Today begins our stewardship emphasis as we prepare to do ministry from this congregation in 2007. We have heard already from our treasurer Rich Haines. This afternoon after a meal of comfort foods, we will hear from Don Jameson who directs the foundation of First Community Church; Richard Wing, the pastor at First Community, says that Don is First Community’s "stewardship guru", and we will learn much, I am sure from what he has to say to us as we consider today what it means to be generous givers.

The call to generous giving is as old as scripture. Our Hebrew ancestors brought their best goods to the temple as an offering for God. The New Testament affirms the act and the reward of giving generously. So we hear these words:

"Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back" (Luke 6.38).

The church operates from the generous giving of its members and friends.

We may want to believe that religious institutions operate money free, or that among the gifts God requires us to use, the gifts of time and talent are way more important than the gift of our treasure. But the truth is that as we share each of our gifts, we are acting in a way that thanks God for the goodness, the mercy, the steadfastness, the peace, the joy, the justice, the hope, the life we know through Jesus Christ. We will, as we offer our gifts, worship the living God, saying, "God, you are worthy of all that we have and I am honored to give you a portion, 10%, 5%, 20%, 50%, whatever I can give for your honor and glory. It is a joy to give.

The lesson from II Corinthians talks about the joy of giving. The Gentile Christians in Corinth have begun raising an outreach offering for the Christians in Jerusalem. The problem is that they have begun to raise the offering, but they have been slow to complete the task. They have not kept up with their pledges and Paul is writing to them not to scold them, or to embarrass them, but to encourage them to finish what they started.

It is easy for us to feel guilty about what we do with our money. Especially in the church, we have a tendency to respond to appeals for money as if someone has pushed our guilt and embarrassment button, as if what we do is neither enough, nor appreciated. Sometimes pushing that button is the appropriate thing to do. There are people in the church who live lives with a sense of scarcity – who are afraid that there isn’t enough, who horde their resources – all of their resources as if God can’t make more. I am not taking about anyone whose life circumstance – under or unemployment, too high medical bills, an unanticipated car repair, any of which can produce a strain on our finances and peace of mind.

I am talking about people who live lives of a kind of spiritual scarcity, for whom more for you means less for them. Those are the folks who need to know that the love of God extends to all, and that all of us, every one of us who names the name of Jesus Christ, has been made rich in matters of the spirit and one of the ways we share our spiritual wealth is by sharing all of our assets, including our financial gifts.

Paul wants the Corinthians, to continue in their effort to give generously to the church in Jerusalem. Think of the offering to support the poorer Christians in Jerusalem as one of the special offerings we know well. It was like the offerings we raise at Christmas, Easter, for the Week of Compassion, and for the Reconciliation offering that we are closing out today. Need an example of worshipful, generous giving? Paul points to the church in Macedonia as an example. They were poor, but they were eager to participate, and when they gave, they extended themselves beyond their means, they gave sacrificially, they gave from their hearts.

I heard a story about some people very much like the Macedonians at the Regional Church Council yesterday. Many of you know Paul Johnson who for years served as pastor of the Hocking Valley Parish. He is their pastor emeritus and yesterday he came to the Council meeting to give a report of the Parish’s work.

Paul Johnson said, these are among the poorest churches in the region, and among the towns where the congregations are located, are three of the poorest schools in the state. These churches have every reason to keep all of their offerings for themselves, but they don’t. Each of the five churches, Millfield, Taylor Ridge, Trimble, Greens Run, and Chauncey give 10% of their income, a tithe, to missions, to support the work of the Disciples in Ohio and around the world.

They are modern day Macedonians, and in some ways we are too. We do not live in extreme poverty, but as a congregation, we know budget shortfalls, fewer people, ministry dreams that remain unfulfilled. We know too that we are not left only to ourselves, and that we are not defined by what we do not have, but rather by what we do with what we have. Do we have faith that God is good (all the time), and all the time, God is good? Do we believe that the best of who we are, welcoming, warm, accepting, faithful, can overcome the obstacles we face? I know I believe it, and I believe most of you do too.

Like the Macedonians, we are poised to hear God call us to live, to worship, and to give generously. Some of my favorite pictures and stories are of people in settings such as Africa; where they are by our standards materially poor, managing to live without a television in every room, a car for every adult in the house, a Walmart, Walgreens, Starbucks, or Kroger, on every corner, or a mall in every part of the city. They are poor by American standards. But they are rich in gratitude that they will, some of them, literally dance their way forward to give their offering. They give what they can with joy because the source of their joy, Jesus has given his all for them.

These folks, like the Macedonians are worthy of our imitation for their spirit of generous giving and for the faithfulness that precedes it. "First they give themselves to the Lord".

"The Macedonians are already believers when the opportunity to participate in the collection is first presented to them. So the ‘giving of themselves to the Lord" is not about coming to faith, but a passionate rededication of themselves in the light of the opportunity presented by the collection" (New Interpreter’s Bible, volume XI. Nashville. Abingdon Press, 2000, p.121).

Because they gave themselves to Jesus, as we have, because they were part of a faith community, as we are, because they devoted themselves to Jesus Christ, as we have done, they could share their resources with others. They gave themselves to Jesus and they gave themselves to others. Let’s be Macedonians awhile and see how God will bless our generous spirits.

And let’s remember that this is Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth, and we are a bit like them too. We are proud of who we are here. The Corinthians were so proud of their spiritual gifts that they danced on the edge of hubris and vanity. We can become so proud of our diversity that we forget to listen for more words from God, or that as good as we are, we are part of a larger, broader church. The Corinthians forgot too. They took on an almost "look at how great we are" attitude. "We are so spiritual that when we speak in tongues, the angels take notice. Have you been to one of our agape meals, there is so much food that every one leaves full. Our practice of spiritual gifts is spectacular".

"Pay no attention to our arguments about who should be married, or the role of women, or who gets to eat at our feasts and who goes hungry. Ignore, please our confusion about what the resurrection means. Look at how good we are."

You may know that Paul’s letters to the Corinthians were his responses to letters they had written to him. Their letters are lost, but we do have Paul’s responses to them, and one of the questions he is answering is, "why do we have to send money all the way to Jerusalem, to Indianapolis, to Cleveland, to Chicago, to New York, Louisville, and Nashville. Those are the cities where Disciples, the United Church of Christ, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Presbyterian Church (USA), and the Southern Baptists are headquarters. We need it here. We started to raise the money, but we need it here. Why send it there?

"Because you said you would. You made a promise, a commitment. You know the need. You started to do it, you can finish it. No one is trying to take anything from you. You offered it.

"Because, we give in the name of Jesus Christ who gave up the riches in heaven, became human, just like us, died like all humans, and was raised in a way that only God could do. We give in the name of the one who calls us to himself, gives us hope, feeds our spirits, shows us what care and forgiveness and justice look like. That’s why.

"And, you Corinthians are so excellent at so much. You are steadfast in faith, intelligent in thought, eloquent in speech, the spiritual gifts you have are real, you are eager to be good disciples of Jesus Christ. You are excellent in so much, excel in this too. Give generously, worship joyfully, be blessed eternally. Let’s be Corinthians, with a dose of humility for a while.

We are like the Macedonians, giving because we have given ourselves to Jesus Christ. We are like the Corinthians, blessed and gifted yet, sometimes a little vain, always needing encouragement to do all that we can.

We are Broad Street Christian Church in Columbus, Ohio, a congregation struggling a bit now, as are other churches, with how to raise the twelve thousand dollars we need each month to be the most faithful stewards we can be, so that we can provide service to others and ministry inside and outside these walls. Through it all, we have been here each week, thankful that God has provided for us and that we have provided for the church. The provision continues, we are still here, still providing as God provides for us, making plans for our future. Trusting that God will be with us, and using all that God has given us.

We have available to us here all of the resources we need to do what God is calling us to do, to seek and find and bring to our table, Christ’s table, all who are in need of a church like ours. Your pastor, your church officers, your ministry team leaders, and your deacons and elders have a responsibility to discern what will capture your imagination and interest. And all of us, every one of us has an even greater responsibility to grasp God’s imagination, that we be a church, diverse in age, race, orientation, theology, and politics, but unbreakably bound in our commitment to the church and to our core values.

Our giving speaks to those values, it helps us to know God, build relationships, and do justice. Giving connects us to something, a region, a denomination, the church universal so far beyond ourselves that our vision cannot help but be expanded.

Giving generously allows us to express our gratitude to God who gives so generously to us. In joy, in gratitude, in confidence, let us day by day give ourselves to the Lord, and to each other, and then let us give generously from all that we have. Then this prayer will be ours: "Hear our prayer for all who may be helped by what we give. We offer more than money; we offer ourselves. May the sympathy and comfort we share with people in need serve to draw them closer to you. Keep us strong, that this church may give radiant witness to truth, constructive opposition to evil, and merciful redemption to those caught up in the wickedness of our times" ((Led by Love. Lavon Bayler. Cleveland: United Church Press, 1996, p.150).

Thanks be to God. Amen.