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Fundraising for God? Dawn M. Haeger, Church of the Cross, Hoffman Estates, IL, October 22, 2006 I remember a schoolhouse poster from my childhood that declared, “I have a dream that one day the armed forces will need to have a bake sale and schools will have all the money they need.” It was a commentary, of course, on the state of funding for our school system during a time when finances were tight. Just last week, one of my nieces, who attends a public school, hit me up for their annual fundraiser so that the kids can go on fieldtrips. Fundraising is a task many of us don’t look forward to, but some folks I know, excel at it. I have a friend who is in charge of development – which simply means he is the primary fundraiser for a nearby college. He loves his job. To the woman who hated selling Girl Scout cookies, and everyone loves Girl Scout cookies, his job would be nothing but torture to me. Fundraising is a distasteful task for me, but stewardship is something I embrace and am actually pretty forthright in discussing. Just what is stewardship and how is it different from fundraising? The Eerdmans’ Bible Dictionary defines a steward as, “the person who manages the affairs of a large and wealthy household. The tasks of a steward might, in different cases, include supervision of the service at the master’s table, oversight of other household servants, or management of the master’s finances” (p.970). What’s very clear from this definition is that the steward is entrusted with management of something that does not belong to him or her. They have responsibilities, but not ownership. Stewardship, therefore, acknowledges that the goods and services under one’s direction, belong to someone else and that the owner has the right to ask that they be returned at any time. Fundraising, on the other hand, assumes that one’s assets belong to an individual and that they need to be persuaded to part with some of their financial resources in order to support a specific cause or worthwhile project. Both financial stewardship and fundraising are understood in terms of benefiting something outside of oneself. Fundraising tends to be a one-time activity and people generally only give to projects they like. Stewardship is a lifetime endeavor and the stewards trust that the master will utilize the goods and services in an appropriate manner. Our call to worship from Psalm 24 declares, “The earth is the LORD’s and all that is in it, the world and those who live in it” (v. 1). Everything that is or ever was, from the majestic mountain peaks to the ocean depths, every living creature, all plant life – everything – belongs to God. Theologically, I don’t think there’s one person here who would disagree with this statement, but on a practical level, we must examine our lives to see if they reflect this reality. We live in a world obsessed with possessions and the acquisition of as much stuff as possible. We can’t turn on the television, read a magazine, listen to the radio or drive down the street without being bombarded by advertisers attempting to persuade us that we cannot live without their product. And for the most part, we are pretty easy to convince. Research tells us that Americans own more material goods than ever these days, and when we attain these goods, we worry so much about losing them we purchase locks and alarms to keep them safe. The earth may belong to God, but this is my plasma television, car, handbag or i-pod. Driving through Palatine last week, I saw a church sign that read, “Worry is the waste of imagination.” I’ve been pondering that as I prepared for this week’s sermon and wondered what would be the opposite of worry as the waste of imagination. The answer I’ve arrived at is vision. Vision is valuable and a worthwhile application of imagination. Vision is what we are called to as Christians. Vision of a world where the reign of God presides, where peace, justice and mercy is a reality available to every person in every nation. In the realm of God, all will know the love of Jesus Christ and the wholeness that comes from being united with God forever. Now I know you’re thinking, “These are wonderful goals; how is it then, that we acknowledge and live out this vision that, “The earth is the LORD’s and all that is in it,” (Ps 24:1)? I propose the answer is that we live as stewards of God’s creation and not as those who believe that we each own our own stuff and that it must be zealously guarded so we don’t lose it. It’s the difference between believing that life is like the game of Risk where the goal is to conquer your neighbor and take possession of their assets or that life can and should reflect our deepest beliefs that the realm of God is a present reality. When life is like the game of Risk there is heightened anxiety and a low degree of trust between people. There is status and hierarchy, poverty and pain. After time, we stop owning the possessions and they own us. We forget or ignore that, “The earth is the LORD’s and all that is in it, the world and those who live in it” (v. 1). This is the situation in our Malachi reading this morning. This text, indeed the entire book of Malachi, reads like a courtroom drama. The Hebrew people have put God on trial. The opening verses in the book read, “I have loved you, says the LORD. But you say, ‘How have you loved us?’”(2a). So in defense, God tells the people just how they have been loved and the ways in which God has remained faithful to their covenant relationship, while they, on the other hand, have wandered away seeking meaning and fulfillment from other sources. God has been faithful, the people have not. In this text God accuses the entire worshipping community from the priests to those who offer sacrifices of their utter lack of devotion and fidelity. In the first chapter, the LORD accuses the Hebrews of despising God’s name, by presenting polluted offerings, bringing to the temple, not the first fruits, but the leftovers, the blind, lame and sick animals for worship and sacrifice. Continuing in chapter 3, the people are accused of thievery. “Will anyone rob God?” The question is so ridiculous, the answer must be no. “Yet,” the passage continues, “You are robbing me! But you say, ‘How are we robbing you?’ In your tithes and offerings! You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me – the whole nation of you! Bring the full tithe into the store house, 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” (vv. 8-10). It’s easy for us to try and distance ourselves from the prophetic language of this text. We say to ourselves, “How could they dare put God on trial?” And since we don’t bring animals for sacrifice, we can ignore this part of the text. It must not apply to us. And tithing? That’s just an antiquated idea that we no longer need to contemplate. 10% of our earnings is too much and as Christians, we have been set free from the law. These interpretations, I fear, can lead us to deluding ourselves. First, “How dare they put God on trial?” I think this is something that happens with such regularity, we are unaware we are even doing it. We pray for specific outcomes in our lives and if we don’t receive what we want, we question God and may even be tempted to deny God’s existence. On the heels of 9/11 and natural disasters, we often demand that God justifies how such a thing could be allowed to happen. A true story is told of a man in Dade County Florida who sued the church for the return of $800.00 he had given it because he did not receive the benefits and rewards he expected. Second, while we do not bring animals into the worship space. We do bring ourselves and our attitudes. Paul asserts that we present ourselves as holy and living sacrifices. The ancient peoples were told to bring their best animal to God. This act of worship declared their respect, loyalty, devotion, trust and dependence upon the LORD. It also required them to think about God every day of the week as they cared for the animals that would be brought to the temple. Do we contemplate God daily, lead a devotional life that reflects our dependence and devotion to God and prepare ourselves for Sunday worship, bringing before God the very best we have or do we offer some sickly substitute, just one hour a week (and actually 45 minutes would be better) and then wonder why we don’t have a fulfilling relationship with the LORD? Now tithing is a subject that makes many people squirm, and I would ask you to explore within yourself why that is. I know most preachers, if asked, would tell you that sermons about money are the ones they dread the most. On one level I understand that, but on another, I think, “What an opportunity!” Stewardship of financial resources, if understood as a spiritual discipline, is one of the wonderful ways we can be brought into a closer and more fulfilling relationship with God. When we understand and live our lives as stewards of all that God has gifted us with, it is much easier to return a portion to God than to keep a tight grasp of it. Now I know some of you are thinking, “You’re a pastor; you have to believe that.” The reality is that I, too, have struggled with the same issue over and over again. Connecting the financial stewardship principle of our faith with the reality of mortgage and car payments, medical and educational expenses and the other very real costs of living in our society, is a very difficult task and often takes time to achieve. Just as any other spiritual discipline – scripture reading, journaling, worship, prayer, service, and fasting requires our patience, practice and dedication, so does stewardship of our financial resources. The transformation of our attitude toward our financial gifts and the growth of our spiritual maturity is a process, an intentional one. No one becomes a better steward by accident or overnight. Joseph Stowell, president of the Moody Bible Institute describes this process in his book, Far From Home: The Soul’s Search for Intimacy with God, “The pursuit of intimacy is an intentional commitment to take steps toward God, and in the process of that Godward motion, to grow more deeply conscious of, connected to, and confident in Him alone as the only source to satisfy, sustain and secure” (164). So today, I invite you to consider the spiritual discipline of financial stewardship. Trust that God will satisfy, sustain and secure your needs and return gladly a portion of what is so freely given you. When the book of Malachi was written, the economic times were very rough and the people were worried about losing what they had. Sounds pretty familiar, doesn’t it? In order to make ends meet, the people withheld their tithe to the temple, making their offerings from the leftovers at the end of the month. When we don’t plan for our giving to God’s work, we do the same. We spend on ourselves first and then from whatever is left over, we give some of that to God. God says no! I am not to be an after-thought, God wants to be primary in our lives. Fill the storehouses so there may be food in my house, says God. Test me, God declares. Trust that I will fulfill your every need. Don’t depend upon yourselves. It’s interesting, this is the only place is the Bible where we are told to test God. Blessings are promised for those who live a life of such trusting. There will be so many blessings, the heavens will rain down with them. We are in the midst of our stewardship campaign. Some well-meaning and faithful people understand this as the time to raise money to fulfill the budget. This is fundraising, fundraising for God. A fundraising campaign reflects the belief that the money in our possession belongs to us as individuals and that we must be convinced to fund projects and goals we believe to be worthwhile. The process becomes a negotiation between those who would fund and those who provide a service. This does not reflect the belief that the earth is the LORD’s and all that is in it. It declares, all my stuff belongs to me, I am the master – not the caretaker. God calls for an alternate vision, a life of stewardship – one where we acknowledge the blessing in our lives as gifts. Stewardship demonstrates an understanding that we are abundantly blessed and are willing to return to the one who blesses us a portion so that others may know God’s blessings. | |||||
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