Sermon from May 5, 2024 by the Rev. Dr. Tara W. Bulger

For several weeks now, we've been discussing the things of the church that have sustained us from generation to generation. Today, we will talk about the offering plate because, for generations, filling it in this place has enabled this church to go about its work and mission. So listen now to what the Apostle Paul writes to the church in Corinth about giving.:

The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will reap sparingly. And the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion. For the Lord loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing and abundance so that by always having enough of everything you may share abundantly in every good work, you will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us for the rendering of this ministry, not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also overflows with many Thanksgivings to God. 

So my best friend is a pastor in Memphis, and part of the ministry of their church is that every Wednesday morning, early, about seven, they have food distribution. It's similar to what we do with our backpack ministry, where we take food to kids who need it over the weekend. In Memphis, it is simply a time for people to drive through the parking lot of their church and be given a sack of food. So David went every Wednesday, and for a few months, the first car in line was always a woman named Janice.

It was unusual to see the same people week after week, but he got used to seeing Janice always cheerful, always grateful. She was there week after week for a few months and then he didn't see her for a while. He didn't see her for a long time. He forgot about Janice until one morning when he came back, and her car again was first in line. He walked up to her car and said, Janice, I'm so happy to see you. 

The weeks before hadn't been good to Janice. She had a terrible stroke, and she had to have a family member drive her now. But through her impaired speech, she said to him, "I'm not here for food. I want to give you this." And she handed him some money.

David said his first instinct was to say, no, no, no, no, no, no, you don't have to give us any money. But he said something stopped him. He thinks it was the Holy Spirit because he realized it was important to her to give him this money. He realized it was her offering.

Now, maybe Janice is a lot like you and me, and she lives a pretty much transactional life. Think of all the things we do in our lives that are transactional and require money. If you go to get a cup of coffee, you have to pay for it. If you go to get your car serviced, you have to pay for it. We pay for it at the grocery store over and over again. Our lives are in this system of transactionality. Something is required of us, usually financially, in order for us to live our lives. 

Except for in the church. Friends, the church is one of the few places that you could never give one cent and no one would know. And you would still be a part of the church. You would still have access to all of God's blessings because God gives those freely.

The church is one of the few places where we can come in that door again and again and again. And nothing is required of us, nothing. We are here to receive God's blessings. And those are offered with no strings attached. 

But from the beginning of the church, you have been invited to give an offering. It started after Jesus's ascension. When the church is forming in Jerusalem, they would go to all the faithful and say, would you like to give an offering? And they would give that offering and it would support the poor and the widows and their community and it would support those apostles who were leading the work of ministry. And so by the time we get to this little church in Corinth, Paul has founded all of these churches over Asia Minor, and he does the same thing. You don't have to give anything, but would you like to give an offering?

That offering was taken up and used for the church and its ministry. It was not given in any other way except freely. The text tells us there was no reluctance and there was no compulsion. It was just given freely. And the reason we as Christians give generously and freely is because God has given generously and freely to us. Isn't that the whole story of creation and of God's love for humanity, that receiving nothing, God created the world out of nothing, created a covenant with us, promised to be our God, and we would be God's people? But we as humans were sinful, and we rebelled; we turned from God. And even then, God gave himself in the person of Christ to come and sacrifice for us when we couldn't do it ourselves, and nothing was required of us. It was God's generosity over and over again.

We see God's generosity in the Holy Spirit in this time and place, which still leads us. We give in response to what God has given to us so generously. We give, too, because it changes us. That's what the Apostle Paul is talking about here, that there will be blessing upon blessing in our giving. What he means is that we become more like Christ when we take on the character of Christ, who is generous. There are not many things I do where I feel like I'm measuring up to who Jesus Christ is, but it is never in doubt when I am able to be generous that I am being somewhat in my small way like Jesus Christ. And so we are invited as a church to give, to give to the offering plate because it changes our hearts and it blesses us in big ways and in small.

The Apostle Paul reminds us in this passage that when it comes to the church, it is not a time to sow sparingly when it comes to the church of Jesus Christ. The church will bear the name of Jesus Christ to the world. It's not a time to be stingy or to give sparingly. It is a time to give with our whole hearts because the church is that important. Every penny you have ever put into the offering plate tells the world that this matters, that the Church of Jesus Christ matters. And as we move forward with our capital campaign and with this building project, part of what I know will happen is that any physical signs of construction we do will be a sign to the world that the church still stands and that it matters in this time and place. That's what our offering does. That's what it says. 

So we are encouraged to give because it makes us better and because it is our response to God's grace in our lives. 

Now, we've got Confirmands who will join this church shortly, and they have learned, as you and I know, that our offering to God is the whole lives that we give, all that we have, and all that we are to God. But know too that when we give of what we have and pass that offering plate, we are growing in the likeness of Christ, and we are witnesses to the power of Christ in the world. May it be so for generations to come. Amen.