A sermon on giving in preparation for Gift Day at St Edward’s / 6 October 2024
Readings: Luke 21: 1-6 & 1 Corinthians 16: 1-4
I read something this week that challenged me: what does your bank statement say about you? If someone only saw your bank statement and from that had to make an opinion of you what would they say?
You don’t need to answer that! But this morning we are thinking about giving, in preparation for our gift day next week. It’s one of those tricky subjects to preach on. Us Brits have this reputation for finding it ‘vulgar’ to talk about money! We find it all a bit awkward to talk about.
But by the same token we might find it easy to make a judgement about what we perceive other’s lifestyles to be, both in terms of plenty and lack. For example I have heard it taught in churches that we should spend a little, save a little, give a little and that everyone should be able to tithe or give 10% of their income to church or charity. Which is great in principle but what about those who have very little? 10% given away might mean a week with no heating. Or missing meals. And for those with plenty, 10% might be a rule to say, well I don’t need to give more than that, when actually they could easily afford to give a lot more.
So I am talking this morning in terms of ideas, principles, and culture, but I do so with the caveat that we need to make our own decisions about what we give. Only we can know what is right for us. The best way to give I think, is to pray and ask God for guidance. Sometimes perhaps God will give us a prompt to be more generous that we would like. At other times God might reassure us when we are not able to give what we might like.
So I don’t want anyone feeling guilty about giving!
That said I do believe giving, sharing of what we have, is a key part of Christian life. It is biblical. In the Old Testament we read of the requirement to give of the first fruits of a harvest, to God. We read of the abundance of God to those in need such as the widow who met Elijah who God gave oil in plenty to sell. Or the widow who shared her last meal with Elijah and yet God made sure her oil and flour never ran out. Jesus taught we should feed the hungry, clothe the stranger and said ‘freely you have received, freely give’.
Giving and sharing of what we have is a biblical principle.
Secondly it is part of being a church family.
In Acts we read of the early church who shared all they had with one another. They sold their possessions to give to those in need. They were church together, praying together, worshipping together, eating together and supporting one another out of all they had. In our Corinthians passage we heard Paul’s advice to the church at Corinth –
On the first day of every week, each of you is to put aside and save whatever extra you earn, so that collections need not be taken when I come.
He’s saying giving should be a priory – give at the beginning of the week, ie: not what you have left after you have done everything else. It’s also planned – set aside an amount. So it’s not ad hoc /spur of the moment, it is prayed into, thought through. And certainly for us as a church regular giving is the most helpful because it means we can plan for the year ahead so if you don’t already give a monthly donation to the church please do consider doing so. And Paul also suggests giving is proportionate – the NIV version says: in keeping with your income ie: giving the right amount.
As a church we pay what is called the parish share. This is our share of the costs it takes to run churches, fund clergy and training and housing, the pension fund and more. In very simple terms it is all these costs added up and divided between the number of parishes.
Now the diocese know that not all churches can afford to pay this and so many pay proportionately. Larger churches pay extra where they can and smaller churches like ours pay less. As a church our aim is to build up to paying more of our share and in the last two years we have managed to increase what we pay significantly, but we are still only paying 50% of what is asked of us. This is part of our remit to revitalise the church here, that we need to be seeking to pay more of this as we grow. However we also need to run the church and be missional because if we don’t grow the church we won’t be able to pay it anyway! So we give proportionately so that we can still do the work of Christ here. For the last 2 years we have committed that 25% of income from gift day will go towards the parish share and we continue to do that this year, this balances up spending on missional community activities with paying our way.
And we learn from the widow and her mite in our Luke passage to trust in God with our giving. Jesus pointed her out, for giving just a tiny amount. The mite was the smallest of Jewish coins, worth at the time abut 1/64 of a denarius. A denarius was a day’s wage for an average worker. A tiny amount, and yet Jesus said that she put in more than anyone else because she put in all she had to live on. She trusted in God to provide for her. We too need to trust in God with our finances. How easy it might be to store away sums for the ‘rainy day’ or ‘just in case’, when our neighbour down the road goes without heating or food.
In the parable of the rich fool the rich man stores up all his grain in barns only to die before he could eat it. Jesus says: “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
We don’t deserve what we have just because we work hard. After all if that were the case we might ask why nurses or carers get paid so little, even now after all the support in Covid nurses and carers are amongst the lowest paid. People can work long and difficult hours in many lines of work and get paid vastly different for the same amount of work.
Whoever we are, we are called to share what we have been given and to trust God in that. So do pray about what you should give.
Finally we give towards the life of the church, yes some of that is running costs but each year we plan also for important areas that will help us to grow the church and grow in faith and plan for the future. I am going to talk a little more about that next week but essentially we are giving towards the vision God has given to us for our church.
We are all St Edward’s. We are all in this together and we all have a part to play to see this church revitalised. Before I arrived the future of this church was hanging in the balance. It was only thanks to the Bishop sticking her neck out for this place, for you, that we get another shot. And that is what we have been doing together.
We have only grown in the last few years thanks to all of you, giving of your time, of your skills and of your generosity. This is teamwork. So thank you to all you have given to this vision and to this church. And I want to encourage you to keep on committing to this vision and this church. To continue to give of your time and talent and finances. Because I truly believe that together we will continue to revitalise this church, we will see more people coming to know the Lord and we will continue to grow as a centre for our community and our parish
Amen
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