Bridging The Gap
An Address For
Stewardship Sunday
1 COR 1:10-18 MATT 4:12-23
There was a strong man
who travelled from town to town performing a little street theatre act. He
would lift heavy weights, tear a telephone directory in half and things like that.
As the climax of his act, he would take a large orange and squeeze it in his
hand until he had got every drop of juice from the fruit and then he would
issue a challenge to the audience, that if anyone could squeeze a drop more, he
would give them £1,000
Many people tried but
no one could ever do it.
So a few weeks ago the
strong man came to Redhill.
I don’t know if you
saw him?
He did his little show
just down the road by the Harlequin.
Quite a crowd of local
people gathered round and as usual he ended by inviting anyone to come forward
to see if they could squeeze a drop from the orange once he had finished with
it.
Several tried – but no
one could.
Right at the end,
however, a hand went up at the back of the crowd
“Aye, I’ll have a go”
said a tall, rather wiry gentleman, and he stepped modestly forward.
Well this man seizes
hold of the orange and squeezes with all his might and unbelievably, a little
drop of juice drops from the fruit.
“That’s amazing”
yelled the strong man “You’re the first person ever to have done that Can I ask
your name sir?”
“Me name’s Ray Bolton”
said the man.
“Well Mr Bolton,
you’ve just won £1,000, but can you tell us the secret of your success?”
“Aye, I think I can”
says this Mr Bolton “Y’see when you’ve been Treasurer
of St Matthew’s church for as long as I have, you get used to squeezing the
last drop out of anything.”
There’s an old
tradition about giving that goes right back into the early days of the Old
Testament. It is that God’s people give God their best. They don’t actually
give him the last drop but the first fruit, not the leftovers but the best.
The first and best of
their crops, their animals, their livelihoods, they would give up to God as an
act of thanksgiving for all that God had given them.
It is this offering of
the best of ourselves that lies at the heart of
stewardship.
Whether your talking about our time, our money or our talents.
We all know that being
a follower can be a struggle sometimes.
We cannot always
fathom out God’s ways and we wish for a better world.
But we can each look
around at our lives, this place, this creation and see
reasons to be cheerful, reasons to give thanks for what God has given.
The time, money and
talents we are prepared to give to the church needs to be at the heart of this
understanding. God’s blessing upon us is what must motivate us more than any
deficit on a balance sheet.
Our giving then, is our response to God’s goodness.
Giving God our best
needs to be reflected in our worship.
We come here not just
to receive from him but surely to give to him too.
In
our praying, in our singing, in our caring, in our listening – and in our
giving.
That’s why the
contents of the collection plate are brought forward with the bread and wine –
and we surround that moment with song, prayer and ceremony because it is all
part of the offering of ourselves.
I found myself
worshipping in the
Half a dozen people
stand at the front here with huge baskets and everyone else, led I have to tell
you by the Mothers Union, dances round the church waving in the air the money
they were going to put in the basket.
They were so glad to
give to God that they made an exhibition of it.
And these were not wealthy
people.
Our giving then is
part of our worship.
If you look at our two
bible readings today, I think we can draw from them the fact that everyone is
called to play their part in proclaiming the Gospel. That we
have to let the light of Christ shine upon us so that we see things
differently. Then the mission of the church – that people might see
things differently, through us.
I walk down to this church most mornings and see our spire poking up
between the
Seeing
things differently, in the context of God’s love.
Away from church, each
of us lives out our Christian lives in the best way we can and you have a right
to look to this church for strengthening in that task, but there is also
something we’re called to do and be together, something about having a vision
for what it is to be the church in this town centre.
Shall I tell you
something that I don’t think this congregation is at all good at.
You’re not very good
at making excuses. You’re not very good at giving reasons why you wouldn’t want
to get involved.
I’ve never met a
church like it where people say “yes count me in” to things quite so much.
A
willingness to roll our sleeves up and get involved.
The truth is that as
vision and purpose develops amongst us so we find we need financial resources
to achieve them.
Our giving then is
part of our mission.
Bearing these
principles in mind we do have to look at the practical realities of the
situation facing the whole church and us at St Matthew’s included.
To run the church here
for a week.I wonder how much you think that costs?
Church. Hall. Vicar, Vicarage. Wages. Heating. Lighting and all the rest.
It works out at about
£2,000 per week.
Our weekly shortfall
is £269. Spread over a year that amounts to £14,000.
To be secure we need
somehow to increase our giving by 25%.
This figure would be
much higher if it were not for the number of jobs people do at this church
either without payment or for a fraction of what could be charged outside.
We would be in dire
straights without them and without the money we make from the hall and the
rental of the curate’s house.
This is the right
moment to say a huge thank you to everyone for the time that you freely give.
It keep us afloat.
To meet these costs is
all down to us.
There are no
Government grants and here at St Matthew’s there is no cushion of reserves to
dip into for a rainy day.
You hear it said, huh!
Well, I know the Church of England is one of the richest landowners in the country, they’re rolling in it, aren’t they?
We could sell all the
Vicarages and all the churches and everything in them.
We could cash in all
the shares and investments.
This would result in a
carefree state for a while and then, in my view complete disintegration.
It is also a myth that
the Anglican church has to fund a massive
administrative machine.
It’s really paired
down, it really is.
The church does have
to take on an increasing burden for pensions for clergy. Whilst the best that
is possible is being done for us, the future for an old codger who once was Fr Andrew, still remains uncertain.
There are no
substantial funds held by the Diocese.
All parishes pay a sum
to them each year out of which they pay for all the clergy, housing and pension
costs and a whole lot more, a proportion of what we pay goes to help parishes
who are in a worse situation than we are, so that through the Fairer Shares
scheme, we do help each other as one big family.
In the light of all this how might you decide to give?
When you leave church
this morning you will each get a leaflet which outlines some options and three
words loom large – Regular, Planned and Efficient.
Years ago, I remember
my mum coming home after some sort of stewardship campaign and she was fuming.
“I’m not going to give
regularly” she said “I mean I never know what I might want to give. I always
give a pound and then if the sermon’s good I put in another fifty pence and if
the choir sings a nice anthem, another twenty, now how shall I know that in
advance.
Please don’t base your
giving on that – especially this morning.
To agree in your heart
to give a set sum each week whether you’re in church or not is so helpful
because our expenses are there whoever comes. You can take out a weekly envelope, you can make a standing order for weekly, monthly
or annual payments and then simply put a little token in when the plate comes
round.
Then if you are a tax
payer, do remember that we can claim the tax back on what you give. Your can
fill in a gift aid form to cover all you give for the year. Over £12k was
raised through people agreeing to do this last year. The amount allowed is
decreasing this year, so we need all the extra help we can get.
If you are in sympathy
with what I’ve tried to say this morning, then you’ll want to review your
giving.
If you are not in
sympathy, then please challenge me about it
It may not be possible
for everyone to give more as a result of today, that
is understood.
I also understand the
massive contributions people give in so many other ways.
I am happy to discuss
principles of giving with anyone, but I’m not the person to talk to about the
individual level of giving you arrive at for yourself.
As your Priest, I do
not wish to know who gives what, that remains confidential between yourself and
the Planned Giving Officer, David Hill, and I promise you that is how it will
stay. Please take home a form at the end of today and bring it back and place
it in the box at the back of the church where it will be available after
services.
Please help us then to
Bridge the Gap.
In the amount we need to put our finances on a
more secure footing certainly.
But more importantly so that through our
worship, our prayer and our mission, the things we stand for, we can bridge the
gap between heaven and earth, the gap already bridged in Jesus the truth of
which we are called to share with the world.
27.1.08