From the Northwest Corner

There are some things that we just don’t do; they defy logic and all good sense: holding your breath until you fall over, eating Brussels’s sprouts – or clams; rushing into a burning building to save someone; sticking your tongue on the flagpole in February (in Wisconsin) or giving 10% of your income to God.

We don’t want to give 10% of our income to anyone let alone God.  We just don’t do that – not to the extent of 10% anyway.  It is not a natural act.  We need it to pay bills and buy stuff and food and get haircuts and bait and gas and medicine and the bright shiny things the people of China make for us.

Similarly, there are some things that are just not natural acts.  Forgiveness is not a natural act.  I think the natural act is to lash out in revenge or self-preservation.  To be able to forgive a large hurt requires the work of the Holy Spirit.  Loving someone is not a natural act; loving truly, deeply and well – to the point of transformation of both lover and the beloved is the work of the Holy Spirit.  In the Gospel for this first Sunday of May it is the command of Jesus to his disciples while Judas goes off to betray him.  Love one another.   How much?  Love one another, as I (Jesus) have loved you.  Love to the point of self-sacrifice.  Not natural – has to be the work of God.

Same thing for giving money to God via the gold plate that comes down the pew.  It is indeed a sacrifice – of praise, of thanksgiving – and has to be the work of the Holy Spirit.  It has to be God and you figuring out – in prayer – that aspect of your relationship.  It has to be you figuring out, determining, whom you will serve.  In the KJV Bible it is God or Mammon; in the NRSV Bible it is “wealth.”

Luke 16: 13 No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

Not in the KJV or the NRSV but simply in your life we can replace the word wealth with “stuff.”  We like stuff.  I like stuff.  We serve our stuff.  I continually confess and ask forgiveness for my greed and love of stuff.  It think greed is natural.  In the movie Wall Street, Michael Douglas’s character Gordon Gekko (a lizard!) delivered a powerful monologue at an angry stockholders’ meeting.  It is known by his opening line, “Greed is good …..” and we bought it.  Google on it.  I don’t think greed is good.  I am not proud of mine.  Jesus doesn’t think greed is good either.  Money – and how it comes between us and God – was Jesus’ most frequent topic in his teachings.

Matthew 19: 16 Then someone came to him and said, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”  And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”  He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness;  Honor your father and mother; also, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man said to him, “I have kept all these; what do I still lack?”

Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”  When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

And giving those possessions away, or even 10% of them, was not a natural act.  God has to be at work.  The Holy Spirit has to be allowed to work.  On us.  And our wealth.  And our greed, and anxiety and idolatry of money.

Soon enough the Stewardship Committee will be approaching all of us to ask us to prayerfully consider and determine what percentage of our wealth we can give to God in worship and thanksgiving for the sake of mission—and simply keeping the doors open and the lights on.  That number is between you and God – it is part of your relationship – the part that comes to life here in here in the mission of Saron, the Northwest Synod of Wisconsin and the ELCA.  It is part of the continual challenge we have before us: how much do we trust God.

God is not the god of Gimme, Gimme, Gimme.  But neither is God the god of Cheap.  The Forgiveness is free.  Being a fan of God is free.  Being a disciple, however, costs; God blesses disciples.  While fans only get to watch.

One last passage:

Luke 12: 29 And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying.  For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

Pray for the Stewardship Committee.  Pray for Saron.  Pray for your relationship with God.  See what things will be given to you and Saron as well.

Live by faith.  Give by faith.  It is wonderfully, joyously, richly unnatural.