Christians give very generously to their churches - certainly to our church and probably to your church too. But even so, the topic of giving is a difficult and sensitive one to talk about. To help people gain ownership I decided to try a two part sermon, the two parts being a month apart. At the end of the first part I gave people a sheet with over 20 possible approaches to the theme, and then preached on the ones they chose.
PART ONE
Imagine someone has made a video of the service one Sunday. Afterwards you are sitting down in your favourite armchair watching that video on TV. As the video runs you see the first part of the mass happening just as it has just happened now. Then the video continues to the point where the sermon is just about to happen. But instead of watching me get up to give a sermom, on the video you see yourself get up out the pew and climb up the pulpit steps to deliver a sermon. Rewind the video and you see me asking you to have a go and give a sermon. And you watch yourself, you are not sure why, saying yes, and agreeing to have a go.
Now wind the video back to the original point.
Watch yourself as you walked up out of your pew to climb up those steps. How were you feeling as you climbed the steps? Is public speaking something that comes naturally, Or were their butterflies in your stomach as you walked up to give the sermon?
Keep the video running and watch as you gave that sermon. Are you surprised: it seems to have gone rather well! You see how you made eye contact with people as you spoke. How you weren’t using notes but were speaking fluently and people were clearly listening to you. Rapt paying attention.
Stop a moment.
Rewind the video back. Watch yourself preparing the sermon. Reading the bible passage. Praying over it, Trying to work out what to to say. I make no apologies - this is a long bit of the video. You didn’t scrimp on time. You put in hours reading the bible passage over and over again and preparing it.
Now wind forward back to where we were before. Watch again: You see how you made eye contact with people as you spoke. How you weren’t using notes but were speaking fluently and people were clearly listening to you. Rapt paying attention. You come down from the pulpit - it feels quite good.
Keep watching through the mass, Now its the end of the mass. People are coming up to you, shaking your hand, telling you how helpful they found the sermon. You have enjoyed this and it seems to have helped people.
Keep the video running. Watch a few weeks later as I come up and ask you to preach again. Remember those feelings of how well it went before. This time you are less hesitent. Watch yourself say yes to me. Then watch as I dropped the bomb shell on you. You were to speak on Christian Giving.
[long pause]
Well - its there on the video - watch those blurry figures as we quikly rewind. Yes you said “yes”. You’ve got to do it now. But what will you say? Watch yourself pore over the bible texts as you try to work out what to say on the subject.
{gentle pause}
Well, I am not really going to ask you to give a sermon.
Phew (wipe forehead).
But what would you have said if you had been asked to give a sermon on Christian giving? I think you can agree with me that if kept watching that video and watched yourself give a sermon on Christian Giving, the reaction you would have watched yourself recieve to that sermon would not have been nearly so positive as to the first sermon you watched yourself give.
We all know that sermons on Christian Giving are necessary. People in this church have sat through them every year, and people have very generous as a result. Other churches locally haven’t preached on giving, and they have seen their giving fall. You have sat through the sermons and you have been generous with your giving. Each year over the last nine years the giving has held up or increased. So we know that sermons on Christian Giving work. But we also know that nobody really want to sit through a sermon on Christian giving. Go back to the video and watch as your face fell when I asked you to preach on Christian Giving. Not only does nobody really want to sit through a sermon on Christian Giving - nobody really wants to preach one either.
As you watched yourself deliver that giving sermon you would have watched at least one person get upset. That’s not because you would have done a bad job. Its because I think you’ll agree - it does it’s impossible to preach on as emotionally charged an issue as money without getting at least somebody’s back up.
So do I go up to you and ask you to preach on this contentious topic? Don’t worry - I won’t. But I am going to ask for your help, if you would like to give it.
I’ve got here a list I am going to give you with 20 or so different approaches to the topic. I want your advice on which would the most appropriate approach to take. Put your name on the leaflet (just so I know no one is cheating and handing in more than one) and tick one, two or three of the possible approaches. Get that back to me by next Sunday.
You don’t have to do this, if you are too busy that is absolutely fine. But if enough people do get it back to me - then I am going to be using your input when i give the Christian giving sermon in a months time. You - if you wish - tick the topics - then I will preach on the most popular three topics when I preach in a months time.
INTERMISSION
POSSIBLE APPROACHES TO PREACHING ON GIVING
A. Celebration (i): Saying thank you to the church for being so faithful and extensive in your giving: how could we manage without your generosity?
B. Celebration (ii): Many small charities have seen their giving plummet during the recession. But not at Holy Trinity. You have held or increased your giving through difficult times. Wow!
C. Atonement: Can Jesus giving his life for us on the Cross be a model for us in our generosity?
D. Inspiration: In your life who are the people who have inspired you by their generosity?
E. The Parish Share: understanding the biggest bill we face: the parish share we pay to the diocese. What it pays for, what we get for it, and how it is worked out.
F. The Budget thing: An explanation of the bills we face, which ones are rising, and the financial challenges that raises.
G. The Vision Thing: The difference we could make in the local community and the ways we could build God’s kingdom if we had more money.
H. Theology: What the bible says about the percentage of our income we might like to give back to God (“tithe to thrive”).
I. Prudence: Things the PCC has done over the last few years to save money so the giving you give goes further.
J. Pronouncements: What General Synod and the other structures of the Church of England have said on the subject of giving.
K. Gift Aid: How we can stop losing out on large sums of money that the government wants to give us by making better use of gift aid.
L. An attitude of gratitude (i): What are all the good things God has given me? How might my giving be a way of saying thank you back to him.
M. An attitude of gratitude (ii): Looking at how financially well off we are compared with so many people in so many parts of the world who have so little.
N. An army of ordinary people: giving thanks for the large sums of money so many of you have saved us by using your time and talents to do jobs we would otherwise have had to pay for.
O. Legacies (i): Giving thanks for the legacies we have received from people such as Joan Harrison, legacies both large and small that have kept us afloat over the storm of the recession.
P. Legacies (ii): Giving practical details for those who would like to hear them on how to make a will and how to leave money if you would like to Holy Trinity.
Q. The Flipside of Evangelism: How bringing our family members and friends to church can also help balance the books.
R. Environmental Stewardship (i): If we choose to be more green in our own homes, then we can save energy, save money, and have more both to spend on ourselves and to give to God.
S. Environmental Stewardship (ii): Could we be looking to fund raise money towards green projects like solar panels that will both help the environment and in the long term save us money as a church?
T. “God loves a cheerful giver”: When we give to God is that something that makes us feel grumpy or happy, sad or glad?
U. Regularity: What the bible can teach us about how we can benefit from giving regularly rather than sporadically (for example by using the envelope scheme or a standing order).
V. The Pattern of Giving: how does our average giving at Holy Trinity compare with the rest of the Diocese, the wider church of England and other denominations. Is it something that should frighten us or encourage us?
W. Personal Fundraising: How any of us, if we wish, can get ourselves sponsored for something and so raise money for our beloved church.
X. Wise Living: Money saving tips that can help stop losing money and have more both to give to church and to spend on ourselves
PART TWO
A month ago I asked for your help. I gave you a list of over twenty possible approaches for a sermon on the subject of Christian giving - and you very kindly came back and told which ones you thought would be most helpful.. Thank you to all of you who put the time into doing that. I’m going to talk today about your top three choices.
The first choice you chose was “an attitude of gratitude: what are all the good things God has given me? How might my giving be a way of saying thank you back to him?”
Rosemary came back from her theological studies last week with a quote “The first task of a leader is to recognise reality. The last task of a leader is to say THANK YOU”. saying thank you is so important, isn’t it?
When we are feeling down to hear someone say “thank you” can be a real pick-me-up. I have had bad days turned into good days by the simple action of someone taking the effort to say thank you for something. I may not be very good at it myself but I try my best also to say thank you to you. And of course, sometimes when we say “thank you” we buy someone a bunch of flowers, a box of chocolates. What we give won’t match what the other person has done for us, but it’s how we say thank you.
That’s very similar to our giving to God. What we give won’t match what God has done for us. Whether we are thinking of answers to prayer or of the material benefits we are so lucky to have in this country or of the forgiveness of our sins, and Jesus dying for us on the cross. What we give won’t match what God has done for us, but it’s how we can say thank you.
For me - I want to thank God for the moment I first got to know him when I was 13 years old. I want to thank God for being a rock through tough time. I want to thank Jesus for dying for me. I want to say thank you for the fact I have never ever gone hungry. I want to thank God for medical technology available today without which Katie would have died in child birth. I want to thank God for my beautiful children and for my beautiful wife. And I want to thank God for many answered prayers.What do you want to thank God for?
Now perhaps you have never thought about it like this, but taking the effort for a thank you present to buy something that fits the person and wrap it says a lot more than buying the first flowers we see in a petrol station when we are on our way to them - SO taking the effort to think through our giving to God, to plan what we want to give to him and to go to the effort of filling an envelope before we leave home each week or the effort of setting up a standing order: isn’t that part of how we can say thank you to God? If you have not yet done so: a challenge - take the time to plan what you are giving to God rather than just giving what you happen to have on you. Won’t God enjoy it, the fact you have taken the time to think and plan your gift to him.
The second choice you chose was “Theology: what the bible says about the percentage of our income we might like to give back to God (tithe to thrive)”.
That was brave of you.....
I think it says a lot about this church that this is a topic you have chosen. It talks about the love of the bible that you have as a church, and about your desire to do what God wants, even if it is uncomfortable.
What percentage of our income does the bible say we should give back to God?
If St Francis of Assisi were preaching this sermon, he would have a very simple streight forward answer. Mark 10:20, Jesus turns to the rich young man and says “Go, sell all that you have, give the money to the poor and come follow me.” There is a strong Franciscan tradition of saying that is precisely what Jesus wants us to do.
So if I say I don’t think Jesus does want us necessarily to give ALL our money back to God, am I watering down what the bible says? The bible certainly says that all our money comes from God, belongs to God, is no more ours than a child’s pocket money is really theirs. But my reading (and you need to read it for yourself) is that Mark 10:20 and the two or three other passages like it, are specific passages for specific people.
Most of the general teaching of the bible on the percentage we should give comes from the Old Testament. That it comes from the Old Testament doesn’t mean we can ignore it because Jesus never says we can give less than it. In fact in Luke 11:42 he criticises the Pharisees for not giving enough - they are giving on paper what it says they should give, even down to giving the right percentage of the herbs growing on their windowsill. But they are giving with a hard heart and not giving the kindness and mercy and love that should go with the money.
So unless Francis of Assisi is right, and we are meant to be putting every last penny into the collection, what fraction of our income would be the normal amount for us to give?
Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, has given away half his fortune to help the world’s poor. He has challenged other rich people to give away half their fortunes. Compared with the majority of the world, compared with people in Africa or India or elsewhere you or I are all among the richest on the planet? Does God want us to give away half our money?
Mitt Romney, the mormon, was noted in the newspapers as giving away 40% of his income. That still leaves six tenths, three fifths of his income for him to keep. That’s a lot to keep. So does God want us, like the mormons, to give away 40% of our money?
What does the bible say? Is it all of our money? 50% of our money? 40% of our money? or what? Well from the first book of the Old Testament to the last, from Genesis to Malachi, the recommended percentage is constant. A tithe, a tenth, ten pounds in every hundred, a hundred pounds in every thousand. Not 100%, 50% or 40% but just 10% is what God asks us to give back to him.
- In Genesis 14, Abraham gives a tithe, a tenth of all he has to God’s priest Melchizadech.
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-Deuteronomy 14:22 “You shall give a tenth of all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year.” Similarly Leviticus 27:30; Nehemiah 10:38
And most controversially of all:
- Malachi 3:8-10 “Will a human being rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe, the full tenth, into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.”
As it says in Proverbs 11:24, “One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.”
Tithe to thrive.
Holy Trinity is a very generous church. From the total figures being given, it is clear that a number of you must already be giving a tithe of your income. You are also take the bible seriously. That’s why you chose you chose this as your second topic: you want to do the right thing by God. And I’m proud of you of you for picking this topic.
The third and final topic for today is “the vision thing: the difference we could make in the local community and the ways in which we could build God’s kingdom if we had more money.”
Our mission statement as a church is:
To seek God’s will through prayer in order:
to bring people to Jesus and membership in his family,
develop them into Christlike maturity,
and equip them for their ministry in the church and life mission in the world,
in order to magnify God’s name.
Put all four of our congregations together and we are the 4th biggest church in the deanery. A decade ago we weren’t - we ranked number 13. And the reason this church has grown from 13th to 4th biggest in the deanery is partly because you are good at inviting people to church. But it’s partly because you are a people of vision.
You are good at listening to what God is saying and joining in.Whether we are talking about Fun in the Park or the Tuesday night mass, or our Year of the Bible celebrations or the Olympic Torch Parade Breakfast or the Mothers Union Contact centre or the Church’s links with Zimbabwe or the Food bank. These have not come from me - these have come from what God has spoken through YOU.
This is a church that IS making a difference to Barkingside. An awful lot can be done simply because you are so generous with your time. What you give in terms of time enables us to do things we could never afford do if we had to pay for them. You very generous with your time, and thankfully you are also very generous with your money - because time alone is not enough.
When we did the Olympic Torch relay breakfast - many of you gave up time to serve out those bacon rolls - but somebody also had to pay for the bacon. In that particular case in came from a grant. But often it comes from what you generously give.
Many of you generously give your time to make the Toddler group work - but part of what makes it successful is the ministry of our full time children’s worker Terri. We are lucky to have had the initial money for her from outside - but in the long term if we are going to keep her, that is going to come from the generous giving you are already giving. Maxine has suggested that at some point we need not just a children’s worker but a youth work intern. And if that is to happen in the long term, it will come from the generous giving you give. You are a people of vision, and I know whether from grants or from giving you will find the money.
The biggest element that your giving goes on is the contribution to the diocese that goes to ensure you get a priest. Because each year you keep increasing your giving,when I go I will probably be replaced. That can’t be said of all the other parishes in the area. Now even if some of you can’t wait for the day when I finally go, I think most of you see the value in this parish having a full time priest. So when eventually I go, you won’t want to be one of the many parishes in Barkingside that loses their vicar. And you won’t have to be, because you are so generous in your giving.
As a church, you are a people who listen to the vision God is giving. Over the last ten years your increased giving of both time and money has enabled us to grow from being 13th to 4th biggest in the deanery. Over the next ten years it is your continued increasing generosity of both time and money that will enable us to continue to grow. Thank you and Amen.
