Making and Sharing

This was the last of three Sundays talking about stewardship — but maybe not in the way you might have expected ..

Making and Sharing

Note: The images referred to in this sermon can be found online at http://www.janrichardson.com/wisdomspathprintenlg.html and at  http://www.janrichardson.com/bestsupperprintenlg.html; the numbers refer to slides in a Powerpoint Presentation.

John 6:1-14; John 6:35

The three words in this year’s Stewardship theme – “Growing, Making, Sharing” are three words that we can use to describe the church at its best:·

1 The church is like a growing tree that reaches down to receive living water, reaches upwards and outwards into the world, and is – at its heart – filled with what is holy.·

2 The church is the place where we make something of our lives – both in the sense of developing our character and living our vocation, and in the sense of making sense of what happens to us and around us.·

3 The church is the table where we gather with all of humanity – all of creation – to receive and share the gifts of God.

Two weeks ago we looked at Jan Richardson’s wonderful image “Mother Root,” and today we are going to look at two other images from this artist: “Wisdom’s Path” and “The Best Supper.”

At first glance 4 , “Wisdom’s Path” does not seem to be about “making,” but about reflecting, thinking, or dreaming. The person in the window is still, quiet – very different from the way most of us feel most of the time. So let us enter this image this morning by taking a moment to move our own bodies into the posture we see: arms crossed at your heart with your head slightly tilted. [pause]

5 Think particularly about your hands. What are you making of your life with your hands? St. Teresa of Avila wrote a lovely prayer that begins “Christ has no body now but yours; no hands, no feet on earth but yours ..”

The woman in the picture is posed above four symbols of deepening faith:

6 A spiral – a sign of life as expansive and expanding.

7 A three-part design that is often used to depict the Trinity, the Triune God of Christian tradition.

8 A cross drawn in the Celtic manner.

9 And a labyrinth, that winding path to the center.

Now turn your attention to the sky 10 .for a moment, [ pause ] And then back to the woman 11 and 12 .

13 I think it is important, when we think about the church, to remember that this is a place where meaning is made and where disciples are made. That work sometimes shows – as it does when we see the Sunday School children or are led in worship by the youth who have been on the mission trip. More often, though, the making of meaning is not visible. It is the great stirring of our hearts that comes from the whole life of the church: worship, spiritual nurture, mutual care, and work for peace and justice. You may hear this process described as “faith formation,” which is simply another way of saying that our spiritual journeys mold us into the people we are, they form us as disciples.

And who we are, most joyfully and fully, is a community that gathers around the table 14 . This is really the image that our Stewardship Committee wanted to have in front of you – and a wonderful image it is! Let’s take a moment to look around at the community gathered in this image. Maybe you will see yourself here; maybe you will see the face of someone you hope will be here, or perhaps someone who has been and gone ..

15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27

Everyone at the table has a plate; everyone has a beverage (except for the cat!); everyone has a seat. And everyone can reach the bread – all kinds of bread. I just wish the artist had included a rice cake, too.

There is actually more bread here 28 than in the story we heard from the gospel of John (where there were five barley loaves – we seem to have 6 loaves and 3 croissants!). But the miracle of thirteen beings being fed around this table is just as profound as the miracle of 5000 people being fed by 5 loaves and 2 fish.

And today you are being invited to participate in this miracle – in this gathering of people of all kinds and all backgrounds at the bountiful table of God. You are being invited to invest yourself and your resources in this church, and in the wider church and community of which we are a part. You are being invited to contribute your loaves and fish to this joyful banquet.

You are being invited to give – and to give substantially – in a time when anxiety over money and resources is high, a time when optimism is low, and a time when the needs around us are great. You are being invited to give – and to give substantially – whether you are financially comfortable or financially precarious. You are being invited to give – and to give substantially – for the sake of your own spiritual journey and for your companionship to others who are on the journey with you.

I hope that you have read the material in your pledge packet; the members of the Stewardship committee were very thoughtful in the information they have put before you. I hope that you have pondered their request in your heart, and entered a process of discernment about your own financial commitment to the mission and ministry of our congregation. I hope that you have let go (at least for a moment) the anxieties and uncertainties of recent weeks as you have made your pledge.

The church is very conscientious about keeping the amount of each person’s pledge confidential, but I think it is important that you know that (in this case anyway) I practice what I preach. I give about 10% of my salary to the church, divided among our operating budget, Our Church’s Wider Mission, and the special offerings and projects we undertake during the year. My pledge for 2009 is $6912. That’s a lot of money, and it makes me nervous to write it on the pledge card, let alone say it aloud in public. I am keenly aware that I could be using some of that to pay off my car loan, buy a new laptop, or save for my granddaughter’s college education – and I choose to give it to the church. I do not tell you this to brag, and I don’t tell you to make you feel guilty about your own pledge. I tell you this so that you will know that I am personally, theologically, spiritually, and financially committed to our common vocation of worship, nurture, care, and justice. I hope you are, too.

29 The artist has titled this image “The Best Supper,” and she is right, of course. The best supper is the one that we share; the best faith is the one that we share; the best ministry is the one that we share; and the best future is the one that we share.Thanks be to God – who invites us to grow, and to make, and to share. Amen.

Prayer for October 19, 2008

Almighty and everlasting God, creator of all things seen and unseen, hear now our silent prayers, as we open our hearts to you in the sacred quietness.

God of faith and hope, we bring before you our prayers for those we have named this morning – we especially remember … Bring to each of them the gifts of mercy and grace that are most needed, according to your wisdom and love.

God of service and sacrifice, we offer prayers this morning for those who are called to vocations of caring and tending for others.

We remember first that all people are called to love and serve one another; we do this in grateful response to the love and care that you lavish upon each of us. We are especially mindful of the ways that we care for one another in the small actions of daily life – cooking and cleaning, clothing and sheltering, driving and listening and laundering and raking leaves. Keep our hearts open to offer these services to one another, and keep our hearts grateful for all that is done for us.

But we also remember those among us who are called out as caregivers in special ways. Bless, we pray, those who work for our health: nurses and therapists, personal care attendants, food workers and custodians, researchers and physicians. May they offer their gifts freely, and may the systems in which they work be environments that enhance their caring, and not diminish or dilute it.

We ask your blessing, too, on those who work for our public safety: law enforcement officers and sanitary workers, fire fighters and high way workers, members of the military and the merchant marine. We pray for them to be dependable and skillful comrades with one another, and we pray that their encounters with the darker sides of human life will not scar them or prevent them from enjoying the joys of human life.

We offer a special prayer for those who care for our neighbors who are chronically ill, mentally ill, afflicted with memory loss, or caught in the power of addictions and alcoholism. Forgive us when we fail to support these workers with the resources and pay that they deserve, and guide us in being advocates for the workers as well as their patients and clients.

Bless, O Lord, those who care for our children: teachers and child care workers, foster parents, social workers, and the agencies for which they work. Keep us mindful that we are called to provide for all children, not just those who share our names and our households.

All this we pray in the name of the one we know as a tender and tenacious shepherd of the sheep, even Jesus the Christ, and we pray together now in the words that he taught us …