copy of the dedication ceremony and a photograph of the new bricks—and there was my name alongside all the pastors who have served that church.  I immediately wrote back a letter of appreciation.  Gloria is one of those people I’m talking about, who serves God by serving her church.  She’s retired now, and I think she’s probably in her 80’s, but she keeps serving and keeps loving. 

            I’m describing how people express their faith in practical ways:  by giving time, talent and treasure to serve their church—even in times like these.  Especially when we’re under pressure, we must choose what we love most, and act on it. 

            When you give, you are like God.  God is the great Giver, from all eternity giving creation its being, giving humankind our emerging humanity, giving us each the specific things we need not just to survive but to thrive, to enjoy, to be blessed—and giving us what we need to be a blessing to others.  God is our source.  So when you become a giver, you are like God.

            This means that our spiritual growth is not just intellectual, not just emotional, not just a matter of beliefs and hope.  We are also flesh and blood, bone and muscle—we are beings in the physical world; and our spiritual growth will be very puny unless it includes the physical, the practical.  To grow in spirit we need to grow in our giving.  Therefore we give to our church not because our church needs to receive (though that is also true):  but we give because we need to give—to become more.  And that’s even more true in tough times.  Especially when we’re under pressure, we must choose what we love most, and act on it. 

            So, now you have my stewardship sermon for 2009.  I conclude with a couple of verses from the Book of Proverbs:[5]

My theme is:  Especially when we’re under pressure, we must choose what we love most, and act on it. 

AMEN