Three Words: I Am Thankful

November 18, 2007

            Today is Consecration Sunday, the day when we make our pledges of financial support to the mission and ministry of this church.  While I would love for it to be otherwise, usually when we talk about financial giving to the church, eyes drop to the floor and an embarrassed quiet fills the room.  So this morning, to put you at ease, I thought I would just continue to tell you about we are planning for our family Thanksgiving celebration this year.

Since Martha Stewart didn’t respond to our invitation, we’ve made a few changes in our plans for the day: 

• Our sidewalk will not be lined with homemade, paper bag luminaries.  After a trial run, we decided that no matter how cleverly done, rows of flaming lunch sacks do not have the desired welcoming effect. 

• Our dining table will not be covered with expensive linens, fancy china or crystal goblets.  If possible, we will use dishes that match and everyone will get a fork.  Since this IS Thanksgiving, we will refrain from using the plastic plates our children made twenty-five years ago or the Santa napkins from last Christmas.

• Our centerpiece will not be the tower of fresh fruit and flowers that we were hoping for.  Instead, we will be displaying a hedgehog-like decoration hand-crafted from the finest construction paper.  The artist assures me it is a turkey.

• We will be dining fashionably late. Our daughter will entertain our guests while they wait.  I’m sure she will be happy to share every choice comment that I made regarding Thanksgiving, pilgrims, and the turkey hotline.  Please remember that most of these comments were made at 5:00 AM upon discovering that the turkey was still hard enough to cut diamonds.

• For our listening pleasure, we will play a new recording of tribal drumming.  If our daughter should mention that the tribal drumming sounds suspiciously like a frozen turkey in a clothes dryer, we hope our guests will ignore her.  She teaches Middle School and at this point in the school year she needs a break!

• We toyed with the idea of ringing a dainty silver bell to announce the start of our feast.  In the end, we chose to keep our traditional method.  We’ve also decided against a formal seating arrangement.  When the smoke alarm sounds, we are asking guests to please gather around the table and sit where they like.

• Now I know you have all seen pictures of one person carving a turkey in front of a crowd of appreciative onlookers.  This will not be happening at our dinner.  For safety reasons, the turkey will be carved in a private ceremony.  I stress ‘private’ meaning: Guests will not, under any circumstances, enter the kitchen to laugh at me. Guests will not send small, unsuspecting children to check on my progress.  I have an electric knife.  The turkey is unarmed.  It stands to reason that I will eventually win.  When I do, we will eat.

• Finally, instead of offering a choice between 12 different scrumptious desserts, we will be serving the traditional pumpkin pie, garnished with whipped cream and … fingerprints.  Our guests will still have choice: take it or leave it. *

It’s true; Martha Stewart will not be dining at our home this year.  I am thinking that she won’t be there next year either.  What else can I say, except that I am thankful!

            Three simple words – I am thankful!   When I think about the ministry we share as the congregation of First United Methodist Church, three simple words say it all – I am thankful!    I am thankful for the commitment we share to be the hands and feet and heart of Christ, bringing hope to a world in need.  I am thankful for music that sets our feet to dancing and fills us with joy that goes beyond our words.  I am thankful for the commitment we have made to grow in faith through C-Groups and classes, through study and reflection, through soul sharing and soul searching.  I am thankful for children and youth who make me laugh and bring new ideas and new visions to our world.  I am thankful for the many ways we are making a commitment to God’s world – feeding those who are hungry, Volunteer-In-Mission Teams, providing shelter for homeless families, working to be an inclusive church, restoring the natural beauty of a small corner of the earth, offering prayers for those in need, visiting those who find themselves growing older, working to preserve and restore God’s creation through conserving energy, and so much more.  I am thankful for those who volunteer to teach children and mentor youth.  I am thankful for those who plan symposiums and challenge adults to become students of the faith. I am thankful for those who answer phones and arrange flowers and prepare communion elements and fix things that are broken and count money and pack sack lunches and tend the plants in the courtyards and greet people as they come through the doors and hand out worship folders and operate the sound and video equipment and sing in the choir and straighten up the sanctuary following worship.  I am thankful for all who serve on committees that organize and administer the many ministries we share.  I am thankful for each and every person here, who, in one way or another, is saying “Yes” to God’s call in your life.  Three words – I am thankful.

            Today is a day to be thankful.  So why do our eyes drop to the floor?  Why does an embarrassed quiet come over us when it is time to talk about how we support the church through our financial giving?  Well, one reason is simply that this is how we’ve always responded!  It makes me uncomfortable to ask for your financial support because my salary – the livelihood of our family – depends on your generosity.  It makes you uncomfortable because how we manage money in our families is usually considered a private matter.

But we need to move beyond this discomfort.  As the passage from 2^nd Corinthians affirms, “since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart… for we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ… so that it may be clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God.” (2^nd Corinthians 4:1, 5-7 selected)  Our giving isn’t about us – it is about our relationship with God. 

We must tell the truth – we are so blessed.  We live abundant lives.  Compared to so many in this world, we are wealthy beyond words.  Speaking in the words of faith, God has blessed us beyond measure.  There is absolutely no reason for this congregation to ever struggle financially.  When we give our very best… when we give, to use an Old Testament phrase, “the first fruits of our labors” and not what is left over at the end of the month or the end of the year, we will have an abundance.  We will be able to move beyond our current mission and ministry because we are no longer spending time worrying about how we will keep the lights on and the bills paid.   I am convinced that if we choose to give our very best, there is no limit to what God will do through this church.

I don’t often talk about how John and I support this church financially.  Because, as United Methodists, it has always been our practice to be so private about our giving, I have refrained from sharing that personal information.  But I am going to take the risk of sharing how we reach our decision.  I am doing so not to make anyone feel uncomfortable or to brag but only because I think it is important to speak faithfully about the importance of giving.  Financial stewardship is a spirit-filled practice.  The offering of ourselves has always been a part of the practice of our faith.

When we sat down this week and filled out our Estimate of Giving Card we calculated our income for 2008 and then we calculated what a tithe… what 10% of that income would be for the year.  And then we decided that we really do want to give more than a tithe.  With our whole hearts, we believe in the mission and ministry of this church and we are making the commitment to support it through our prayers, our presence, our gifts, and our service.  So we are choosing to increase both the actual dollar amount and percentage amount of our pledge over last year.  There is one simple reason… three simple words… we are thankful.  We are thankful for God’s grace-filled, hope-filled, joy-filled, love-filled, spirit-filled presence in our lives and in this church.

I read recently of a woman who discovered “God’s message on stewardship written across the lid of a jar of spaghetti sauce… In big black letters that stood out clearly against the white background were three little words: SHARE WHAT’S INSIDE.”  She writes, “Share what’s inside. Too often we don’t.  Instead we keep the gifts that God has poured into our lives bottled up tightly inside of us, where they don’t do anybody any good… What opportunities are lost when we allow that divine blend simply to sit on a shelf unused… Share what God’s put inside of you!  Doing so is an act of worship… when we open our lips, our hands, our lives, and our hearts to pour out the treasure inside of us on those God loves.”**  Faithful stewardship involves three simple words: SHARE WHAT’S INSIDE!

I am choosing to believe, that when all is said and done here today… when the final financial commitment cards are received over the next month and the numbers are added up… there will be more than enough.  We will pour out the treasure that is inside our hearts, supporting God’s work in this place.  Trusting in God’s abundant love, we will share what’s inside.  Confident in God’s amazing grace, we will celebrate because we are thankful.

*Based on a joke from www.crosswalk.com

**Excerpted from an article on pages 46-47 in the September/October issue of “Alive Now”