Year B Proper 27 2024 Stewardship Sunday- Bigger Than Time, Talent, and Treasure

 Year B Proper 27, 10 November 2024

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“Bigger Than Time, Talent, and Treasure”

Collect: O God, whose blessed Son came into the world that he might destroy the works of the devil and make us children of God and heirs of eternal life: Grant that, having this hope, we may purify ourselves as he is pure; that, when he comes again with power and great glory, we may be made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom; where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Mark 12:38-44

As Jesus taught, he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

We always see the Poor Widow in the story from the third person, more an object lesson than a person. But this is not a parable, this was real. It happened. Jesus bore witness to it.

Jesus sings her praises because she “gave more” than the rich people making large gifts comparatively, but relatively small proportionally.

It is Stewardship Sunday, and it is the Sunday where you expect me to talk about money. You expect me to say, “Give sacrificially!” And it is here, but for so many of us we are still reeling from the election on Tuesday. Or we are celebrating. Do I give you the sermon you expect, or do I give the sermon that addresses our divisions and pains?

But here is what I am thinking, what if we look at both things from a different perspective. Let’s see what God is saying to God’s people more than expectations or felt needs.

God is not a Donkey, nor is God an elephant. On Monday, we gathered with 6 other churches (6 that we know of, anyway) and we prayed for the election and God’s peace for this nation. We came, giving our first and most important allegiance to God instead of party or nation. We cannot get more counter-cultural than that!

Remember, Church means ‘Called Out Ones.” When we get too comfortable, we cease being called out.

That is then, and it is now.

The poor widow, THEN, was called out of her world. She was what Jesus called in other places, “the least of these.” She had few options and had to rely on relatives for her existence, if she could, and if that were not an option, the kindness or the scraps of strangers. And here she comes to the Temple, the home of her God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The home of the Wild Desert God who led them miraculously out of the land of Egypt. Though she was so poor, she still had two copper coins worth a penny. Not much in anyone’s books. But it was hers! She had something that she could give! She could be a part of the faithful, those who gave from the gifts which God had given them. She looked down in her shaky hand, and though it was so small, it was hers and she felt empowered and powerful when she dropped her gift into the treasury. Praise God! She could do something. 

Most people ignored her, and did not give her a second glance, much less a second thought. She probably had no idea that Jesus was watching, much less pointing her out to his disciples. And here we are 2,000 years later having her live on in our imaginations. Nameless, no descriptors other than poor and widowed, and yet we can image her in our mind’s eye. 

Every three years we get her, usually on our Stewardship Sunday. And on those Sundays we always talk about the three Ts of giving. Time. Talent. And Treasure. But friends, the T that is foundational, and I would argue more important than Time, Talent, and Treasure is what the Poor Widow had in spades.

The other T? Trust. 

Trust that even though she put in the last of what she had, she trusted more would come. She trusted that the God who cared for her ancestors in the Wilderness, who was now at home in the Holy of Holies, would provide for her. Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides.

We mention Time, Talent, and Treasure because those are things we can count and we can control. We like things like that, countable things, things we can make sure are safe and orderly. Things we can count gives us the comfort of control.

That is what Jesus was getting at when he rebuked the religious leaders: 

“...who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets. They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

Their faith is about Show, with long tassels and even longer prayers. Yet they steal from widows and then have the audacity to feign their holiness with shiny words. I wish that things were different.

I am a little self-conscious this morning in my long robe with my tassels on my stole. Jesus was speaking to me, too. 

I need to stop being like the Scribes in my heart, counting on looking holy before others, and I need to start having the unquantifiable faith of this poor widow who trusted with all she had. A faith so big we scrutinize it after millenia have passed.

But you cannot count Trust. It is unquantifiable. Trust can take years to build up and an instant to lose. How much faith someone has though, there is no way to measure that except in the actions that come from that Trust.

She was THEN, but what about NOW? How do we move into increasing our faith that we do not have to worry about giving enough Time, Talent, and Treasure?

Friends, we live in a time where forces tried to divide us and undermine us. They made us question our neighbors and our loved ones. They openly flaunted and urged us to ignore the commands of God, to care for the widow and the orphan, and to welcome and care for the stranger in our midst. To care for the “Least of These.” They made us worry and fear tomorrow, and forget that we are followers of the God who provides.

As I said, God is not a donkey, nor is God an elephant. We are told that God is a Lamb, and a Lamb has to Trust that it will be cared for in a big and scary world. God is a Lamb that even when it dies, it has the faith to know that Love conquers even death and rises up from Death itself. THAT is the Trust I am talking about!

 Bishop Steven Charleston, the former Bishop of Alaska, wrote this prayer, slightly adapted. 

When others hate, may you love.

When others curse, may you bless.

When others hurt, may you heal.

When others divide, may you unite.

When others rage, may you calm.

When others deny, may you affirm.

You are a servant of the light.

You need not be afraid of darkness.

God strengthen you to carry on with your work and faithfully live who you are in Christ:

Love for stranger, love for enemy, love for neighbor

- Amen

Friends, the Poor Widow showed her Trust in God by giving her two cents and doing it joyfully and thankfully. She was called out of her world by her faith. She had the ability to make a difference. A penny only goes so far, but like that mustard seed, it grows and multiplies. When we all put our pennies, and our dimes, and our C-Notes, and our gifts no-matter-the-size together we can accomplish more than we can imagine. God has provided, and will provide. Do we trust him to keep being who he has proven himself to be?

We show our Trust in God by doing those things in Bishop Charleston’s prayer.

Loving, not hating

Blessing, not cursing

Healing, not hurting

Uniting, not dividing

Being Calm amongst the rising rage

Affirming not denying

Trusting not doubting

And when we are struck, do we trust in the One who said turn the other cheek?

God is bigger than the widow’s poverty. God is bigger than the powers of this Age, or any Age.

We come this Sunday in hope that you will bring your Time, Talent, and Treasure to keep this place going for one more year. Ashland needs us here. Hanover County needs us here. We need to proclaim with our actions and our words that God’s love is for everybody, and that NOTHING, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING can separate us from the love of God. We need to shine the light of love in a dark and hurting world, and God’s Kingdom will continue to grow one heart and soul at a time. And we need not fear, for God is with us always. Especially now. To some our Love will look like we are fighting or being political. That says something more about them than it does us. Love anyway. Love the people who need it most, and welcome them to be with us.

Friends, hard days will come. They may come soon. When we choose to not be a part of this world and the powers that be, when we choose to love the ones we are told to fear or hate, when we choose to be called out by God against the spirit of this age, when we welcome those who the world says to turn away, we will face hardship and scorn and maybe worse. 

Will we Trust? Will we have the faith of that Poor Widow? That is the only way out of and through this mess I can see. We are servants of the light. We need not fear the darkness.

We Trust and give of our Time and Talent and Treasure when the world cannot fathom why we would look out for “number one.”

And that is where we differ, for our Number One is not us. Our Number One is the One who is the beginning and the end, who tells us to love all the Zeros of the World. Who looks to a Poor Widow for inspiration? We do. Because the One showed us what is truly important: her Trust, not her Treasure or lack thereof.

When Jesus returns, will he find the faith he entrusted to us to share?

Friends, after our prayers we will give you an opportunity to bring up your pledge cards. Many of you have already sent yours in. Thank you. Some are waiting till they can have an accurate picture of what they are able to give. Understandable. But if you brought your pledge cards we will have an ingathering of all that you bring in, and we will be thanking God for them.

We step out in faith, trusting that the One who began a good work in us will be faithful to complete it.  Amen.

Year B All Saints (Observed) 2024 In All Of Life

 Year B All Saints’ Day, 3 November 2024

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“In All of Life”

Collect Almighty God, you have knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord: Give us grace so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those ineffable joys that you have prepared for those who truly love you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

Revelation 21:1-6a

I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,

"See, the home of God is among mortals.

He will dwell with them as their God;

they will be his peoples,

and God himself will be with them;

he will wipe every tear from their eyes.

Death will be no more;

mourning and crying and pain will be no more,

for the first things have passed away."

And the one who was seated on the throne said, "See, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true." Then he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end."

John 11:32-44

When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see." Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?"

Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days." Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, "Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me." When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."

Good morning, saints and sinners. And welcome. No matter how you see yourself, you are welcome here. And today we recognize All Saints’ Day, when we hold close those Holy Ones who preceded us.

Last weekend I got to meet a new friend who used to work in the Chaplain’s Office at the University of Richmond, my and my wife’s alma mater. She worked there many years after us, but we knew many similar people. It was fun to reminisce. 

I told her the story about the gift I had in knowing the Catholic campus minister at UR. Wendy Wood was a wonderful saint of god with a kind heart and a wonderful sense of humor.

My sophomore year, my roommate was Catholic and he invited me to come to the Ash Wednesday service. I did, and I remember when Wendy saw me she made me feel so welcome. She knew I was faithful, but not Catholic. I went in and talked to her about it later. This Baptist boy caught a glimpse of something I had never felt in church before. 

When I had the ashes imposed I had a sense of people around the world gathering that very day to worship God and have ashes imposed reminding us of our mortality and need of Christ. But that idea of a church universal was what struck me so deeply. That is what the word catholic means anyway, universal. It was a new part of my faith which I have never since let go of.

It was part of the long and slippery slope that expanded my view of God, the Church, and how to follow Christ. Thanks be to God! I am so thankful that God led me and my family into the Episcopal Church, and we have been repeatedly blessed in the years we have been a part. It was why it was so important for me to see the installation of our new Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe yesterday, and see friends from our the country whom I have met over the years. It was like a virtual family reunion. And we have some furthering of the Episcopal family even more today. Directly following this sermon we will celebrate a baptism, and nothing makes me happier than welcoming someone into the family of God.

And later we will celebrate the other great sacrament of the Church, Eucharist. We received both of these from Jesus himself, and that is why we see them as the two key sacraments. Both are also tied to things we all must do.

Birth and eating, two simple things we all do, be born, and eat to live. But if you look at the other sacramental acts that we have as a church, they are mostly recognizing and solemnifying other life moments.

Confirmation is when we recognize that teens (for those who are getting confirmed as teens) are of an age of accountability and they are responsible for the person they are and will be. At infant baptism the parents and godparents speak for them, and this is when the adults becoming speak for themselves.

Reconciliation of a Penitent is what is normally called confession, and yes, we do that. Unlike our Catholic sisters and brothers, our approach is different. An old phrase sums up our position, “All May, Some Should, None Must.” But in life all of us make mistakes and miss the mark of who we should be. We recognize that inevitability and give a pathway home.

Matrimony is Christian marriage, where we stand before God and our friends and families and make promises of union with another person. This life-long commitment is the desire we have when we gather. That is our prayer when we celebrate the union on those days. But coming together in loving, committed relationships is another part of life.

Orders is the ordination to the diaconate, priesthood, or episcopacy. While this is important to those ordained and those closest to them, it is also necessary in the life of the Church to be able to keep and maintain the sacraments we are talking about. We include Holy Orders so that the others can keep being sanctified as well.

And lastly, there is Unction, the anointing of those who are sick or dying with holy oil, oil which has been blessed by the bishop for these most holy times. Birth, all the stages of development and life, and even death, the sacraments celebrate life, and as we sang, 

for the saints of God are just folk like me,

and I mean to be one too.

I bring all this up on All Saints’ because if we are in Christ we are the Saints of God. As St. Paul wrote the Church in Corinth (I Corinthians 1:1-3):

Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

We are called to live in Christ, we are called to be born and born again in Christ, and when the time comes, we are called to transition from this life to the next in Christ. 

The Life of the Church is based on our lives, each and every one of us. We recognize all aspects, the Good, the Bad, the Heartwarming, and the Heartbreaking. Everything belongs [thanks, Richard Rohr].

In our Revelation reading this morning, which is one of the most popular choices at funeral services, speaks to the Final Culmination, and the John of Patmos said he heard these words in his vision:

"See, the home of God is among mortals.

He will dwell with them as their God;

they will be his peoples,

and God himself will be with them

And that is what we are going for in our sacraments, placing God central in these life moments, reminding us that God is in the ordinary and that all of life can be blessed. When Jesus wept at Lazarus’ death, it was said, “See how he loved him.” And as you probably have heard me say, the miracle of the incarnation is that Jesus points us to the real nature of God.

That is why we can celebrate the saints who have gone before because we worship the God of the Living, not the dead. That is why we can hold up all the seasons and stages of life and how the Church celebrates them and makes them holy. God wants to be in all our life, and in our death. God wants to be with you, always. 

I want to be a saint in God, but not because of what I do, but because of whose I am, and who that allows me to be. Blessings this All Saints’ Day! Amen