A Sermon preached on September 28th
(Pentecost XVI
and Harvest Festival) at St. Augustine’s, Wiesbaden
Deuteronomy 8:7-18, Psalm 65, 2 Corinthians 9:6-15, Luke 12:16-30
Together
with our brothers and sisters from the German churches, and many English
churches, we are celebrating Harvest Festival today. So if you’ve been
following the readings in our lectionary and are wondering where today’s
readings come from – you have not got lost or made a mistake. These are the
readings appointed for Harvest and Thanksgiving celebrations, whenever they may
take place, which of course in the USA is not until Thanksgiving in November.
It
had not been my plan to talk about Stewardship this morning, although our
annual Stewardship
or pledge campaign will soon commence in October, but this morning’s readings
really left me no choice. All the themes of stewardship are there: Gratefulness
to God for God’s goodness and bounty, giving generously,
and identifying and setting the right priorities. Let’s look at them one by
one.
Whenever
someone in the Bible tells us not to do something, we can be pretty sure
that that was what most people were doing at the time! So when the author or
authors of Deuteronomy have Moses say: “Do not say to yourself, ‘My power and
the might of my own hand have gained me this wealth,’” (8:17) we can assume
that by the time of writing far too many people in Israel had forgotten how
they got there and who was ultimately responsible for the “good land … with
flowing streams, …. A land of wheat and barley, vines and fig trees and
pomegranates, ... olive trees and honey.” (8:7-8) And the danger was that the
good people of Israel would not only forget who had rescued them and lead them
to the promised land, and forget to bless and thank the Lord, but that they
would also forget the Covenant God had made with them, and perhaps even forget
their God. This danger is by no means only applicable to the inhabitants of Israel
in the 6th century BC. The idea of God as the ultimate source of all
that we have, including our existence, and that is something we can be grateful
for and should say thank you for – every day and not only when the calendar
prescribes it – is not mainstream, to say the least.
In
this part of his 2nd letter to the Corinthians, Paul is asking the church
in Corinth to collect and send money for the church in Jerusalem, he’s asking
them to pledge if you like. That’s probably why this section sounds like a
pledge campaign letter, because it is one. Paul picks up on the theme of gratitude
and giving thanks. The best way of giving thanks to God for God’s abundant
blessings and grace, he says, is through giving. Generosity “will produce
thanksgiving to God” (2 Cor. 9:11) and in and through our own generous giving we
can share in God’s good work, for by helping the poor we participate in God’s righteousness.
(9:12) “The rendering of this ministry,” the ministry of giving, “not only
supplies the needs of the saints but also overflows with many thanksgivings to
God.” (9:12) My favorite line must be “God loves a cheerful giver,” (9:7) in
fact I think I used it in my last stewardship letter. What Paul means by
cheerful is that the gift must be a personal decision, made in compete freedom and
without fear or coercion. It is not a condition for God’s grace or blessing,
unlike the condition the writer of Deuteronomy is alluding to when he tells the
Israelites to “remember the LORD your God, so that he may confirm his covenant!”
(Deut. 8:18) God’s grace is free, it is an indescribable gift. We give in response
to that gift and out of own sense of what is important, what has priority,
which brings us to Luke.
In
Jesus’ parable the rich man – or fool as God later calls him – had clearly got his
priorities wrong! All he could think about was himself, just note how often he
uses the words ‘I’ and ‘my’ are used: 11 times in 3 verses. This man has no
thought for God or for his neighbor, all he can think about is himself, his wealth,
and his own well-being in this life – which in this parable is about to be cut
short. We need to see this story in context, just before the passage we hear
this morning Jesus had been asked to adjudicate in a dispute about an inheritance,
which he refused, instead he “said to them, ‘Take care! Be on your guard
against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of
possessions.’” (Luke 12:15) That’s how to understand Jesus telling his
disciples not to worry about life, and what to eat or what to wear. He is not
romanticizing a life without property or as a beggar. We need food and drink
and clothing – but amassing them and the money to pay for them cannot be our
number one priority, God must be. The right priority is not to store up
treasures for ourselves but to be rich towards God (12:21) or to use Matthew’s
more succinct and poetic words: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will
be also” (Matthew 6:21)
We
started with fertile and productive land and abundant crops and produce in
Deuteronomy and in Luke we end with birds, flowers, and grass and how God cares
for them. Both sets of examples serve to remind us that that God, the Creator, who
loves to give good gifts, who loves to care for us, and who wants us to do likewise,
is ultimately in control and that God’s values and priorities are the ones that
count.
In
the Collect for Thanksgiving[1]
that I prayed earlier, we ask God to make us “faithful stewards of God’s great
bounty.” And I’ve suggested that good stewardship is made up of gratefulness, generous
giving, and right priorities. What might that look like for us here at St. Augustine’s?
Let’s
start with thanksgiving. What can we give thanks for – as a community and as
individuals? The food and produce that
we have decorated the church with, serves to remind us to give thanks “for the
fruits of the earth in their season and for the labors of those who harvest
them.”[1] They stand for the gifts of life, of sustenance, and of plenty. We can also
give thanks for this community, for one another, for mutual support, for the
use of this building as a spiritual home. And we give thanks for all the
personal blessings and gifts that we have received.
How
do we show our gratitude? Through generous giving. On the one hand, the money
you give to the church is for the “provision of our necessities,”[1] the priest, the
office, our music, the materials and events for our Sunday school and youth
group, our participation in the wider church, and for the care and running of
this building. But we also give for “the relief of all who are in need.”[1] That
will happen today very directly when all this food is passed on to our Mission
Partner, the Teestube to feed the
homeless, but also through our other Outreach programs and through the work of
the Episcopal Church.
And
what are our priorities? Next week you will all, at least all of you for whom
we have an address, receive an invitation to attend one of a series of small
group conversations in private homes. Their purpose is to help us continue the
process of renewing our Christian community. We will look back and forward
asking, what and who do we as the Church of St. Augustine of Canterbury want to
be? This is your chance to discuss and identify priorities for this church,
in this place in the context of conversation and prayer. And of course priorities
are also important when you consider your pledge. I encourage you to reflect on
how you can use the gifts you have been given to further the only real priority
we can have: the Glory of God. To finish with St. Paul: “You glorify God by
your obedience to the confession of the gospel of Christ and by the generosity
of your sharing.” (2 Cor. 9:13)
Amen.
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