We
Are a Covenant People
Sermon preached by Rev. Patricia Farris
November 13, 2005
Scripture:
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 and Matthew 12:3-4b
In
the mid nineteenth century, a young woman, a devout Christian, daughter
of an Anglican clergyman, sought to devote her whole life to Christ.
She rose early each morning to spend an hour reading Scripture. She
set specific times during each day when she would stop and pray. She
taught Sunday School. She learned Latin, Greek and Hebrew and memorized
the Psalms, Isaiah and the Minor Prophets.
But
even all that was not enough for Frances Havergal, the woman who wrote
many hymns, including the one we close our service with today: “Take
My Life and Let It Be Consecrated.” She wrote to a friend that
she had shipped off all her ornaments (her jewelry) to the Church
Missionary Society. She wrote: “I retain only a brooch for daily
wear, which is a memorial to my dear parents, also a locket. I had
no idea I had such a jeweler’s shop. I don’t think I need
to tell you that I never packed a box with such pleasure.” And
she wrote:
”take my silver and my gold; not a mite would I withhold. …Take
myself and I will be, ever, only, all for Thee.”
Frances
Havergal led a model Christian life. It’s not an easy path.
Part of the genius of John Wesley in initiating Methodism as a renewal
movement in the old Church of England was that he knew most of us
would have trouble matching our deeds with our words and beliefs all
on our own. Wesley knew how very easy it would be for us to fudge,
to deceive ourselves, to think of ourselves more highly than we ought.
Wesley knew we’d fairly easily succumb to the ways of the world,
the temptations of this life and be prone to take the easy way out
more often than not. And so, he organized his first followers into
little groups, class meetings, who met regularly face-to-face to hold
one another accountable to the promises, the covenant, they had made
with one another about living a faithful life.
Some
of us now are in small groups that do that with us and for us. All
your pastors, for example, are now required by our bishop and our
superintendent to do so. But most of us, I imagine, are still trying
to go it alone. And that’s why weekly worship is so important.
This is at least one time during the week when we should let down
our guard long enough in order for the Good Lord to take a look deep
inside our hearts and say “Hmmm…maybe we have a little
more work to do in this particular area…”
(continued...)
"We
Are a Covenant People" by Rev. Patricia Farris, November 13, 2005
You’ve heard the question: “If you were arrested today for
being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?”
It’s a helpful question to ask ourselves from time to time. It’s
a way of doing a self-inventory, of taking a look in the mirror, of
imaging ourselves standing at the pearly gates and being interrogated
by St. Peter himself. “Hmmm”, he might say, scratching his
beard. “A Christian, you say….really?”
Only
you can say where God might want to work on you a little bit this morning.
Maybe it’s in your parenting, or your relations with your spouse.
Maybe it’s a difficult co-worker or family member. Maybe it’s
in your business practices. Maybe it’s the way you’re so
very private about your faith that people who know you have no idea
if Christ is important to you and your values. Maybe it’s how
you never stop to think about how much of the world’s precious
resources you easily waste. Or maybe it’s just how you forget
to remember that everything is in fact a gift of God and to give thanks
unceasingly.
I
can’t say what the Holy Spirit might be longing to make new in
each of you this morning, but if I were a betting person, and of course
as a good Methodist I am not, I would be that the Spirit probably has
some work to do in all of us around how we use our money. The great
reformer, Martin Luther, once said that “every Christian needs
to experience three conversions: the conversion of the heart, the conversion
of the head, and the conversion of the wallet.” The conversion
of the credit card, the debit card, the ATM card. Luther was right.
This is the hardest spiritual work we have to do. If we were arrested
for being a Christian today, would our bank statement show enough evidence
to convict us?
Over
the years in this congregation, we continue to grow not only in our
giving, but in the spirituality of our stewardship. Thanks to the efforts
of our new Stewardship Committee, Sunday after Sunday for several months
now, one of us has stood before us to share a small piece of their stewardship
journey. In the great Wesleyan tradition, we have heard testimonies,
personal accounts of the movement of God in our lives. They have shared
openly and honestly with us, and we have seen what the Gospel tells
today: “out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.”
We’ve pondered together, hearts open before God, how it is to
give joyfully, or to give personally, or to give until it hurts. We’ve
heard how it is to give more than we thought we safely could. We’ve
seen that giving has to do not only with our money but with how we spend
our life’s energy and time and the gifts God has given us—how
we give and spend all that we’ve received freely and gratefully.
In
all of this, God is working on us. I hope you will plan to participate
in our Church Conference this evening at 6pm to hear all the reports
of this year and to hear how the Holy Spirit is nudging us, challenging
us, encouraging us to be more generous and joyful stewards. The numbers
of those pledging has increased and the size of our pledges has increased
and this year, so far, our giving is a little ahead of where our financial
gurus predicted it would be at this point in the year. We have given
very generously to missions over and above our budget. We will finish
with a wonderfully strong year financially IF we give generously as
we traditionally have now in these last two months of the year.
(continued...)
"We
Are a Covenant People" by Rev. Patricia Farris, November 13,
2005
If
we continue to stretch and give and grow we will most likely be able
to pay our apportionments in full this year, that is, our share of
mission support as part of the whole United Methodist Church. Looking
at our church financial statements this year, God may indeed find
evidence to convict us for being Christians. Thanks be to God!
This
growing in our giving is a sign of health and strength. It is an indication
that we are in conversation in our hearts with God and that God is
working in us on the conversion of our wallets and bank statements!
When the world says “keep and hoard,” God says “give.”
When the world says “be fearful and cautious,” God says
“fear not, I am with you.” When the world says “trust
no one,” God says “put all your trust in Me.”When
the world says “be selfish and self-indulgent”, God says
“give yourself in the service of my children.” When the
world says “measure your value by your stuff,” God says
“I value your life by the content of your heart.”
We
Christians are in relationship with our God because God has established
a covenant with us and wants us to be a particular kind of people
in this world. To Adam and Eve, God offered the perfection of Eden.
With Noah, God made a new beginning. Abraham and Sarah, launched generations
of faithful followers with the choice to choose the way of life in
following God’s commandments. In Christ Jesus, God made a new
covenant, by water and the Spirit, in Christ’s self-offering
for us and in his saving work in the hearts of humankind.
That
word “covenant” originally meant “a legal treaty,
a negotiated settlement.” But in Scripture, covenant goes far
beyond that to become a bond of mutual trust and fidelity, a living
relationship. We are a covenant people, supported and held accountable
by our God. Our covenant with God extends to all the company of the
saints and forward to all the generations of our children yet to be
born. Living in covenant with God, we are “guardians of the
past for the sake of the future” (in the words of Rabbi Jonathan
Sacks) and therefore, God’s covenant with us holds us accountable
for the content of our hearts and the consequences of our actions.
“Take
my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee. Take my moments
and my days; let them flow in ceaseless praise” wrote Frances
Havergal.
Do
our lives show forth enough evidence to convict us as a Christian?
Part of the evidence, if you will, is on the pledge cards we consecrate
today. May God continue this great work within us, to convert our
hearts, our heads, and our wallets through the saving grace of Christ
Jesus, that out of the abundance of our hearts, not only our words,
but our very lives, might show forth God’s praise.
Amen.
©Patricia Farris , 2005. Permission is given for brief quotation
with attribution. All other rights reserved.
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