St. John’s Lutheran Church

Our regular meeting will be held December 7, 2006 in room 421 at 6:30 PM.  All are welcome and we are looking for a couple new members to help with the outreach ministries of the church.  Come and check us out.

Our regular meeting will be held December 7th at 5:15 pm in room 421.  All are welcome and we are looking for new members if you are interested.  Just come and check us out.

Blessings and best wishes to you all as you celebrate Thanksgiving and gather to offer praise to God. It is a wonderful time to count our blessings and to remember God’s promise to be with us always and to provide.

Greetings.  We are learning how to do our “blog” and so far I am stumbling along.  So I will try to get a few notes out there and see what happens.  This month Social Action is lifting up the Hopedale Project since our Thanksgiving offering will go to Hopedale.  St. Matthews will share the service with us as well as the offering.  Outreach is lifing up “Blue Wednesday” which is a promotion of CrossTraining.  If you come to dinner and it is your first time, you will get a free meal on us.  The meal is served at 5:30 PM and over by 6:00.  Hope you will join us.  If you want to attend the later evening events we have a pastor’s study and choirs for all ages.  At 7:15 the first Advent worship service will occur and lasts 30 minutes.

2006-11-11 1 Kings 17.8-16. Ps. 146. Heb. 9.24-28. Mk. 12. 38-44
Grace and peace be yours from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
Our practice of giving is born out of our theology—our belief. Some denominations are totally materialistic. They believe that everything earned on earth becomes part of their personal heavenly treasure, and so they work very hard to build enormous wealth. Some denominations teach that God wants us to be rich and if we are not then our faith is suspect. Since the measure of each member’s faith is determined by their giving, people go to great lengths to prove their worthiness including second mortgages or other forms of debt. Some branches of the faith believe that all matter is evil and so possessions and accumulation of wealth, including modern technology, is shunned. The mainline churches believe that God came to be with us, to enjoy the earth and all its fruits—that matter is meant to be used for God’s glory, not horded.
 

The principle is simple. Everything belongs to God and we serve God by managing God’s resources. Leviticus 25.23 reads, “The land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants.” 1^st Corinthians furthers this idea, “You are not your own; you were bought with a price.” Deuteronomy 8:18. ‘Remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the power to get wealth.” We are a funnel through which God pours grace, mercy and resources so that all might receive AND thereby offer praise God. 
Here are some interesting facts that come from the 2006 Demographic profile for Bloomington Normal. The average credit card debt is 8500 dollars. The per person average spent annually on gambling is 2500 dollars—more than is spent on groceries. 70% of people give nothing to church or charitable organizations. OF the Christian population 6% tithe and the number is dropping, 20-35% give nothing and the remaining 30 to 40 % give between 1 and 3%. These statistics hold true at St. John’s. For our two cities, the average effective buying income, income after taxes, is $52,770. If the members of our congregation tithed 10%, the Bibilical mandate, we could easily raise 6 million dollars a year. Yet since coming to St. John’s I have watched every year as people struggle to raise the roughly 1.6 to 1.8 million needed to maintain status quo.
 

What gets in the way of generous giving, or any giving? There are several obstacles. The first is pride. I earned this and I am going to spend it the way I want. The second obstacle is greed. The image of the creature “Gollum” in the hobbit comes to mind, “My precious, my precious,” little gold ring. Wealth becomes the total focus of life, the goal, the destination. Jesus tells his followers, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
The 3^rd obstacle is the brother of greed: fear, the fear of not having enough. Many who suffer loss in the early years of life, end up worrying about not having enough. Fear of not having enough leads to hording.
 

The 4^th is poor management. Ecclesiastes5.10 states, “Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.” I talked to someone the other day who is convinced if they could just get a raise they would finally have enough money to pay the bills. I laughed. We each embody a practice of financial life.  Proverbs 23.4-5 says, “Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint. Cast but a glance at riches and they are gone; for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.”
 

The 5^th obstacle is the inability to commit. This is like an attachment disorder where the person is unable to fully commit to a belief, a group, or a person. They live in fear of loss, of being hurt (again), of abuse. They have a basic lack of trust, and so withhold. They live near the edge, always ready to flee. Personal practices of stewardship reflect one’s emotional wealth or poverty.
 

Jesus challenges fear, pride, self serving, and loss. “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you give, it will be measured to you.” Luke 6.38. “Remember this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.”2^nd Corinthians 9.6. For us, God withheld nothing and sends the very best.
 

If you find yourself squirming don’t feel like the lone ranger. I have personally struggled with all these obstacles. When Jim and I first got married, there was a lot of constant bickering among my children and me. I was not beyond counting the squares of toilet paper or the amount of tooth paste to make sure nothing was wasted. It didn’t take too long for him to take me aside. He made some gentle astounding suggestions. Why don’t you just give the kids their lunch money Sunday night, so they are set and do not have to suffer humiliation every morning trying to get you to give them what they need. You have it. Why not just make it available. My children and I had been used to having to struggle for everything, to get by, or make do with nothing. I was used to hording and hiding every dime because I never knew what tomorrow would bring. Jim lived in a totally different mind set. He made sure everyone at home and at work had modern equipment, clothes, shoes, resources they needed so that they could rest assured that they were empowered to do what was asked. He made sure the house was in top shape. He did not operate crisis to crisis, but planned ahead, bought ahead, invested ahead. In short he was a good steward. When I would whine about the cost of things he gently would say, “Everyone has to make a living; it costs to do things.”
 

Today is pledge Sunday. You are being asked to support the mission and ministry of God’s church. You are being asked to tithe as scripture sets forth as a part of the discipline of the faith. You are being asked to pass on a portion of what God has so generously given you—to be a good steward. This is your decision. You can open your hand to insure that the body of Christ can adequately support the ministries of God’s call to us. You can provide a portion of what you have received. Generosity is an act of will, an act of faith, a calling, a commitment. Paul said to the church at Corinth, “But just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.” 2 Cor. 8.7. So I challenge you to move into your faith and see if you will not have enough and not just enough but a wonderful blessing from God. What is even better is that you will be a blessing from God.