God's Investment Advice
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
Object:
Dear Fellow Preachers,
Investment failures have been in the news lately, and here at The Immediate Word, we see that news as fertile ground for a sermon. So for this installment, we've asked team member Carlos Wilton to write about that topic, using the lectionary texts for September 26 as the basis, especially the epistle reading, 1 Timothy 6:6-19.
We've also included team comments, related illustrations, and a children's sermon.
God's Investment Advice
1 Timothy 6:6-19
The Message on a Postcard
Wouldn't it be great if we could get investment advice straight from God? Well, as it happens, we can. 1 Timothy tells us how to store up for ourselves "the treasure of a good foundation for the future" (1 Timothy 6:19).
The subject of "a good foundation for the future" has been in the news in recent weeks. President Bush continues to tout his proposal for privatizing Social Security, allowing citizens to decide how at least a portion of their retirement dollars get invested (Senator Kerry disagrees, claiming this is a terrible idea). Over on the financial pages, ominous articles have been appearing about corporate pension programs. Several airlines, in dire financial straits, have allowed the base of their employee pension programs to weaken. Even mighty General Motors, it now appears, is admitting that the billions it has invested on behalf of its retirees may not be enough, should certain economic scenarios come to pass.
None of us would have any worries about our financial future if we could just get the right investment advice. So what does God advise? That "there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment" (6:6).
Now wait a minute! That sounds like God's advising us not to increase our income, but to reduce our expectations. Furthermore, 1 Timothy instructs us "to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share" (6:18). That hardly sounds like the sort of hot tip the typical stockbroker would pass along.
As it happens, that's exactly what the scriptures are saying. God's investment advice is different from that of human beings. God's word to us is that the more we give away, the richer we become.
That may sound counter-intuitive, but it's the truth. Such a truth Jeremiah knows well -- and demonstrates with the coins in his own purse, as he famously buys himself a field at Anathoth, just days before the Babylonian armies overrun the place (Jeremiah 32:9). Today's gospel lesson, Luke 16:19-31, paints a colorful story, in broad, comedic strokes, about a rich man and a beggar, both of whom have died and gone to their eternal reward. Would that the rich man, in that fable Jesus tells, had heeded God's investment advice!
Stewardship-campaign season is still many weeks off for most of our churches, but the lectionary texts this week allow us to get a head start on that important task. As these scriptures remind us, stewardship is not a topic for a single season only, but bears mentioning all throughout the year.
Some Words on the Word
As "The Message On a Postcard" indicates (see above), three of this week's lectionary texts can profitably be used to address the subject of generosity: Jeremiah buying the field at Anathoth, 1 Timothy on generosity, and Jesus' parable of Lazarus and the rich man. My exegetical remarks will concentrate on the 1 Timothy text.
The Pastoral Epistles of 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus present significant challenges for preaching. Chief among them is the question of authorship: while these letters explicitly claim authorship by the Apostle Paul, few modern scholars consider them to be directly from the apostle's pen. The Greek used in these letters is significantly different from the language of the undisputed Pauline letters, and the theological themes clearly belong to the church of a generation or so after Paul, not to the church of mid-first-century.
Many modern commentators have weighed in on the ancient tradition of pseudonymous authorship -- how followers of a certain thinker would often write documents that purportedly come from the pen of the founder of their philosophical school, as a way of applying the thinker's insights to contemporary situations. Plato, for example, wrote dialogues that supposedly convey teachings of Socrates, when everyone recognizes Plato as the real author. No one would accuse Plato of copyright infringement because he puts words in Socrates' mouth: modern notions of copyright were utterly foreign to the time in which Plato was writing. Something similar may be true of the Pastoral Epistles: their true author is an anonymous follower of Paul, although they may with some legitimacy be said to broadly represent the thinking of the apostle.
These matters of authorship are exceedingly difficult to communicate in the short space of a sermon to a congregation that has not come to hear a lecture on the fine points of textual criticism. Most of us would be well advised not to try. Yet at the same time, if we accept the premise that the Pastorals are not genuinely Pauline, it would be disingenuous to continue to pretend that Paul is the actual author. Better to focus on the message of the words themselves, downplaying the dramatic situation that has Paul writing, perhaps from prison, to his younger protege and collaborator.
Yet having said that, it is also important to point out that the Pastorals continue to be part of the canon of scripture. For centuries, the church has recognized these documents to be the word of God. By whatever circuitous route these words may have come to us, they are yet considered inspired (although not on the basis of the oft-quoted 2 Timothy 3:16 -- for that "scripture [that] is inspired by God and ... useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness." That refers to the Hebrew Scriptures, not the books of the New Testament!).
With respect to 1 Timothy 6:6-19, the author is in the midst of warning against false teaching. Last in a long list of characteristics of false teaching is "imagining that godliness is a means of gain" (v. 5). This inspires the author to enter, in two separate occasions, into discourses on financial generosity -- 6:6-10 and 6:17-19 -- both of which are part of today's reading.
Several observations may be useful with respect to these two smaller parts of today's passage:
1) The idea of contentment. The Greek word used here, autarkeias (meaning literally, sufficiency or self-sufficiency), occurs often in the writings of Stoic philosophers. It is, for them, a kind of ideal: the Stoics aspire to a golden mean resulting from both having enough and not wanting too much.
2) Verse 10, "the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil," is one of the most frequently misquoted sayings in the Bible. It has come down to us in a shortened, bastardized form as "money is the root of all evil." First, it is not money as a substance that is the problem, but rather the love of money. And second, money is most certainly not "the root of all evil"; it is the root of all kinds of evil. (The author is not talking ontologically, here, about money as the root cause of evil in the abstract; what he's doing is dispensing common-sense advice that "the love of money spawns all manner of other problems.")
3) The word translated "generosity" is koinonikos. Greek students will recognize it as closely related to koinonia, or fellowship. The antithesis to generosity is the kind of radical individualism (all too prevalent in contemporary American society) that elevates personal property to an absolute right. The New Testament says, by contrast, that those who hold wealth never do so purely as individuals, but as individuals who are members of a community. The literal meaning of the word "idiot" is "one who stands alone"; hoarding money, therefore, without regard for the needs of others, is among the worst sorts of idiocy.
A Map of the Message
Science-fiction stories of time travel often have characters journeying to the future and back. Imagine: if we could miraculously jump a week or two into the future, then back into the present, what sort of information could we bring back that could improve our personal situation? For many of us, the answer would be clear: winning lottery numbers!
That one tidbit of factual information, gleaned from the mysterious future, would be enough to transform the most questionable of investments -- a lottery ticket -- into a rock-solid blue-chip asset. If only we had a God's-eye view when it comes to investments! If God were our stockbroker, would we make a killing!
1 Timothy, however, shows us that the God's-eye view is more different from our own than perhaps we imagine. God looks at the world of investments -- that vast, multi-billion-dollar Wall Street stocks-and-bonds world -- and sees not so much accumulated wealth as accumulated power to perform ergos kalois -- good works (v. 18). In our bank accounts, our stock portfolios (for those lucky enough to have them), our real-estate assets, our pensions, is locked up a tremendous, untapped potentiality. Those aren't just dollars we're hanging onto: they're food, clothing, and shelter for brothers and sisters who have little or none of these things.
Generosity is, in many ways, a virtue that appears headed for extinction in our society. We seem to place much greater value, nowadays, on acquisition and ownership than on giving wealth away. I remember hearing somewhere that the authors of the Declaration of Independence produced a first draft that spoke of the God-given, inalienable right to "life, liberty and property" (taking a leaf from the English philosopher, John Locke). It was only in a later draft that Jefferson, Franklin, and Adams changed that great document to read "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Nowadays, though, we Americans seem hell-bent (and yes, I do mean "hell-bent") to turn back the clock and return to the earlier, discarded version. 1 Timothy unashamedly links the ideas of contentment and generosity: today's passage has the sheer audacity to suggest that giving money away can make us happy.
I remember hearing a speaker from an organization called "The Ministry of Money." The Ministry of Money, a project that originally grew out of the Church of the Savior in Washington, D.C., works with people of significant wealth to encourage them to practice generosity. One person that organization worked with in its early days was a Christian woman, with no close relatives or heirs who had a net worth of ten million dollars. This woman determined, after much thought and prayer, that she was going to give away one tenth of her wealth to the poor. When she went to the bank trust officer who managed her money and told him what she'd decided to do, his first reaction was to call his client's doctor and ask him to perform a psychological assessment on her. "Do you know what she wants to do?" he asked the doctor in alarm. "She wants to give away a million dollars!" So foreign was the notion of generosity to this investment specialist that he could only see it as mental illness. Wealth, to him, was always to be conserved -- never given away. This attitude is more common than many of us imagine.
The latter part of this passage, beginning with verse 17, begins, "As for those who in the present age are rich ..." Who do most of us imagine those words are addressed to?
I'd venture to guess that most of us, reading those words, assume they're directed at other people. "Rich?" we ask ourselves. "That adjective doesn't apply to me!"
Yet "rich" is a relative term. From the standpoint of most of the world's people, most of us are rich, even those of us in the cash-squeezed middle class. Even those of us on the welfare rolls! Much as we'd prefer not to, we have no choice but to read 1 Timothy 6:17-19 as applying to us. That passage advises us not to be "haughty." It encourages us to set our hopes not on "the uncertainty of riches," but rather "on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment." It challenges us to be rich not in money, but "in good works."
Now that's wealth!
Team Comments
Carter Shelley responds: Carlos, I like your handling of the authorship issue 1 Timothy and the other Pastoral Epistles provide. I'd like to think there is a way to integrate such information into our sermons, because we can't count on the majority of church members being active Sunday school participants. One of the few drawbacks to preaching the lectionary is it limits our opportunities to preach on complete books of the Bible. Such important introductory background material is more easily shared when preacher and congregation are both going to be hearing a lot more from the author in question. Since the lectionary does tend to stick to a particular prophet, epistle, or sequence of gospel texts, we probably could do more textual educating than we actually do. Sometimes I will use the Children's Time for such background information when I come up with a way of presenting it that includes the children as well as older congregants. Another way, of course, is to make a few brief introductory comments before reading the biblical text.
As for your investment theme for this Sunday's sermon, my own comments pretty much echo your own. I appreciate your pointing out the significance of 1 Timothy's phrasing "the love of money" as it places the responsibility back on our shoulders while implying that money can be used for many good and generous things when not viewed as one's own alone. I love the significance of the word "idiot" in this context. Who among us hasn't read stories about bitter family quarrels over inheritances or the foolhardiness of those who already have money risking everything at the roulette table in order to have more?
During the Cold War era, it was common practice to keep spies coming back with additional tidbits about their own country by giving them just a little bit more money than they already earned. Making a spy rich right away wasn't an effective means of control. Making them hungry, greedy to have just a little bit better suit, a little bit better car, and a little bit more cash in their pockets kept the dependency and information flowing.
Since I am very much in accord with your comments and suggestions for this week, my observations primarily serve to reinforce or illustrate yours
I have always been intrigued by the mixed messages about wealth and property that the Testaments, Old and New seem to offer to the faithful. Most of us are familiar with the Judaic notion that great wealth and prosperity are linked with God's favor. Many of God's most devout adherents were indeed wealthy in their own time and context: Abraham owned many possessions, livestock, and servants. Jacob's fortunes always seemed to run to the good despite his bad start as a thief and fratricidal traitor. David certainly did well considering he was the last son in a family overflowing with sons. I've always been intrigued by the way the author of the prelude and postscript in Job tried to nullify the patient pietist's sufferings by restoring all Job has lost, as if a new set of children, livestock, bountiful harvests, and good health would make the ol' boy forget the devastating losses that went before.
This notion that God clearly blesses and supports the prosperous certainly carried over into Jesus' day. In fact, Jesus' own words are often called upon as evidence that material wealth can be expected by those who "Ask and it will be given," and so on. There are many, many Christians who believe that Christian devotion equals economic prosperity and the good life. All of us can think of examples of televangelists and clergy who preach a gospel of great gifts and wealth to Americans who follow the proscribed path, be it the selling of Amway products, mailing those checks and dollars to a particular ministry, or simply praying to God that one's hard work, moral life, and dedication will enlarge one's bank account.
As with many other topics in the Bible, the matter of faithfulness and profit is not as simple as specific verses make it seem. Both Testaments include statements suggesting that wealth and prosperity do not exist solely to serve the one who has them. The Jubilee year practice of redistributing land every 49th year reminded the ancient Hebrews that God remains their landlord and landowner, and that God's will intends to provide enough for all, and not just the economically astute who accrue great wealth. Clearly, the notion of tithing came into existence in order to remind the well off that all they have is theirs due to God's blessing; therefore, they are to return it to God. Jesus, of course, startled his disciples more than once with his stories of Lazarus, Dives, or the camel/needle degree of difficulty involved in getting a rich man into the Kingdom of Heaven: "Where your treasure is there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:21).
It is easy for most of us middle class Americans to assume that when we come across words about wealth and sharing in the Old and New Testaments, that we are called upon to share out of our personal pockets, and many of us are reliable and dedicated church and public charity givers. I agree with Carlos that many of us tend not to think of ourselves as rich, because we don't live like Paris Hilton (thank goodness!) or Donald Trump. Yet we know we are rich compared to many, many other peoples in the world: a television? Running water? Two to three full meals a day? A roof over our heads? Most of us have got it while "at least one billion of the 6.4 billion people in our world live in poverty. It is estimated that, within a few years, 25 percent of the earth's population will be poverty-stricken. Two million children die every year from poverty-related diseases. The number of people who lack access to safe drinking water is estimated at 1.3 billion" (www.obc.org).
There is a poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson called Richard Corey that Simon and Garfunkel turned into a song in the 1960s. The narrator of both poem and song works long, hard hours just to get by. For him Richard Corey has it all, and the narrator cannot comprehend what such a man would have to deal with that would drive him to suicide. The author of 1 Timothy does not share the narrator's bafflement. To him (or her) such hollowness makes perfect sense, not cents.
Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.
And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
"Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.
And he was rich -- yes, richer than a king --
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.
So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.
By Edwin Arlington Robinson
www.americanpoem.com
Recently, a very fine French movie, Monsieur Ibrahim came out on DVD and video. The movie is about a lonely boy befriended by the Sunni Muslim who owns and runs a small grocery store in the boy's neighborhood. The boy frequently shoplifts things from the store and is startled one day when the Monsieur Ibrahim reveals his knowledge of these petty thefts. "If you want something, keep taking it from me. I don't want you stealing anywhere else." The man tells the boy. The man doesn't want the boy to get into serious trouble for his thievery. The boy is intrigued. Monsieur Ibrahim is astute enough to have known about the frequent shoplifting, yet he cares enough about the boy's welfare to encourage him to continue the practice safely within the bounds of his own store at considerable cost to the storeowner, who is barely getting by. This man, formerly almost a stranger, displays more love and concern for the boy than his insensitive and distant father can. The result is transformation for the boy. Knowing that he is loved and valued, that someone cares who he is and what he does, the boy proves to be worth Monsieur's "investment."
George Murphy responds: The questions of setting and authorship do have to be kept in mind by a preacher working with a text from the Pastorals. Whether or not they should be part of the sermon is another matter. My own feeling is that pastors ought to make efforts to educate members of their congregation on such matters, and that the introduction to the sermon could help in that direction by making people at least aware of the issue. One could simply suggest that the situation of the church envisioned in the letter seems to be later than that of Paul, and that a Christian of the next generation (perhaps a student of Paul's) may have attempted to apply the apostle's insights to that latter context. Mention of the general acceptance of the practice of ascribing texts to eminent authors in the ancient world would be helpful.
But this may not be a preacher's highest priority. Especially if other contentious issues are being debated in a congregation or if there are other sources of tension, the question might be left un-posed. Perhaps as a compromise you could refer to the writer simply as "the author of First Timothy" and leave it to those whose curiosity is piqued to ask why you didn't just say "Paul."
Then there is verse 10 of our text that, as Carlos points out, is frequently misquoted and misunderstood. It's the love of money that's a problem, a (not "the" -- there is no definite article) root of "all kinds of evil," not every evil.
But what's wrong with loving money? What's wrong with loving anything? Maybe nothing and maybe everything. Money itself is an abstraction, especially in our modern economy where a person can be extremely wealthy without having bags of gold and silver or indeed much of anything tangible. There aren't very many misers who just like running coins through their fingers. Money is buying power, the ability to acquire things -- physical possessions, security, fame, power, friends (of a sort), and almost anything else. A certain degree of love for such things can be appropriate.
But an inordinate love for such things leads to our most basic problem. Since money can, to some extent, provide us with security and the necessities of life, it's natural to put a certain degree of trust in it. But our ultimate trust is to be in God. An excessive love of money, the belief that we're safe if we have enough of it, is in the most basic sense idolatry, a violation of the First Commandment. And this is not just a temptation for the wealthy. It is also something that the poor all too easily fall for: "If only I had X number of dollars I'd be all right. In the Large Catechism Luther expands on this in explaining what it means to "have a god":
Many a person thinks he has God and everything he needs when he has money and property; in them he trusts and boasts so stubbornly and securely that he cares for no one. Surely such a man also has a god -- mammon by name, that is, money and possessions -- on which he fixes his whole heart. It is the most common idol on earth. He who has money and property feels secure, happy, fearless, as if he were sitting in the midst of paradise. On the other hand, he who has nothing doubts and despairs as if he never heard of God. Very few there are who are cheerful, who do not fret and complain, if they do not have mammon. This desire for wealth clings and cleaves to our nature all the way to the grave. (Tappert, The Book of Concord [Fortress, 1959], pp.365-366)
Related Illustrations
Remove far from me falsehood and lying;
give me neither poverty nor riches;
feed me with the food that I need,
or I shall be full, and deny you,
and say, "Who is the Lord?"
or I shall be poor, and steal,
and profane the name of my God.
-- Proverbs 30:8-9
***
To be where God is -- to follow Jesus -- means going beyond the limits of our own comfort and safety. It means receiving our lives as gifts instead of guarding them as our own possessions. It means sharing the life we have been given instead of bottling it for our own consumption. It means giving up the notion that we can build dams to contain the bright streams of our lives and letting them go instead, letting them swell their banks and spill their wealth until they carry us down to where they run, full and growing fuller, into the wide and glittering sea.
-- Barbara Brown Taylor, The Seeds of Heaven (Westminster, 2004)
***
Every time I take a step in the direction of generosity, I know I am moving from fear to love.
* Henri J.M. Nouwen
***
When we let go of money we are letting go of part of ourselves and part of our security. But this is precisely why it is important to do it. It is one way to obey Jesus' command to deny ourselves.... When we give money we are releasing a little more of our egocentric selves and a little more of our false security.... Giving frees us to care. It produces an air of expectancy as we anticipate what God will lead us to give. It makes life with God an adventure in the world, and that is worth living for and giving for.
-- Richard J. Foster, The Challenge of the Disciplined Life: Christian Reflections on Money, Sex and Power (HarperCollins, 1991)
***
Our country possesses the resources to bring solar technology, energy independence, and sustainable living to our planet. Even in the simple realm of humanitarian assistance, the United Nations estimates that $13 billion above current levels of aid would provide everyone in the world (including the hungry within our own borders) with basic health and nutrition. Collectively, Americans and Europeans spend $17 billion a year on pet food. We could do much more than just feed the family of mankind as well as our cats and dogs; we could assist that family in acquiring the basic skills and tools it needs to feed itself, while maintaining the natural resources on which all life depends. Real generosity involves not only making a gift but also giving up something, and on both scores we're well situated to be the most generous nation on earth....
Our government's spending on foreign aid has plummeted over the last twenty years, to levels that are -- to put it bluntly -- the stingiest among all developed nations'. In the year 2000, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the United States allocated just one percent of its gross national product to foreign aid -- or about one dime for every hundred dollars in its treasury -- whereas Canada, Japan, Austria, Australia, and Germany each contributed two to three times that much. Other countries gave even more, some as much as ten times the amount we do; they view this as a contribution to the world's stability and their own peace. But our country takes a different approach to generosity: Our tradition is to forgive debt in exchange for a strategic military base, an indentured economy, or mineral rights. We offer the hungry our magic seeds, genetically altered so the recipients must also buy our pesticides, while their sturdy native seed banks die out. At Fat Brother's house the domestic help might now and then slip out the back door with a plate of food for a neighbor, but for the record the household gives virtually nothing away. Even now, in what may be the most critical moment of our history, I fear that we seem to be telling the world we are not merciful so much as we are mighty.
-- Barbara Kingsolver, "Saying Grace," in Small Wonder: Essays (HarperCollins 2002), pp. 27-28
***
Generous people are rarely mentally ill. On the other hand, let us not be critical of our stingy friends. Remember, stinginess is an illness. Some don't dare give; they might run out. My dear friends, of course you are going to run out. You can't take it with you.... The ill individual narrows his vision until he ceases to see the multiplicity of opportunities.
-- Karl Menninger
***
It is ironic to think of the number of people in this country who pray for the poor and needy on Sunday and spend the rest of the week complaining that the government is doing something about them.
-- William Sloane Coffin, Credo (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2004), p. 52
***
The day is not far distant when the man who dies leaving behind him millions of available wealth, which was free for him to administer during life, will pass away "unwept, unhonored, and unsung," no matter to what uses he leave the dross which he cannot take with him. Of such as these the public verdict will then be: "The man who dies thus rich dies disgraced." Such, in my opinion, is the true gospel concerning wealth, obedience to which is destined some day to solve the problem of the rich and the poor.
-- Andrew Carnegie, "The Gospel of Wealth," in North American Review (Cedar Falls, Iowa, June 1889)
Worship Resources
By Julia Strope
CALL TO WORSHIP
From Psalm 91
Leader: Many days have passed since we have gathered here. As usual, we have come as thankful and needy people seeking God's care.
People: We expect God to be our defender and protector. Our trust is in God for safety through hidden dangers; we anticipate that God will sustain us through disease, hurricanes and floods.
Leader: The psalmist assured his people that God would be with them during the ups and downs of life.
People: When we call to the Holy One, God will respond to our prayers.
Leader: We long for life to be even-keeled or to float above distress. Yet, experience teaches us that sinking or flying, God will be with us, not necessarily making things painless.
People: We are grateful for Divine love which endures through all joys and catastrophes. With heart, mind and voice let us sing our praise!
HYMN SUGGESTIONS
Sing Praise to God, Who Reigns Above
Tune: MIT FREUDEN ZART
Available in The Presbyterian Hymnal, 1990, 483
Within Your Shelter, Loving God
Tune: ABBEY
Available in The Presbyterian Hymnal, 1990, 212
O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go
Tune: ST.MARGARET
Available in The Presbyterian Hymnal, 1990, 384
Fill My Cup
Tune: FILL MY CUP
Available in The Presbyterian Hymnal, 1990, 350
Down To Earth, As A Dove
Tune: PERSONENT HODIE
Available in The Presbyterian Hymnal, 1990, 300
PRAYER OF ADORATION
From Psalm 91
Leader: Gracious God, thank you for calming our fears and lifting us beyond our stresses. In this hour, we give you our undivided attention. With silence, words and music, we express our appreciation for your presence with us. Amen.
CALL TO CONFESSION
Luke 16:19-31
Leader: Every generation has had its interpretations of how God works among humankind. Some individuals see and understand. Some people are surprised when there are unforeseen consequences to their attitudes and behaviors. Let us look inside ourselves and notice the things we do and say which do not bring us closer to God.
COMMUNITY CONFESSION (unison)
Luke 16:19-31
God of our heavens and hells --
Be clear with us about your plan for our Life Together as well as for our individual lives. Help us be honest and do that which is consistent with your goodness.
Let us hear again the wisdom of Moses and Miriam, of Jesus and Mary.
Clear our minds of arrogance and ignorance that we may walk and speak with the life giving Christ. Amen.
WORD OF GRACE
Leader: God wants the best for all creatures. In Jesus we receive acute awareness of God-in-humankind offering wholeness and unconditional live. Through Christ, we are freed from guilt and shame.
CHORAL RESPONSE (unison)
Bless The Lord, O My Soul
Appalachian folk melody
Available in The Presbyterian Hymnal, 1990, 597
Bless the Lord, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless God's holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul
And forget not all God's benefits.
AN AFFIRMATION (unison)
1 Timothy 6:6-19
We know that we have brought nothing into this world and can take nothing with us to the next.
Scriptures tell us that religion doesn't make us rich or happy and so our minds and bodies search far and wide for Holy satisfaction.
God meets us in our search and satisfies our longings.
Christ meets us and lifts us beyond our angst.
Holy Spirit sustains us as we use our hands and voices to honor the living God.
Our community of faith supports us from our cradles to our graves. Thanks be to God. Amen.
INTERCESSORY PRAYERS (leader or leaders)
God of yesterday --
We know the stories of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar. We recognize the grief still haunting humankind because of decisions made 6,000 years ago to send Ishmael into the desert. Visit this world again with other ways of being in relationship so that Jews and Moslems and Christians all inherit mercy and share grace.
God of tomorrow --
We experience the magnetism of Jesus. And so we pray for ourselves. Bring us from ancient rites and rituals to a new day when what we say and what we do manifests your love and grace. Give us the wisdom to make decisions that mend disasters in our pasts.
God of harvests --
Hunger plagues so many adults and children. Disease torments so many young and old. Greed disrupts so many lives and abuses so many psyches. Stop American passion for games that promote violence and nasty language. Come to our leaders and open their eyes to health care possibilities. Connect with politicians so that we can be free from war and poverty here and in all nations around this blue marble planet.
Ingenious God --
Our bodies and minds are wonderfully made! Thank you for the miracle of life. When our muscles ache and our joints wear out, keep us curious about how the human body works. When our organs fail and pain is an unwelcome companion, send angels to caress us. When we fall or bruise our skin, mend us. Keep us conscious of your healing touch. Reach to those who seek comfort and new life.
God of hearth and home --
We pray for the Church and for churches in every country. May bigotry cease and honest relationships begin; may language promote collaboration and halt judgmental behaviors. How sad we are that faith families wound brothers and sisters in the faith. Grant all your people insight for hospitable living. Thank you for Jesus who walked and talked among women and men, at home and in the street, in places of worship and public forums. May the light which shone in him as the Christ shine in us. Amen.
OFFERTORY STATEMENT
1 Timothy 6
A passion for wealth often leads us away from God;
Yet money is the element of commerce in the world
And without it life is impossible.
This congregation needs money for building maintenance, for mission on this street corner and in far away places and for educating the next generation.
More than need, sharing our resources is one way we demonstrate our loyalty to God and to one another.
Let us give as we feel led.
PRAYER OF THANKGIVING
Thank you for the beautiful things around us. With these moneys, work through us to love your place and all people. Amen.
BENEDICTION/CHARGE
For one hour, we've been alert for God's subtle voice.
For one hour, we listened; we sang; we prayed.
Now we leave this space to do things that must be done.
Go with a strong awareness of walking on holy ground accompanied by unseen power.
Be at peace and live joyfully. Amen.
Children's Sermon
The children's sermon will be added at a later time.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, September 26, 2004, issue.
Copyright 2004 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
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Investment failures have been in the news lately, and here at The Immediate Word, we see that news as fertile ground for a sermon. So for this installment, we've asked team member Carlos Wilton to write about that topic, using the lectionary texts for September 26 as the basis, especially the epistle reading, 1 Timothy 6:6-19.
We've also included team comments, related illustrations, and a children's sermon.
God's Investment Advice
1 Timothy 6:6-19
The Message on a Postcard
Wouldn't it be great if we could get investment advice straight from God? Well, as it happens, we can. 1 Timothy tells us how to store up for ourselves "the treasure of a good foundation for the future" (1 Timothy 6:19).
The subject of "a good foundation for the future" has been in the news in recent weeks. President Bush continues to tout his proposal for privatizing Social Security, allowing citizens to decide how at least a portion of their retirement dollars get invested (Senator Kerry disagrees, claiming this is a terrible idea). Over on the financial pages, ominous articles have been appearing about corporate pension programs. Several airlines, in dire financial straits, have allowed the base of their employee pension programs to weaken. Even mighty General Motors, it now appears, is admitting that the billions it has invested on behalf of its retirees may not be enough, should certain economic scenarios come to pass.
None of us would have any worries about our financial future if we could just get the right investment advice. So what does God advise? That "there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment" (6:6).
Now wait a minute! That sounds like God's advising us not to increase our income, but to reduce our expectations. Furthermore, 1 Timothy instructs us "to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share" (6:18). That hardly sounds like the sort of hot tip the typical stockbroker would pass along.
As it happens, that's exactly what the scriptures are saying. God's investment advice is different from that of human beings. God's word to us is that the more we give away, the richer we become.
That may sound counter-intuitive, but it's the truth. Such a truth Jeremiah knows well -- and demonstrates with the coins in his own purse, as he famously buys himself a field at Anathoth, just days before the Babylonian armies overrun the place (Jeremiah 32:9). Today's gospel lesson, Luke 16:19-31, paints a colorful story, in broad, comedic strokes, about a rich man and a beggar, both of whom have died and gone to their eternal reward. Would that the rich man, in that fable Jesus tells, had heeded God's investment advice!
Stewardship-campaign season is still many weeks off for most of our churches, but the lectionary texts this week allow us to get a head start on that important task. As these scriptures remind us, stewardship is not a topic for a single season only, but bears mentioning all throughout the year.
Some Words on the Word
As "The Message On a Postcard" indicates (see above), three of this week's lectionary texts can profitably be used to address the subject of generosity: Jeremiah buying the field at Anathoth, 1 Timothy on generosity, and Jesus' parable of Lazarus and the rich man. My exegetical remarks will concentrate on the 1 Timothy text.
The Pastoral Epistles of 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus present significant challenges for preaching. Chief among them is the question of authorship: while these letters explicitly claim authorship by the Apostle Paul, few modern scholars consider them to be directly from the apostle's pen. The Greek used in these letters is significantly different from the language of the undisputed Pauline letters, and the theological themes clearly belong to the church of a generation or so after Paul, not to the church of mid-first-century.
Many modern commentators have weighed in on the ancient tradition of pseudonymous authorship -- how followers of a certain thinker would often write documents that purportedly come from the pen of the founder of their philosophical school, as a way of applying the thinker's insights to contemporary situations. Plato, for example, wrote dialogues that supposedly convey teachings of Socrates, when everyone recognizes Plato as the real author. No one would accuse Plato of copyright infringement because he puts words in Socrates' mouth: modern notions of copyright were utterly foreign to the time in which Plato was writing. Something similar may be true of the Pastoral Epistles: their true author is an anonymous follower of Paul, although they may with some legitimacy be said to broadly represent the thinking of the apostle.
These matters of authorship are exceedingly difficult to communicate in the short space of a sermon to a congregation that has not come to hear a lecture on the fine points of textual criticism. Most of us would be well advised not to try. Yet at the same time, if we accept the premise that the Pastorals are not genuinely Pauline, it would be disingenuous to continue to pretend that Paul is the actual author. Better to focus on the message of the words themselves, downplaying the dramatic situation that has Paul writing, perhaps from prison, to his younger protege and collaborator.
Yet having said that, it is also important to point out that the Pastorals continue to be part of the canon of scripture. For centuries, the church has recognized these documents to be the word of God. By whatever circuitous route these words may have come to us, they are yet considered inspired (although not on the basis of the oft-quoted 2 Timothy 3:16 -- for that "scripture [that] is inspired by God and ... useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness." That refers to the Hebrew Scriptures, not the books of the New Testament!).
With respect to 1 Timothy 6:6-19, the author is in the midst of warning against false teaching. Last in a long list of characteristics of false teaching is "imagining that godliness is a means of gain" (v. 5). This inspires the author to enter, in two separate occasions, into discourses on financial generosity -- 6:6-10 and 6:17-19 -- both of which are part of today's reading.
Several observations may be useful with respect to these two smaller parts of today's passage:
1) The idea of contentment. The Greek word used here, autarkeias (meaning literally, sufficiency or self-sufficiency), occurs often in the writings of Stoic philosophers. It is, for them, a kind of ideal: the Stoics aspire to a golden mean resulting from both having enough and not wanting too much.
2) Verse 10, "the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil," is one of the most frequently misquoted sayings in the Bible. It has come down to us in a shortened, bastardized form as "money is the root of all evil." First, it is not money as a substance that is the problem, but rather the love of money. And second, money is most certainly not "the root of all evil"; it is the root of all kinds of evil. (The author is not talking ontologically, here, about money as the root cause of evil in the abstract; what he's doing is dispensing common-sense advice that "the love of money spawns all manner of other problems.")
3) The word translated "generosity" is koinonikos. Greek students will recognize it as closely related to koinonia, or fellowship. The antithesis to generosity is the kind of radical individualism (all too prevalent in contemporary American society) that elevates personal property to an absolute right. The New Testament says, by contrast, that those who hold wealth never do so purely as individuals, but as individuals who are members of a community. The literal meaning of the word "idiot" is "one who stands alone"; hoarding money, therefore, without regard for the needs of others, is among the worst sorts of idiocy.
A Map of the Message
Science-fiction stories of time travel often have characters journeying to the future and back. Imagine: if we could miraculously jump a week or two into the future, then back into the present, what sort of information could we bring back that could improve our personal situation? For many of us, the answer would be clear: winning lottery numbers!
That one tidbit of factual information, gleaned from the mysterious future, would be enough to transform the most questionable of investments -- a lottery ticket -- into a rock-solid blue-chip asset. If only we had a God's-eye view when it comes to investments! If God were our stockbroker, would we make a killing!
1 Timothy, however, shows us that the God's-eye view is more different from our own than perhaps we imagine. God looks at the world of investments -- that vast, multi-billion-dollar Wall Street stocks-and-bonds world -- and sees not so much accumulated wealth as accumulated power to perform ergos kalois -- good works (v. 18). In our bank accounts, our stock portfolios (for those lucky enough to have them), our real-estate assets, our pensions, is locked up a tremendous, untapped potentiality. Those aren't just dollars we're hanging onto: they're food, clothing, and shelter for brothers and sisters who have little or none of these things.
Generosity is, in many ways, a virtue that appears headed for extinction in our society. We seem to place much greater value, nowadays, on acquisition and ownership than on giving wealth away. I remember hearing somewhere that the authors of the Declaration of Independence produced a first draft that spoke of the God-given, inalienable right to "life, liberty and property" (taking a leaf from the English philosopher, John Locke). It was only in a later draft that Jefferson, Franklin, and Adams changed that great document to read "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Nowadays, though, we Americans seem hell-bent (and yes, I do mean "hell-bent") to turn back the clock and return to the earlier, discarded version. 1 Timothy unashamedly links the ideas of contentment and generosity: today's passage has the sheer audacity to suggest that giving money away can make us happy.
I remember hearing a speaker from an organization called "The Ministry of Money." The Ministry of Money, a project that originally grew out of the Church of the Savior in Washington, D.C., works with people of significant wealth to encourage them to practice generosity. One person that organization worked with in its early days was a Christian woman, with no close relatives or heirs who had a net worth of ten million dollars. This woman determined, after much thought and prayer, that she was going to give away one tenth of her wealth to the poor. When she went to the bank trust officer who managed her money and told him what she'd decided to do, his first reaction was to call his client's doctor and ask him to perform a psychological assessment on her. "Do you know what she wants to do?" he asked the doctor in alarm. "She wants to give away a million dollars!" So foreign was the notion of generosity to this investment specialist that he could only see it as mental illness. Wealth, to him, was always to be conserved -- never given away. This attitude is more common than many of us imagine.
The latter part of this passage, beginning with verse 17, begins, "As for those who in the present age are rich ..." Who do most of us imagine those words are addressed to?
I'd venture to guess that most of us, reading those words, assume they're directed at other people. "Rich?" we ask ourselves. "That adjective doesn't apply to me!"
Yet "rich" is a relative term. From the standpoint of most of the world's people, most of us are rich, even those of us in the cash-squeezed middle class. Even those of us on the welfare rolls! Much as we'd prefer not to, we have no choice but to read 1 Timothy 6:17-19 as applying to us. That passage advises us not to be "haughty." It encourages us to set our hopes not on "the uncertainty of riches," but rather "on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment." It challenges us to be rich not in money, but "in good works."
Now that's wealth!
Team Comments
Carter Shelley responds: Carlos, I like your handling of the authorship issue 1 Timothy and the other Pastoral Epistles provide. I'd like to think there is a way to integrate such information into our sermons, because we can't count on the majority of church members being active Sunday school participants. One of the few drawbacks to preaching the lectionary is it limits our opportunities to preach on complete books of the Bible. Such important introductory background material is more easily shared when preacher and congregation are both going to be hearing a lot more from the author in question. Since the lectionary does tend to stick to a particular prophet, epistle, or sequence of gospel texts, we probably could do more textual educating than we actually do. Sometimes I will use the Children's Time for such background information when I come up with a way of presenting it that includes the children as well as older congregants. Another way, of course, is to make a few brief introductory comments before reading the biblical text.
As for your investment theme for this Sunday's sermon, my own comments pretty much echo your own. I appreciate your pointing out the significance of 1 Timothy's phrasing "the love of money" as it places the responsibility back on our shoulders while implying that money can be used for many good and generous things when not viewed as one's own alone. I love the significance of the word "idiot" in this context. Who among us hasn't read stories about bitter family quarrels over inheritances or the foolhardiness of those who already have money risking everything at the roulette table in order to have more?
During the Cold War era, it was common practice to keep spies coming back with additional tidbits about their own country by giving them just a little bit more money than they already earned. Making a spy rich right away wasn't an effective means of control. Making them hungry, greedy to have just a little bit better suit, a little bit better car, and a little bit more cash in their pockets kept the dependency and information flowing.
Since I am very much in accord with your comments and suggestions for this week, my observations primarily serve to reinforce or illustrate yours
I have always been intrigued by the mixed messages about wealth and property that the Testaments, Old and New seem to offer to the faithful. Most of us are familiar with the Judaic notion that great wealth and prosperity are linked with God's favor. Many of God's most devout adherents were indeed wealthy in their own time and context: Abraham owned many possessions, livestock, and servants. Jacob's fortunes always seemed to run to the good despite his bad start as a thief and fratricidal traitor. David certainly did well considering he was the last son in a family overflowing with sons. I've always been intrigued by the way the author of the prelude and postscript in Job tried to nullify the patient pietist's sufferings by restoring all Job has lost, as if a new set of children, livestock, bountiful harvests, and good health would make the ol' boy forget the devastating losses that went before.
This notion that God clearly blesses and supports the prosperous certainly carried over into Jesus' day. In fact, Jesus' own words are often called upon as evidence that material wealth can be expected by those who "Ask and it will be given," and so on. There are many, many Christians who believe that Christian devotion equals economic prosperity and the good life. All of us can think of examples of televangelists and clergy who preach a gospel of great gifts and wealth to Americans who follow the proscribed path, be it the selling of Amway products, mailing those checks and dollars to a particular ministry, or simply praying to God that one's hard work, moral life, and dedication will enlarge one's bank account.
As with many other topics in the Bible, the matter of faithfulness and profit is not as simple as specific verses make it seem. Both Testaments include statements suggesting that wealth and prosperity do not exist solely to serve the one who has them. The Jubilee year practice of redistributing land every 49th year reminded the ancient Hebrews that God remains their landlord and landowner, and that God's will intends to provide enough for all, and not just the economically astute who accrue great wealth. Clearly, the notion of tithing came into existence in order to remind the well off that all they have is theirs due to God's blessing; therefore, they are to return it to God. Jesus, of course, startled his disciples more than once with his stories of Lazarus, Dives, or the camel/needle degree of difficulty involved in getting a rich man into the Kingdom of Heaven: "Where your treasure is there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:21).
It is easy for most of us middle class Americans to assume that when we come across words about wealth and sharing in the Old and New Testaments, that we are called upon to share out of our personal pockets, and many of us are reliable and dedicated church and public charity givers. I agree with Carlos that many of us tend not to think of ourselves as rich, because we don't live like Paris Hilton (thank goodness!) or Donald Trump. Yet we know we are rich compared to many, many other peoples in the world: a television? Running water? Two to three full meals a day? A roof over our heads? Most of us have got it while "at least one billion of the 6.4 billion people in our world live in poverty. It is estimated that, within a few years, 25 percent of the earth's population will be poverty-stricken. Two million children die every year from poverty-related diseases. The number of people who lack access to safe drinking water is estimated at 1.3 billion" (www.obc.org).
There is a poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson called Richard Corey that Simon and Garfunkel turned into a song in the 1960s. The narrator of both poem and song works long, hard hours just to get by. For him Richard Corey has it all, and the narrator cannot comprehend what such a man would have to deal with that would drive him to suicide. The author of 1 Timothy does not share the narrator's bafflement. To him (or her) such hollowness makes perfect sense, not cents.
Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.
And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
"Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.
And he was rich -- yes, richer than a king --
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.
So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.
By Edwin Arlington Robinson
www.americanpoem.com
Recently, a very fine French movie, Monsieur Ibrahim came out on DVD and video. The movie is about a lonely boy befriended by the Sunni Muslim who owns and runs a small grocery store in the boy's neighborhood. The boy frequently shoplifts things from the store and is startled one day when the Monsieur Ibrahim reveals his knowledge of these petty thefts. "If you want something, keep taking it from me. I don't want you stealing anywhere else." The man tells the boy. The man doesn't want the boy to get into serious trouble for his thievery. The boy is intrigued. Monsieur Ibrahim is astute enough to have known about the frequent shoplifting, yet he cares enough about the boy's welfare to encourage him to continue the practice safely within the bounds of his own store at considerable cost to the storeowner, who is barely getting by. This man, formerly almost a stranger, displays more love and concern for the boy than his insensitive and distant father can. The result is transformation for the boy. Knowing that he is loved and valued, that someone cares who he is and what he does, the boy proves to be worth Monsieur's "investment."
George Murphy responds: The questions of setting and authorship do have to be kept in mind by a preacher working with a text from the Pastorals. Whether or not they should be part of the sermon is another matter. My own feeling is that pastors ought to make efforts to educate members of their congregation on such matters, and that the introduction to the sermon could help in that direction by making people at least aware of the issue. One could simply suggest that the situation of the church envisioned in the letter seems to be later than that of Paul, and that a Christian of the next generation (perhaps a student of Paul's) may have attempted to apply the apostle's insights to that latter context. Mention of the general acceptance of the practice of ascribing texts to eminent authors in the ancient world would be helpful.
But this may not be a preacher's highest priority. Especially if other contentious issues are being debated in a congregation or if there are other sources of tension, the question might be left un-posed. Perhaps as a compromise you could refer to the writer simply as "the author of First Timothy" and leave it to those whose curiosity is piqued to ask why you didn't just say "Paul."
Then there is verse 10 of our text that, as Carlos points out, is frequently misquoted and misunderstood. It's the love of money that's a problem, a (not "the" -- there is no definite article) root of "all kinds of evil," not every evil.
But what's wrong with loving money? What's wrong with loving anything? Maybe nothing and maybe everything. Money itself is an abstraction, especially in our modern economy where a person can be extremely wealthy without having bags of gold and silver or indeed much of anything tangible. There aren't very many misers who just like running coins through their fingers. Money is buying power, the ability to acquire things -- physical possessions, security, fame, power, friends (of a sort), and almost anything else. A certain degree of love for such things can be appropriate.
But an inordinate love for such things leads to our most basic problem. Since money can, to some extent, provide us with security and the necessities of life, it's natural to put a certain degree of trust in it. But our ultimate trust is to be in God. An excessive love of money, the belief that we're safe if we have enough of it, is in the most basic sense idolatry, a violation of the First Commandment. And this is not just a temptation for the wealthy. It is also something that the poor all too easily fall for: "If only I had X number of dollars I'd be all right. In the Large Catechism Luther expands on this in explaining what it means to "have a god":
Many a person thinks he has God and everything he needs when he has money and property; in them he trusts and boasts so stubbornly and securely that he cares for no one. Surely such a man also has a god -- mammon by name, that is, money and possessions -- on which he fixes his whole heart. It is the most common idol on earth. He who has money and property feels secure, happy, fearless, as if he were sitting in the midst of paradise. On the other hand, he who has nothing doubts and despairs as if he never heard of God. Very few there are who are cheerful, who do not fret and complain, if they do not have mammon. This desire for wealth clings and cleaves to our nature all the way to the grave. (Tappert, The Book of Concord [Fortress, 1959], pp.365-366)
Related Illustrations
Remove far from me falsehood and lying;
give me neither poverty nor riches;
feed me with the food that I need,
or I shall be full, and deny you,
and say, "Who is the Lord?"
or I shall be poor, and steal,
and profane the name of my God.
-- Proverbs 30:8-9
***
To be where God is -- to follow Jesus -- means going beyond the limits of our own comfort and safety. It means receiving our lives as gifts instead of guarding them as our own possessions. It means sharing the life we have been given instead of bottling it for our own consumption. It means giving up the notion that we can build dams to contain the bright streams of our lives and letting them go instead, letting them swell their banks and spill their wealth until they carry us down to where they run, full and growing fuller, into the wide and glittering sea.
-- Barbara Brown Taylor, The Seeds of Heaven (Westminster, 2004)
***
Every time I take a step in the direction of generosity, I know I am moving from fear to love.
* Henri J.M. Nouwen
***
When we let go of money we are letting go of part of ourselves and part of our security. But this is precisely why it is important to do it. It is one way to obey Jesus' command to deny ourselves.... When we give money we are releasing a little more of our egocentric selves and a little more of our false security.... Giving frees us to care. It produces an air of expectancy as we anticipate what God will lead us to give. It makes life with God an adventure in the world, and that is worth living for and giving for.
-- Richard J. Foster, The Challenge of the Disciplined Life: Christian Reflections on Money, Sex and Power (HarperCollins, 1991)
***
Our country possesses the resources to bring solar technology, energy independence, and sustainable living to our planet. Even in the simple realm of humanitarian assistance, the United Nations estimates that $13 billion above current levels of aid would provide everyone in the world (including the hungry within our own borders) with basic health and nutrition. Collectively, Americans and Europeans spend $17 billion a year on pet food. We could do much more than just feed the family of mankind as well as our cats and dogs; we could assist that family in acquiring the basic skills and tools it needs to feed itself, while maintaining the natural resources on which all life depends. Real generosity involves not only making a gift but also giving up something, and on both scores we're well situated to be the most generous nation on earth....
Our government's spending on foreign aid has plummeted over the last twenty years, to levels that are -- to put it bluntly -- the stingiest among all developed nations'. In the year 2000, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the United States allocated just one percent of its gross national product to foreign aid -- or about one dime for every hundred dollars in its treasury -- whereas Canada, Japan, Austria, Australia, and Germany each contributed two to three times that much. Other countries gave even more, some as much as ten times the amount we do; they view this as a contribution to the world's stability and their own peace. But our country takes a different approach to generosity: Our tradition is to forgive debt in exchange for a strategic military base, an indentured economy, or mineral rights. We offer the hungry our magic seeds, genetically altered so the recipients must also buy our pesticides, while their sturdy native seed banks die out. At Fat Brother's house the domestic help might now and then slip out the back door with a plate of food for a neighbor, but for the record the household gives virtually nothing away. Even now, in what may be the most critical moment of our history, I fear that we seem to be telling the world we are not merciful so much as we are mighty.
-- Barbara Kingsolver, "Saying Grace," in Small Wonder: Essays (HarperCollins 2002), pp. 27-28
***
Generous people are rarely mentally ill. On the other hand, let us not be critical of our stingy friends. Remember, stinginess is an illness. Some don't dare give; they might run out. My dear friends, of course you are going to run out. You can't take it with you.... The ill individual narrows his vision until he ceases to see the multiplicity of opportunities.
-- Karl Menninger
***
It is ironic to think of the number of people in this country who pray for the poor and needy on Sunday and spend the rest of the week complaining that the government is doing something about them.
-- William Sloane Coffin, Credo (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2004), p. 52
***
The day is not far distant when the man who dies leaving behind him millions of available wealth, which was free for him to administer during life, will pass away "unwept, unhonored, and unsung," no matter to what uses he leave the dross which he cannot take with him. Of such as these the public verdict will then be: "The man who dies thus rich dies disgraced." Such, in my opinion, is the true gospel concerning wealth, obedience to which is destined some day to solve the problem of the rich and the poor.
-- Andrew Carnegie, "The Gospel of Wealth," in North American Review (Cedar Falls, Iowa, June 1889)
Worship Resources
By Julia Strope
CALL TO WORSHIP
From Psalm 91
Leader: Many days have passed since we have gathered here. As usual, we have come as thankful and needy people seeking God's care.
People: We expect God to be our defender and protector. Our trust is in God for safety through hidden dangers; we anticipate that God will sustain us through disease, hurricanes and floods.
Leader: The psalmist assured his people that God would be with them during the ups and downs of life.
People: When we call to the Holy One, God will respond to our prayers.
Leader: We long for life to be even-keeled or to float above distress. Yet, experience teaches us that sinking or flying, God will be with us, not necessarily making things painless.
People: We are grateful for Divine love which endures through all joys and catastrophes. With heart, mind and voice let us sing our praise!
HYMN SUGGESTIONS
Sing Praise to God, Who Reigns Above
Tune: MIT FREUDEN ZART
Available in The Presbyterian Hymnal, 1990, 483
Within Your Shelter, Loving God
Tune: ABBEY
Available in The Presbyterian Hymnal, 1990, 212
O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go
Tune: ST.MARGARET
Available in The Presbyterian Hymnal, 1990, 384
Fill My Cup
Tune: FILL MY CUP
Available in The Presbyterian Hymnal, 1990, 350
Down To Earth, As A Dove
Tune: PERSONENT HODIE
Available in The Presbyterian Hymnal, 1990, 300
PRAYER OF ADORATION
From Psalm 91
Leader: Gracious God, thank you for calming our fears and lifting us beyond our stresses. In this hour, we give you our undivided attention. With silence, words and music, we express our appreciation for your presence with us. Amen.
CALL TO CONFESSION
Luke 16:19-31
Leader: Every generation has had its interpretations of how God works among humankind. Some individuals see and understand. Some people are surprised when there are unforeseen consequences to their attitudes and behaviors. Let us look inside ourselves and notice the things we do and say which do not bring us closer to God.
COMMUNITY CONFESSION (unison)
Luke 16:19-31
God of our heavens and hells --
Be clear with us about your plan for our Life Together as well as for our individual lives. Help us be honest and do that which is consistent with your goodness.
Let us hear again the wisdom of Moses and Miriam, of Jesus and Mary.
Clear our minds of arrogance and ignorance that we may walk and speak with the life giving Christ. Amen.
WORD OF GRACE
Leader: God wants the best for all creatures. In Jesus we receive acute awareness of God-in-humankind offering wholeness and unconditional live. Through Christ, we are freed from guilt and shame.
CHORAL RESPONSE (unison)
Bless The Lord, O My Soul
Appalachian folk melody
Available in The Presbyterian Hymnal, 1990, 597
Bless the Lord, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless God's holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul
And forget not all God's benefits.
AN AFFIRMATION (unison)
1 Timothy 6:6-19
We know that we have brought nothing into this world and can take nothing with us to the next.
Scriptures tell us that religion doesn't make us rich or happy and so our minds and bodies search far and wide for Holy satisfaction.
God meets us in our search and satisfies our longings.
Christ meets us and lifts us beyond our angst.
Holy Spirit sustains us as we use our hands and voices to honor the living God.
Our community of faith supports us from our cradles to our graves. Thanks be to God. Amen.
INTERCESSORY PRAYERS (leader or leaders)
God of yesterday --
We know the stories of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar. We recognize the grief still haunting humankind because of decisions made 6,000 years ago to send Ishmael into the desert. Visit this world again with other ways of being in relationship so that Jews and Moslems and Christians all inherit mercy and share grace.
God of tomorrow --
We experience the magnetism of Jesus. And so we pray for ourselves. Bring us from ancient rites and rituals to a new day when what we say and what we do manifests your love and grace. Give us the wisdom to make decisions that mend disasters in our pasts.
God of harvests --
Hunger plagues so many adults and children. Disease torments so many young and old. Greed disrupts so many lives and abuses so many psyches. Stop American passion for games that promote violence and nasty language. Come to our leaders and open their eyes to health care possibilities. Connect with politicians so that we can be free from war and poverty here and in all nations around this blue marble planet.
Ingenious God --
Our bodies and minds are wonderfully made! Thank you for the miracle of life. When our muscles ache and our joints wear out, keep us curious about how the human body works. When our organs fail and pain is an unwelcome companion, send angels to caress us. When we fall or bruise our skin, mend us. Keep us conscious of your healing touch. Reach to those who seek comfort and new life.
God of hearth and home --
We pray for the Church and for churches in every country. May bigotry cease and honest relationships begin; may language promote collaboration and halt judgmental behaviors. How sad we are that faith families wound brothers and sisters in the faith. Grant all your people insight for hospitable living. Thank you for Jesus who walked and talked among women and men, at home and in the street, in places of worship and public forums. May the light which shone in him as the Christ shine in us. Amen.
OFFERTORY STATEMENT
1 Timothy 6
A passion for wealth often leads us away from God;
Yet money is the element of commerce in the world
And without it life is impossible.
This congregation needs money for building maintenance, for mission on this street corner and in far away places and for educating the next generation.
More than need, sharing our resources is one way we demonstrate our loyalty to God and to one another.
Let us give as we feel led.
PRAYER OF THANKGIVING
Thank you for the beautiful things around us. With these moneys, work through us to love your place and all people. Amen.
BENEDICTION/CHARGE
For one hour, we've been alert for God's subtle voice.
For one hour, we listened; we sang; we prayed.
Now we leave this space to do things that must be done.
Go with a strong awareness of walking on holy ground accompanied by unseen power.
Be at peace and live joyfully. Amen.
Children's Sermon
The children's sermon will be added at a later time.
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The Immediate Word, September 26, 2004, issue.
Copyright 2004 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., P.O. Box 4503, Lima, Ohio 45802-4503
