We
come this morning to Consecration Sunday, our annual time to dedicate
our financial gifts to God for the mission and ministry of the church
in the coming year. This is a tradition, not unlike Thanksgiving Dinner
traditions, which for many families means preparing and enjoying the
exact same recipes year after year. Any variation seems to through
everyone into a tizzy.
And
so, for Consecration Sunday at FUMC, we’ve got our traditional
box out, polished like our best silver and ready to once again receive
our financial pledges for another year.
But
I have been wondering what people who aren’t regular churchgoers
might think of Consecration Sunday. It might seem a bit strange to
walk into a church, not being familiar with things, unsure of what’s
what and how you are to behave and finding a big box front and center
and observing people walking up and respectfully putting small strips
of paper into the box and praying over it. Aren’t these Christians
odd, one might conclude? How would people know to make the connection
between these cards and our money…let alone our hearts?
I
don’t know if this story is really true, but I heard that there
was a church where a thief came in and stole a bank bag one Sunday
afternoon after worship. The bag was filled with one hundred thousand
dollars—in pledge cards. Police were soon able to apprehend
the perpetrator after he began phoning church members urging them
to mail him the money. At least that thief made the connection between
the cards and our financial gifts.
But
what does it really mean to consecrate our pledges? What’s really
going on here, with this box, and this procession, and this ritual
of showing that something very special is happening? Lest some be
mystified today while others may be taking all this for granted, I
thought it would be helpful to dig in and rediscover what “consecration”
is really all about. For, as we well know, our worship this morning
is about so much more than putting cards in a special box. It’s
about saying to God: I acknowledge you as the source of all the blessings
of my life and I return to you now this pledge as a sign of my commitment
to a life of service and praise.
“Consecrate”
is a rather old-fashioned word, isn’t it. We don’t use
it much in everyday speech. Consecrate means to dedicate to a service
or goal, as in consecrating one’s time for a particular task.
For example, a modern version of the Hippocratic Oath taken by doctors
begins: “At the time of my being admitted as a member of my
profession, I solemnly pledge myself to consecrate my life to the
service of humanity.” So you see, time may be consecrated, knowledge
and skill may be consecrated, one’s life may be consecrated
to a lofty purpose and goal.
Similarly,
buildings and monuments may be consecrated, set apart for a noble
use and for memorializing great achievement. Just last Friday I was
privileged to be in our nation’s capitol for the annual meeting
of the American Academy of Religion. While there, I had my first opportunity
to visit the new World War II Memorial, consecrated in April of 2004,
a monument to the 16 million men and women who served in that war,
among them my dad, which is why I particularly wanted to go and pay
my respects and as a way to hallow, to consecrate his memory.
Most
beautiful at night, as I saw it, on a clear, crisp starlit autumn
night, 56 tall pillars are arranged in a semicircle around a central
plaza with two arches on opposite sides, each inscribed with the name
of the then-48 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and the Alaska
Territory and Territory of Hawaii, the Commonwealth of the Philippines,
Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The
Freedom Wall, located on the west side of the memorial, with a view
of the Reflecting Pool and Lincoln Memorial behind it, contains 4048
gold stars, each representing approximately 100 American deaths incurred
in the war. This beautiful monument now consecrates their memory,
their spirit, sacrifice and commitment, and their service in the cause
of freedom and peace.
So
now we see that time can be consecrated, one’s life and vocation
may be consecrated, buildings and monuments and memories may be consecrated.
And as we use the word in the church, “consecrate” can
mean even more. To consecrate means to declare or set apart as sacred,
to make sacred. And so we consecrate churches, and cemeteries. We
consecrate bishops. We consecrate the communion elements, bread and
wine. We consecrate the pledge of our financial gifts. In so doing,
we set all these things apart from common life or use and dedicate
them to the service of God.
The
history on all this is ancient. It goes all the way back to the book
of First Chronicles, chapter 29, where King David is dedicating the
new temple. He’s made his personal offering towards the work,
saying: “I have provided for the house of my God so far as I
was able, the gold for things of the gold, the silver for the things
of silver, and the bronze for the things of bronze, the iron for the
things of iron, and wood for the things of wood”…and so
forth. And then the king asks of the people: “Who then will
offer willingly, consecrating themselves today to the Lord?”
And
all the people responded in kind, and contributed gold and silver
and iron and precious stones. And then, it says, “the people
rejoiced because these had given willingly, for with single mind they
had offered freely to God.” And then the King said unto God:
“But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able
to make this freewill offering? For all things come from you and of
your own have we given you….O Lord our God, all this abundance
that we have provided for building you a house for your holy name
comes from your hand, and is all your own….O Lord, God, keep
forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people, and
direct their hearts towards you.”
You
see, what we’re about this morning, as we prepare to come forward
and place our pledge cards in this special box on this Consecration
Sunday, is directing our hearts towards God. We are celebrating the
sanctification of our lives. The consecration of our hearts to a holy
purpose. How grateful we are this day to remember that God is continually
working in us to make us holy. For, as we well know, God’s work
in us changes us and transforms us and sets our hearts on fire. As
Carol Reich put it last Sunday in her Stewardship witness, God creates
in us a “new Pentecost of service, that we might be the hands
of Christ for the world.”
For
what it all really comes down to is not how many cards end up in this
box this morning, but how many hearts are converted to deeper service
and praise. As we come forward, know that in this act of worship,
we are touching the holy. We are consecrating our time, our talents,
our service, our memories, our hopes, rendering them holy and precious
to God, dedicating it all to a cause much bigger than ourselves. We
consecrate the gift of our life, the gift of generosity and the gift
of the mission to which God calls us.
Let
the journey continue. And when God calls, may you answer whole-heartedly:
“Here am I, Lord, send me.”
©Patricia
Farris , 2006. Permission is given for brief quotation with attribution.
All other rights reserved.
First
United Methodist Church
1008 Eleventh Street
Santa Monica, CA 90403
www.santamonicaumc.org
(310) 393-8258
Every
Blessing in Abundance