This is the third Sunday in our Stewardship Campaign in the middle of the month in which we are celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Dedication of this sanctuary. Today’s Scripture readings continue our exploration of all that it means to be sanctuary, to be God’s holy people, to be, in our very selves, God’s temple, Paul says, wherein the Spirit dwells.

Remember how we started, with that silly way of reminding ourselves that this is what sanctuary is finally all about? People! “This is the church, this is the steeple, open the door, and see all the people!”

Today we ask who are we? What is the content of our character? What kind of people are we, anyway? Are we fit to dwell in the sanctuary of the Most High?

This is a day for examining ourselves, for looking in the mirror, honestly. If our financial pledge to the church in 2004 is going to mean something real, if it’s going to reflect our yearning to grow in discipleship and faithfulness, if it’s going to stretch us into a more worthy level of stewardship, we’ve got to be honest. We’ve got to put aside our pride and our fear. If we dare to stand on God’s holy mountain, if we are audacious enough to come into the presence of God and say: “Here I am Lord; take my life and let it be consecrated—to Thee,” then we must open ourselves to a level of generosity and giving and faithfulness that can mold us into the people God creates us to be.

Now, about looking in the mirror. You know -- I’m at that age where I prefer to just glance in the mirror and keep on going. I look pretty good that way. Until I put my glasses on and turn on the overhead light. If I look closely, then, I see wrinkles and spots and all kinds of things that didn’t use to be there. Some of you know what I mean.

The real work of stewardship is like that. Putting on our glasses and turning up the lights and taking a good, long, hard look at where we are, what our true values and priorities are, and determining if what we like to say about ourselves really matches how we’re living our lives. It’s hard work and it should make us all uncomfortable.

You may have noticed that Larry, Greg and I share the preaching of our stewardship sermons each November. That’s partly because we know that we have a better chance of getting through to more of you if you have a chance to hear the same message in our different voices and manners of expression.

But it’s also, quite frankly, designed to share the pain. As a rule, stewardship sermons are not popular. I don’t think in all my years of ministry, any parishioner has ever said to me: “Thank you SO much, Pastor, for making me feel so uncomfortable in church today.” I heard a story about a seasoned pastor advising a young pastor, newly ordained. The older one said: “Whatever you do in the pulpit, avoid talking about politics and religion. Or money! Especially not money!”

That would be the safe course. We all like to take our glasses off and leave the lights soft and dim, but this is not the time for that.

I know that some people say we talk about money in church way too much. Good, I say. This shows that we’re encroaching on our comfort level. Maybe we’ve even reached the irritation level and we’re going to keep at it. Because the pesky thing is, the Bible talks about it even more often than we do. We’ve got a long way to go and a lot of growing to do.

This is serious stuff. We heard Claudia read Psalm 15 earlier. John Wesley wrote that, “the scope of this short but excellent psalm is to show us the way to heaven.” Psalm 15 is described by scholars as “a liturgy of entrance into the sanctuary.” To begin, a priest asks: What are the qualifications for admission into the worshipping congregation and the presence of God? “Who may abide in your tent, O Lord? Who may dwell on your holy hill?” The psalmist’s list of ten items is quite straightforward. This is clearly not a speech that has been tested with focus groups. It has not been “spun” by advisors sensitive to people’s feelings. Its tone is direct and clear. Hear it again in this version from “The Message”:

"Walk straight, act right, tell the truth. Don’t hurt your friend, don’t blame your neighbor, despise the despicable, keep your word even when it costs you, make an honest living, never take a bribe."

"Those who do these things shall never be moved. They will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

Who may abide in your sanctuary, O Lord? It is instructive for us to note how this question is not answered. The two great commandments after all are to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and our neighbor as ourselves. Note that there is nothing in this Psalm about loving God or worshipping God. Who may dwell in your sanctuary, O Lord? It doesn’t say those who pray the best, sing the best, wear their Sunday best, make the most beautiful worship for me. It doesn’t say those who preach the best, read Scripture the most, spend the most time in study, come to church every week.

No. The whole focus of the Psalmist is on love of neighbor, isn’t it, on the way we treat others. It’s about being truthful. Causing no harm. Doing what is right. Doing no evil. It’s about what we do and what we say, living and speaking blamelessly. Today we take note that of the ten items on the Psalmist’s short list, two address our use of money -- two out of ten. The Bible is BIG on our use of money and we always hate to face that.

The first is about the money we give. It was understood that those who had money were to lend it to help those in poverty, in need, but that no financial gain was to be made from that practice. Do not put out your money with interest, the text says, literally translated as “with a bite in it.” This admonition was not about business practices, you see, but about one’s obligation to divvy up what one had and give it to those in need. Give with no bite in your gift. Help others with no strings attached, nothing that would demean them. Give, not out of self-interest, but because it is the right thing to do.

The second money-related item on the Psalmist’s list showing us, as Wesley said, “the way to heaven,” is about the money we receive. It says to not take bribes against the innocent. That means, do not take money for what is not fair. To put it another way: do not let the money you receive cause you to get distracted from doing what is right.

This is a very hard teaching for those of us who live in a society that aggressively teaches us that “our” money, the money we receive, is the source of our happiness, our attractiveness, our worth and our security. We are addicted to money and the things money can do and buy. I am not glorifying poverty here, nor does Scripture at any point. But I am saying that those of us who have much, by the world’s standards, are easily swayed by the myth of scarcity. We never have enough. Having more will make us feel safe. Getting and keeping more is what we really care about.

In the words of the Psalmist, the money we receive is blinding us to what is right. We become self-centered, rather than other-focused, as the Bible would have us be. We, who have so much become what one commentator has called “neighbor-numb,” numb to the needs of those all around us. Not really out of callousness, but because we are too focused on ourselves and we are afraid.

We have some hard spiritual work to do, don’t we, to aim for that holy lifestyle and get money back in perspective in our lives and refuse to let it be what determines are true value and worth. There’s a funny new first novel just out called “What Should I Do If Reverend Billy Is in My Store?” Seems that Rev. Billy is pastor to a little flock calling themselves “the Church of Stop Shopping.” “Not buying is a brave thing to do,” says Rev. Billy, before the police arrest him in the Disney Store in Times Square and cart him off. Humor helps us look at ourselves and examine the things that distract us from our true humanity and the best of who we are, in this time when, as it has been noted, Christians are tithing, but it is to VISA and MasterCard.

The myth of scarcity plagues us as a congregation as well. There’s not enough, we say, we who are, after all, managing to live and clothe ourselves and raise kids and buy cars and pay rent or buy a house and eat, too much even, in one of the most expensive markets in the world.

We fear that we don’t have enough? Do you know that there are over 3 billion people in the world who have never even spoken on a telephone? How many telephones do you have?

We have enough and much, much more.

In the last century, an American tourist traveled to Poland to meet a famous rabbi. Noticing that his room had only a table, a chair and a few books, the American asked: “Rabbi, where is your furniture?” To which the rabbi replied, “My furniture? Where is your furniture, my friend?” “But I am only a tourist passing through,” the American said. “So am I,” replied the rabbi.

Stewardship is about holy living. It’s about our values and priorities. It reveals the measure of our character. It’s hard work. That’s why we call it a “spiritual discipline.” It’s like that exercise program Larry described last week. It requires commitment and sacrifice, but the inner strength we receive from it cannot be tabulated.

I know that some of us are hurting financially right now. Limited income, loss of jobs, have meant that you are not able to give as much as you would want. But it’s not the size of the gift that counts, but what that gift means in your life. Remember the story of the widow that we heard last week. She had only two copper coins to give, yet her generosity and faithfulness knew no bounds. We measure our pledge, finally, not by dollars and cents, but by the size of the piece of our heart that goes with it.

We have been growing in our stewardship here, year after year, as the number of us who make the commitment to pledge as well as the size of our individual pledges has grown even through a very difficult economic time. Consider your pledge for 2004 in prayer and study the proportional-giving chart on the back. If you don’t have a card, or want to make a new pledge this morning, there are extra cards in the Narthex as you leave the church this morning. As we grow together in our stewardship, and move up a step in our giving each year, we will discover that there are more than enough resources here to do everything God would dream us to do.

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? God’s temple is holy and you are the temple.

The God whose generous love that knows no bounds, no limits, no ceiling, the God who never charges interest on anything we are loaned while passing through this earthly life, the God who can never be bribed by our reluctant giving, the God in whose image we are created, and redeemed and sustained--is the God who will keep prodding us to a grander vision and a more generous faith. Amen

Notes:

The Living Pulpit, July-Sept. 1997, Vol. 6., No. 3: “Money.”

The Los Angeles Times Book Review. November 9, 2003. Review of What Should I Do

If Reverend Billy Is In My Store? by Bill Talen, The New Press.