Jesus is a Marxist: Stewardship

Jesus is a Marxist: Stewardship

Rob Gieselmann, 2017

1. Thinking Differently. I want to get you thinking differently about a few of our religious concepts.  

a. The first of these concepts is the Kingdom of God, also known as the kingdom of heaven. Most of us think of the kingdom of heaven as a geographical place - up there, out there, behind some curtain or veil.

Often, Christians think that you enter God’s kingdom after death, either through baptism or in some traditions that notion of getting saved.

But according to Jesus, the kingdom of God is not a geographic place – rather, it is located within you. He reiterates this concept in The Lord’s Prayer: Thy kingdom come … on earth.

The Kingdom is, as Brett says, right here. Already here, you’re already part of it.

b. By extension, this first concept leads to its corollary: God likewise is not external to you.

God lives, right here. St. John of the Cross describes it as even more intimate - Your soul is God’s location. Your soul is infused with God. You are closer to God than you are to yourself.

So - Why, then, do we pray, God be with me?

Such prayers are wasted breath.

            God is with you, period. Whether you ask, or not.

Like Dorothy with her ruby slippers – Dorothy had the means to get home all along;

you have the means to grace, and you’ve had it, all along.

This is the spiritual point of the manna story, the bread in the wilderness: there will always be enough to sate you – period. If you don’t collect enough, what you have collected will multiply. If you collect too much, the extra will spoil. Simply, God is there, in your soul, in God-measure.

The same principle is expressed through communion. A crumb of bread equals the full loaf. A sip equals the entire cup.

And in the parable. You get paid one wage, regardless of how much or how little you work you do – and your wage is enough for today.

God, you see, pays only one wage.

c. Which leads to the third concept:

God is a Marxist. From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.

Property ownership is an illusion: You think you own your house. You think you own your car, and your bank account. But you do not.

I can prove this: The minute you die, you lose everything you own, except your soul. Your property instantly belongs to someone else.

Scripture bears this up, that ownership is illusory:

           

The earth is the Lord’s, and all that it contains.

Again, God promises that you will have enough – enough to live a life of meaning.

The life you live is what counts, not the money or possessions you accumulate. If you must covet, covet love.

Which is why I say Jesus is a Marxist – ownership is illusory. If the idea of Jesus as a Marxist bothers you, let me add - Jesus is also a communist, and he is also a capitalist, concepts I don’t have time to explain in a short sermon. But – Jesus is seldom what you expect.

d. Fourth, the tithe is not the Biblical standard of giving.

Like I said – all of it already belongs to God. You are a squatter possessing only a measure of grace. And remember, the manna became sticky and spoilt when the person kept more than he or she needed. The question isn’t the tithe, it is generosity. It isn’t how much you give, it is how much you retain.

Generosity is God’s only standard for giving.

Like the landowner – who gave to the late workers generously.

2. Today is Stewardship Sunday. The day I am asked to convince you to pledge generously to the church for 2018. To do so, I’d like to convince you of several administrative precepts:

a. first, the needs of the church exceed its resources. (this has been true in every church I’ve served)

And it is true here – at Ascension – in coming weeks, your Senior Warden, Andy Oakes, will describe the disconnect between the church we want and the church we can afford. He will tell you, we’re living on borrowed time – and money.

The problem is, most of us want exactly this level of church, but we’d like someone else to pay for it.

Perhaps you already know this, but most of the $1.7 m budget is funded by you – your pledges and Sunday offerings.

b. Second, every member household is expected participate by pledging or disciplined giving, regardless of pledge size. That is what membership means, among other things. As it turns out, only about 2/3 of Ascension households participate – which is up from last year because of last year’s strong stewardship efforts. I’m very proud of how many of you stepped forward to pledge. Thank you.

Even still, over 200 member households do not pledge at all. Think about it.

Now, some of you will appreciate hearing about giving trends – but I have to warn you, this is where it gets complex.

Two-earner households pledge once, while one-earner households pledge once, creating a disparity. Younger families make less and often have more financial obligations. Some older members are on limited, fixed incomes. There is no – one size fits all when it comes to giving.

However - the average – mean – pledge is just under $4000, but the average – mode – pledge – the number most commonly given, is $1200, which is but $100/month.

By the way, the average car payment in the United States is $479 – which means the typical Ascension household gives $379 less to church than it gives to Ford Motor Company. It also means that those who give the most –

whether because they are wealthier or more generous, I cannot say – shoulder 62% of the financial burden of the church.

c. Now – let me return to the needs of Ascension – and state again, that given the church we want, the need is real, for two primary reasons, although there are others.

*the building reserve has been depleted – and our buildings needs significant repairs. In fact, we are going to have to borrow money to replace this room’s HVAC – at a cost of $350k – borrowing this money will add interest and repayment expense to the budget.

*clergy and some other employee raises have not kept up with the cost of living. A few years back, the church shifted the burden of family health coverage from the church to the clergy - which hit clergy the hardest – their net pay has actually gone down.

Joke –

The church vestry met to discuss the priest compensation package for the coming year. After the meeting the chair of council relayed their decision: “We are very sorry, Father, but we decided that we cannot give you a raise next year.”

“But you must give me a raise,” the minister answered. “I am but a poor preacher!”

“l know,” the senior warden answered. “We listen to you every Sunday.”

Anyway – the need is real.

**

So here’s the thing: earlier, I redefined four precepts most of us have misunderstood. Let me add these tongue-in-cheek stewardship addendums to those precepts:

a. God is right here. If you do not think God is right here, not with you all the time, then perhaps you will give even more. Give so it will return to you, pressed down, shaken together, running over.

b. If you believe that heaven exists elsewhere – up there, perhaps – and salvation is what a few other faiths have said it is, being saved from something else –

heck, then you ought to give everything to the church, just in case.

c. If you think God is more capitalist than marxist, then you should give because you will be investing in capital with the greatest long-term returns. Think about it!

d. if you still believe the standard of living is the tithe – well, go right ahead. Most Episcopalians give only about 2% of their income to the church – so your vestry would be very happy with ten.

But here’s the thing – if God has been completely generous with you - and joyfully so – so – how can you and I be anything but generous in return??