Proper 26A
October 30, 2011
Micah 3:5-12 * Psalm 43:1-6 * I Thessalonians 2:9-13 *
Matthew 23:1-12
Rev. David M. McNair
Dorothy Day, who co-founded the Catholic Worker Movement in the 1930’s, spent her life living among the poor and serving them. One day a wealthy woman wanted to see what was going on, so she visited the Catholic Worker offices. She was so moved by what she saw happening that she took a large diamond ring off her finger and gave it to Day.
Later that afternoon, Day was working with a poor single mother who lived in a low-income housing project in New York City. This woman had nothing but ugliness in her life and all around her. Day wondered what she could do to bring some beauty into the woman’s life. Then she remembered the diamond ring. She took it out of her pocket and gave it to the woman. End of story.*
Now this wasn’t such a smart thing for Dorothy Day to do. After all, she could have sold that ring and invested the proceeds to use for her continued work among the poor. And that’s probably what the wealthy woman had expected her to do with the gift. Certainly the giver never imagined that Day would just give it away like that, for the sake of bringing some beauty into someone’s life.
But Day worked on the basis of God’s economy. She invested the ring, but not like we would invest money. She invested a little piece of the kingdom of heaven in that poor woman’s life, with no strings attached. That, of course, is the only way to give for Jesus’ sake – with no strings attached.
For several weeks now we have focused our attention on our role as caretakers of God’s house – which is the world. We are all home economists living here in the house of God – on this fragile earth our island home. We are stewards of the precious gift of life, the gifts of the earth, one another, and all creation. Our currency here in the household of God is much different than the currency of the market economy, which is based on scarcity. The currency that drives the economy in God’s household is based on abundance — the abundance of God’s grace and love freely given to us all. And so, as God’s children we respond with our words and our lives “All things come of thee oh Lord and of thine own have we given thee.”
We are in the season of the year when we, as a church community, think seriously about our role as caretakers – stewards— in our little corner of God’s house here in Madison County. I have asked Dick Jordan, Carol Ingram and Esther Moriarty to share with us their sense of what it means to respond to God’s grace and love here as part of the Church of the Holy Spirit. I’ll turn it over to them at this time.
[Carol Ingram's presentation is included on a separate webpage. See Sermons' home page for the link.]
At the conclusion of the service today we will all receive a Stewardship Packet with a list and description of various roles that need to be ministry opportunities to give of ourselves in and through our church — two pledge cards, two envelopes and a letter from our Stewardship Committee inviting us all to join in God’s economy and mission here in this church and in this community and in the world. There will also be a pledge card included for children and young people. It’s important that children and youth learn and know that they too have something important and vital to offer back to God. If there is a ministry or a gift that is not on the list that you sense God is calling you to give, there is also a blank space for you to write that in. God is always doing a new thing, and most times, God is doing it through God’s people – you and me. I invite you to prayerfully discern what God is calling you to do and to give, and on Nov. 13 we will all bring our pledges with them and come forward and lay them on God’s altar.
Now, let us join together in saying the prayer of General Thanksgiving found on p. 101 in the BCP.
The Lord be with you. (And also with you.) Let us pray:
Almighty God, Father of all mercies,
we your unworthy servants give you humble thanks
for all your goodness and loving-kindness
to us and to all whom you have made.
We bless you for our creation, preservation,
and all the blessings of this life;
but above all for your immeasurable love
in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ;
for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory.
And, we pray, give us such an awareness of your mercies,
that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise,
not only with our lips, but in our lives,
by giving up our selves to your service,
and by walking before you
in holiness and righteousness all our days;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit,
be honor and glory throughout all ages. Amen.