Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Oh! Where do we go from here? Lately you have been hearing and reading about our dire straits, from a financial standpoint, as a congregation. Fix the organ! Fix the roof! Fix at least some of our furnace and air-conditioning units! Letters from Pastor Joan and myself, a temple talk by our treasurer, pretty straight-forward talk in our newsletters, and probably even a lot of scuttlebutt as to what is going to happen, what is going to be cut out, why giving is down, is giving down and so on and so forth. Some of you may even be wondering why anyone would expect otherwise given the state of the economy. Others may be thinking that quite frankly it is no one’s business what, if anything, they give. The truth of the matter is that it is my business what you give. Not how much you give, but what you give. So do I mean giving of time and talents as well as financially? Or do I have a straight bottom-line orientation here? The answer is, of course, yes. Oh relax, you can take your hand off your billfold or purse, at least until we pass the offering plates.

Let us talk about the Gospel you heard me read a few moments ago – let us put it into perspective. Or at least try and put it into perspective. Preferably, a perspective that has a direct bearing on you, your walk as a Christian, as a Lutheran, as a member of this congregation.

Jesus first began talking about the “scribes” who “like,” a word that means “desire,” to walk around in long robes, that is, to present the appearance of piety. If someone looked pious, that is looked like a person of some religious significance, then that person would be given deferential treating, a seat of respect at banquets and the best seating in the synagogue. The scribes, Jesus said, “devour widow’s houses,” which is not at all like eating a gingerbread house. You need to know that at that time, women in Hebrew society had no rights, including the right to inherit if predeceased by a husband. So if there was no male relative to inherit, any property that had been owned by the deceased would go into a sort of “trust” administered by a “trusty” scribe. And all too often, the property, funds, revenue from property, etc., would go to line a scribe’s pocket or even be sold/bought at pennies on the dollar to use our terminology.

Now of course, there were totally reliable, worthwhile scribes, just like there were also upstanding Pharisees, e.g., Nicodemus, who did the right thing. But Jesus, you might say, is making a caricature of scribes, meaning “watch out for” or beware of people who act like this, do not emulate them or take them as your role model or in our case as your Christian witness.

But now let us talk about the giving in the temple. The “poor widow” gave “out of her poverty,” putting in literally everything on which she had to live. Contrast her piety with the impiety of the scribes Jesus has caricatured. She is showing a radical trust in God, she literally gave her living, and keep in mind that the word living is derived from the word life, and a living is what supports life. She gave her all, as did Jesus, Jesus who literally gave up living that we might have life. She gave out of generosity and trust.

Now notice how Jesus did not criticize the amounts that the rich people gave, he simply commented that they gave out of their abundance. In a manner of speaking, they gave from without themselves, the widow gave of herself.

So then, what is the message for you tonight? It comes down to this, what you give is my business because I am called here, in part, to bring you out of your comfort zones, to equip you for ministry to one another, to help you on your walk of discipleship. And make no mistake about it brothers and sisters. Discipleship includes stewardship because stewardship is what we are to exercise over God’s creation, which includes you and me. Folks often separate financial living from spiritual living. They should not be separated, the two are intertwined, they go hand in glove. Where is your treasure? Remember what Jesus tells us, where your treasure is, there is your heart.

We know where Jesus’ heart is – it was in giving up living that we might have life. We are called not to give up living, even though we are called to die to ourselves, but to prioritize living. What are the important things in your life? Is it dying with the most so you win? Or is it making use of the gifts you have been given to further the kingdom of God?

If you can give more out of your abundance, time, talent or money, then you should do so. But whether you do or not is not a question I can answer for you. I can tell you we have needs, not just to fix a furnace, replace a roof, get in the black from a budgetary standpoint, but also a need that we reach out in mission to our members and our non-members as never before. We have a need as a congregation to do for others what congregations did for us 50 years ago. We have been given a trust by God and by other churches, we need to step out in faith and live that trust.

AMEN.

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