|
Friends, family, and supporters of our dear St. Mary's,
When we join the crowd at the seashore, we come to understand that God’s way with us is not one of bargaining but of wild abundance and generosity. And when we see what Christ can do with even the little that we do offer, the only thing that is needed is to figure out ways we can share God’s plenty with others.
I am amazed by all we have accomplished and shared this past year - all the people we have touched with few resources. This weekend I will show you a video highlighting our Christian living as a community here and beyond. It is your gifts of time, talent, and treasure which is the beating heart of our little church, and it is your generous love that deepens the faith of all and allows us to continue to do the work Jesus has given us to do, to make disciples. After viewing the video this weekend and reflecting upon the abundance of our year, imagine what we can do further by sharing our generous gifts.
A parable for Stewardship...
Here’s a little story from writer G. William Jones to help us on our Journey. It’s called “A Bargain with God”
Simon Pure dropped into Penny Poor’s store one day. He clucked his tongue at the dust on Penny’s showcases, shook his head, and sighed at the many bare shelves. “Why do you suppose it is,” he asked poor old Penny, “that your store isn’t as prosperous as mine? We both started at about the same time and with the same capital — almost nothing. But now I have a lovely store that nets me [$500,000] a year after taxes, and you have only this dusty, half-stocked hole which does well to pay your rent for you. Why is that, Penny?”
Penny stared vacantly and shrugged his thin shoulders. “I’ve often wondered that myself, Simon, but I don’t know. Perhaps if I did know the answer, I could do something about it.”
Simon studied his gold wristwatch with the diamond numbers on it for a second, then leaned close to Penny’s ear, whispering ... “I will tell you the secret.” Penny’s widening eyes swiveled to Simon’s face. “Please do,” he implored. ... “There’s one difference between the way you went into business and the way I went into business, Penny,” [Simon] said, smiling benignly at the poor little fellow. “When I started my store 23 years ago, I took God as my partner.”
Penny didn’t know whether Simon was joking or not, but when Simon just let those words hang in the dusty air and neither laughed nor qualified them, Penny swallowed and said, “Well, how did you do that?”
“Easy.” said Simon, “if you know the Bible. There’s where the secret is. Twenty-three years ago, I promised God that if he’d prosper me in my business, I’d give him a 10th of the profits and spend a month every summer doing missionary work for him.”
“So that’s where you go every summer,” murmured Penny. “Yes,” beamed Simon, “and we’ve both kept our ends of the bargain all these years. Well ... I’ve got to be going now. But you know the secret now, too, so I’m expecting to see some changes around here next time I come to see you.” Laughing warmly, Simon left Penny to ponder his words.
Penny did ponder. He thought of how he had supported his little inner-city church for those 23 years, sometimes borrowing off his insurance policy in order to pay some bill that the dwindling congregation couldn’t seem to pay. Penny supposed that he had spent more than a 10th of his time working to keep the little church going. Plus that, he had always looked upon his store-keeping as a sort of ministry, too — keeping people from buying things they didn’t need or couldn’t afford, extending interest-free credit to people who seemed to need it, and being a kind of resident marriage counselor to the young husbands and wives in the neighborhood. Penny thought about God and God’s abilities, and he was mildly surprised that it had never occurred to him to question God’s beneficence. But when he did think of it, Penny couldn’t bring himself to blame God for the dust on his showcases or the empty spaces on his shelves. The thought of himself praying to God to prosper his business crossed Penny’s mind unbidden. It embarrassed Penny, then caused him to shake with laughter at his silly old self.
Three months later, Simon Pure’s store burned to the ground, and the skimpy insurance policies on it didn’t pay off half the value lost. Penny tried to visit Simon to cheer him up, but after knocking at Simon’s door on three occasions and getting no answer, he finally sent him a letter of condolences. Penny wrote some things about God and beginning again and about how he would be glad to help Simon start a new store — such things as that.
He received a one-line letter from Simon by return mail. It said, “There is no God!”
Sharing God’s plenty, tithing is a concession to our sinfulness, and Simon Pure took it one step further, assuming it was also a bargaining chip. But when we join the crowd at the seashore, we come to understand that God’s way with us is not one of bargaining but of wild abundance and generosity. And when we see what Christ can do with even the little that we do offer, then we realize there is no bargaining needed anyway. The only thing that is needed is to figure out ways we can share God’s plenty with others.
| 
