Difference between revisions of "Sermon for November 14th, 2021"

Revision as of 17:44, 12 November 2021

So, I have good news and bad news about today's sermon. The good news is that this is a milestone sermon. I keep track of this sort of thing, and today is the 400th sermon that I have preached to you in the course of the past decade. That's good news for me at least, since apparently you're still willing to show up and listen to them. I hope it's good news for you, too. After all, that's literally what the word "gospel" means -- good news.

The bad news is that this is the money sermon, the stewardship sermon, the annual pledge drive sermon where if we were public television, you'd all be reaching for your remote control right now to change the channel. Those of you who know me, already know that I absolutely hate preaching this kind of sermon. But I'm also smart enough to know that if we don't talk about money at least a few times during the year, the lights will go out, the building will fall apart, my children will go hungry, not to mention the rest of our staff and their families, and (perhaps most importantly) the 139 year legacy of First Presbyterian Church, its ministry, its mission and its witness will slowly fade into oblivion. No pressure, right?

I thought we might as well just tackle this head on. So I picked a real zinger of a scripture passage, the kind they warn you in seminary never to preach on, the kind that makes people squirm awkwardly in the pews and think to themselves, "Is he looking at me? Why is he looking at me?" Don't worry, I promise I'm looking at ALL of you, myself included. Here we go...

Malachi 3:8-12

8 Will anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing me! But you say, “How are we robbing you?” In your tithes and offerings! 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me—the whole nation of you! 10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing. 11 I will rebuke the locust for you, so that it will not destroy the produce of your soil; and your vine in the field shall not be barren, says the Lord of hosts. 12 Then all nations will count you happy, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.

??

After that, I figured some humorous diversion might be in order.

A local pastor, going through end-of-year giving records, realized that his church had never received a single contribution from its wealthiest member, who happened to be the town's most successful lawyer. So the pastor decided to pay him a visit at his very large mansion, and after some small talk, he worked up the nerve to ask the man why he never gave. The lawyer responded, "It seems like you've done some research about me. But did your research also show that my mother has been very ill in recent years and is now dying, and has medical bills that are several times her annual income?” Embarrassed, the pastor was silent. So the lawyer continued: “Or that my brother, a disabled veteran, is blind and confined to a wheelchair?" The pastor was mortified, and began to apologize, but the lawyer interrupted him, saying: “Or that my sister’s husband recently died, leaving her penniless with three small children?” Completely defeated at this point, the pastor mumbled, "I'm so sorry, I had no idea..." But the man cut him off again and said, “So, if I didn’t give money to any of them, what makes you think I would give anything to you?”