00:00:13.240 - 00:00:27.480

earlier last week, I attended a board meeting of Fort Worth Presbyterian night shelter. I look out and see Warner bailey here tonight so he can testify that I'm telling the truth he was there also. And

00:00:27.490 - 00:00:43.880

our funds Development director reported with a tooth in glee that our year end Mass mailer had produced a far higher return than expected and therefore we will do it again only bigger next year. And so the night

00:00:43.880 - 00:00:57.720

shelter is now looking to other charities with even larger mailing lists from which we might buy the names and addresses of those most likely to send us checks. We accept credit cards also, please see me after

00:00:57.720 - 00:01:12.250

the worship service. Just imagine that charities sharing mailing lists. That might explain some of our full mailboxes . Wasn't that? You know, if elephants, they say have a secret burial ground. I imagine

00:01:12.250 - 00:01:30.360

a similarly secret place where fund appeals letters go to reproduce among themselves sharing mailing lists. You know, the practice certainly has a fine pedigree. Paul might not have been the first, but he certainly participated

00:01:30.140 - 00:01:42.290

. Macedonian churches were short on cash. They needed a new mailing list. So paul wrote to the church in Corinth, which had an abundance. And paul pointed to the obvious that really the Corinthian Church

00:01:42.290 - 00:01:56.560

might share a little bit of it all. Wasn't commanding, mind you, he was quote testing. Just listen to the language. He was testing the genuineness of their love against the earnestness of others.

00:01:57.140 - 00:02:14.470

As confrontational, if not as manipulative as any fundraising letter I've ever received. Now, you might wonder about the selection of this little prick copy for such an occasion as the midwinter lectures. These verses seem

00:02:14.470 - 00:02:27.940

so practical, so simple, so unprepossessing. There's little nuance nuance here. There's no exit jellicle pearl . If we have to remind Freud that sometimes a dream really is just a dream. We also have

00:02:27.940 - 00:02:42.050

to remind ourselves that sometimes we really may trust the plane a sense of the text. Here's the plane sense of the text paul was raising money. Not very complicated. And so these little verses may seem

00:02:42.050 - 00:02:57.740

out of place upon their midwinter perched because they speak of something well, so base, so pedestrian, so, so necessary. But nonetheless, so crass , so unseemly. The christian academy has relegated a

00:02:57.740 - 00:03:08.920

theology of stewardship, at least insofar as it applies to fundraising to the back pew. Doing so has to do. I know with the age old tension about which comes first orthodoxies, or Ortho praxis,

00:03:08.920 - 00:03:23.320

systematics or ethics theology or applied theology. But perhaps this is the reason that so many of our denomination seminarians emerged with degrees and robes in hand without really ever having given much thought about how to guide a

00:03:23.320 - 00:03:38.070

congregations, financial life, much less about how to speak faithfully and winsome lee to our parishioners, conflicted feelings about accumulation versus sharing and I don't mean by the way, ted pile onto seminaries, I really

00:03:38.070 - 00:03:53.690

don't. The topic is rightly tender, seminaries are understandably bruised and twitchy with expectations unreasonably high and resources unreasonably scattered. And besides, there just isn't time in three years to teach a candidate all she needs

00:03:53.690 - 00:04:10.470

to know before going into the congregation and given the church's propensity to hushed conversations when it comes to money , it's no revelation that most emerged from seminary with more debt than passion for the money conversation. And

00:04:10.470 - 00:04:31.470

yeah, and also still there is in the short and practical verses, an insightful and subversive reminder of our role in the larger drama of God. These verses are heart pounding, not despite their simplicity,

00:04:31.470 - 00:04:45.960

but because of them, as in these words, lay a full frontal assault on the chief challenge faced by the majority of disciples who will hear the sermons given by the graduates of this institution. That challenge

00:04:46.140 - 00:05:03.380

following jesus and the wealthiest nation the globe has ever seen That challenge, defining what is enough in a culture obsessed with fear and hide, bound to equate human worth with the size of our homes and the

00:05:03.380 - 00:05:21.220

complexity of our 1040s. Uh huh That challenge to celebrate and to trust God's provision to remember the lesson learned by our peoples, people in the wandering desert where God provided manner. You know, just at

00:05:21.220 - 00:05:31.310

the end of this passage, Paul Quotes Exodus 16 as it is written, the one who had much did not have too much and the one who had little did not have too little Paul was recalling manner

00:05:31.310 - 00:05:48.910

in the wilderness, Paul was reminding the Corinthians their location in God's divine drama. So it might be helpful to reorient ourselves to our place in the story , to our place in God's drama. Sam Wells

00:05:48.920 - 00:06:01.910

, a dear friend of mine, who will happen to be here next year as a lecturer likens the christian story to a five act play Act One, Creation Act to Covenant Act three is Christ. This

00:06:01.910 - 00:06:17.630

is the central event, the central act of incarnation , crucifixion and resurrection, in relation to which all other parts of the story take their bearings. Act for the Church Act five, The Consummation, the

00:06:17.640 - 00:06:38.670

ultimate revelation of God's purpose, and all four proceeding acts the purpose of sharing the overflowing love of the trinity and making us God's companions forever. We are Act four people. Our role in the drama of

00:06:38.670 - 00:06:53.640

God is in a particular place. It's a specific stage, poised as we are, to learn from God's history and hopeful as we are about God's future . And let us not mince words about the stage

00:06:53.690 - 00:07:08.810

upon which we live our parts. We Live in 21st Century America. We are the most affluent people in the history of the species. Now, I know, I know it's not as true to say

00:07:08.810 - 00:07:20.690

that or at least as poignant as it might have been four years ago. The new normal isn't what we plan. The current generation is now predicted to be the first in american history to fare less well

00:07:20.700 - 00:07:45.530

economically than its parents did. And yet let us not fool ourselves into thinking that we have more in common with the macedonians than with the Corinthians. We have met the Corinthians. They are us. We

00:07:45.530 - 00:08:01.440

are swimming amidst plenty, we're awash in gold Brueggemann boils it down nicely. He says whether we are liberal or conservative christians, we must confess that the central problem of our lives is that we are torn

00:08:01.440 - 00:08:16.550

apart by the conflict between our attraction to the good news of God's abundance and the power of our belief in scarcity, a belief that makes us greedy, mean and a neighborly we spend our lives trying to

00:08:16.550 - 00:08:33.110

sort out that ambiguity and that we are tempted to feel deprived amidst the post recession relative scarcity is actually itself a symptom of precisely the dynamic pole is addressing namely are rushed to compare ourselves with those who have

00:08:33.110 - 00:08:50.440

more rather than our reluctance to contrast ourselves with those who have less the human spirit. It seems it is sometimes far more naturally inclined to covetousness than it is to empathy. Mm And the culture of course

00:08:50.440 - 00:09:07.710

feeds the wrong inclinations. Madison Avenue serves the longstanding human posture are stiff net desire to look up the economic ladder rather than down and so we compare and compete and all the while absorbing the subtle message that

00:09:07.710 - 00:09:24.860

human beings are worth, what we are worth. Only we use almost exclusively in economic measure, forgetting the spiritual one worth measured by our likeness to the creators image. I have come here by the way

00:09:26.340 - 00:09:39.890

as Sandy Rigby did last year After having keynote at a weekend event with 550 teenagers at Grace Presbyterian Senior High Youth Convention knowing that I would be here tonight and there yesterday, someone asked me which of the

00:09:39.890 - 00:09:50.930

congregations would be more mature. Uh huh. Mm . I wondered what those teenagers, What the role might be in the body of Christ using first Corinthians . 12. More broadly, I asked them,

00:09:50.930 - 00:10:03.650

what then will your role be in the world? And I challenge those young disciples to explore God's claim upon and call for their lives. And I suggested that finding their call might begin by balancing their skill

00:10:03.140 - 00:10:18.370

with their joy, Mhm. Their abilities with their pleasure, all of it of course. Then set upon the spiritual stool of service. And after I had laid that groundwork I said something rather odd,

00:10:18.370 - 00:10:39.670

something discordant. I said that choosing a university or choosing a vocation or choosing a major might have less to do for the faithful disciple with money than with faithfulness. An adult sponsor approached me after and she

00:10:39.670 - 00:10:56.020

was not confident which told me everything. She put her finger in the air and she said yes but yes but and then her eyes dropped with her voice and she says yes but we have to pay the

00:10:56.020 - 00:11:20.030

bills. And I said yeah yeah I get it . My daughter is a painting major. Mhm. This is the stage upon which we play our roles listen to people who come into our culture from other

00:11:20.030 - 00:11:30.800

cultures. Eugene Peterson says. Pay attention to what they hear and what they say in my experience. If you listen to Solzhenitsyn or bishop tutu or university students from Africa or South America, they don't see

00:11:30.800 - 00:11:41.320

a christian land. They see something almost the reverse of a christian land. They see a lot of greed and arrogance and they see a christian community that has almost none of the virtues of the biblical christian

00:11:41.320 - 00:12:01.480

community which have to do with sacrificial life and conspicuous love. The attractive thing about America, he says to outsiders, it's the materialism, not the spirituality and so into the stale air breathes. Now the

00:12:01.480 - 00:12:15.650

fresh gospel of jesus, christ made winsome wild plane by one of its earliest interpreters and very simple, straightforward transferrable language. The Apostle paul offers that if we are beset by covetousness and envy, and if

00:12:15.650 - 00:12:28.350

we are plagued by a desire to compete and compare with those who have more than the antidote is to pop our necks and look the other way, not up the economic ladder, but down the economic ladder

00:12:30.040 - 00:12:43.080

, which is why he can say we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches out of the most severe trial. They're overflowing joy and their extreme poverty wells up enrich generosity

00:12:43.080 - 00:13:07.040

for I testify that they gave as much as they were able and even beyond their ability. When those in abundance take notes of those with less empathy begins and where empathy begins, Generosity follows. And you

00:13:07.040 - 00:13:24.170

know where generosity follows justice has a chance. I had no a presbyterian minister who served as a mission co worker in a very poor nation member of the church he served was very, very poor and his

00:13:24.170 - 00:13:33.490

church members struggled even to put food on the table for her many Children. And so that minister, that co worker, the one prior generations would have called a missionary, the one called by God to

00:13:33.490 - 00:13:43.900

bring the gospel to the people unacquainted. That minister hired that woman to help around the house, didn't really need the work done, could have done it himself, but he thought this was a way that

00:13:43.900 - 00:13:56.430

he could help her and her family while also giving her the dignity of having earned it. The first payday came pleased with himself. He paid her in cash and then she crossed his front threshold and crossed

00:13:56.440 - 00:14:07.420

the porch. And then from the window he watched as she walked out of the yard and onto the street where there was happened chance coming by a passer by and that woman completely serendipitously reached into her purse

00:14:07.420 - 00:14:20.190

and pulled out the money she had just been paid and she gave it to that other woman. And my minister friend ran out to the street and said to her, you need that money, Why did

00:14:20.190 - 00:14:45.310

you give that money to her? And she said , she's poor, mm. It's a question of it's a question of fair balance. Tell paul labeled the challenge and we face you and I have such

00:14:45.310 - 00:14:56.880

a challenge in the presbyterian Church usa in these coming days. And it will be agonizing two because as faithful presbyterians, we are going to begin to ponder the implication of our nation's cancerous healthcare system upon our

00:14:56.880 - 00:15:16.530

board of pensions. Historic commitment to call neutrality in our health plan. The board of pensions is between Iraq and the actuaries. So the solutions can't and won't come from philadelphia. They're going to have to

00:15:16.530 - 00:15:31.820

come from paul. Mhm. They're going to have to come from paul as congregations and presbyteries figure out how to care for those who serve our congregations both large and small, rich and poor. It's a

00:15:31.820 - 00:15:54.340

question of fair balance and notwithstanding a certain news organizations gerrymandering of the phrase. I suspect that we know in our bones what is fair and balanced when we see it. Uh huh. And we see it

00:15:54.350 - 00:16:15.160

when we compare up the economic ladder, but when we contrast down had dinner with a dear friend recently , he's a lawyer as it happens, he's a presbyterian ministers, grandson makes a ton of money.

00:16:15.540 - 00:16:33.100

Took me to a fine restaurant in Fort Worth. From the very beginning, he ordered a$200 bottle of wine. Wine steward promised that quote, this wine will change your life. As for me,

00:16:33.110 - 00:16:44.460

I can't tell the difference between the$200 bottle of wine and a$15 bottle of wine long ago educated my scotch pallet out of my willingness to pay, so I've resolved not to make the same mistake with

00:16:44.460 - 00:17:03.730

wine. During the meal, my friend offered that while he makes a lot of money, his way of earning, it doesn't really add much value to the world. And so he said he likes to

00:17:03.730 - 00:17:22.060

give money away. And I quickly replied, I can help. Oh you know what we did. We grabbed a cab and went to the Presbyterian night shelter Warner. It's about 10:00. That's the witching

00:17:22.060 - 00:17:34.160

hour at the night shelter. That's the moment when 600 men and women sleeping on mats and bunks are asked to close their eyes and to try to get some sleep amidst the snoring and the rustling and the

00:17:34.160 - 00:17:48.000

smells. And my friend and I loitered talking to people and swapping stories next first to the metal detector and then aside the piles of hotel soaps and donated clothes which are arranged by size but not by style

00:17:48.000 - 00:18:03.880

because none of them are stylish. And as we leave, my friend asked me how he could contribute , I told him of course how we could give some money to the night shelter. But in a

00:18:03.880 - 00:18:27.290

silent way I admitted that he had already contributed. A wealthy man had at least for a time, willingly reversed the cultural order of things, choosing to cease comparing upward and engage contrasting downward. And when

00:18:27.290 - 00:19:03.050

my lawyer friend contributes and he will My prayer for him is that the contribution will be transformational, not transactional. If we are upset by the human instinct to covet God has offered an antidote for you know

00:19:06.140 - 00:19:33.410

, you know the generous act of our Lord jesus christ that though he was rich for your sakes, he became poor so that by his poverty you might become rich. We've always known that's theology. We

00:19:33.410 - 00:19:56.860

must not realize. That's also economics don't end the empathize down. Yeah, it's about fairness, it's about balance. It's about the reign of God.