1 CORINTHIANS 12:31
1 CORINTHIANS 13:1–13

Gordon E. Ellis
April 24, 2005

MORE  GOOD  NEWS  FROM  LAKE  MOORE: Pastor Peters’ Stewardship Sermon

            Well, it’s been a quiet week in my hometown, Lake Moore, that tiny village of 300 that sits on the map where Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire all merge into a single DOT.  SPRING has finally arrived, and NONE to soon!  The SNOW is gone; the ICE has finally left the lake; and the state came in and stocked some BIG trout, which brought FISHERMEN.  And it’s just BEAUTIFUL there.

            They DID have an INCIDENT in Lake Moore this week, however.  It seems that one of the area banks has put in a small branch office in the Lake Moore General Store.  And this week, that little bank got ROBBED, but it’s a great STORY!  You see: EVERY winter, Charlie Johnson allows the whole TOWN to use his little red pick-up truck.  It’s GREAT in snow!  And BECAUSE Lake Moore is SO hilly, people often have a HARD time on winter days getting to the grocery store and other places, especially when they need to go OUT of town.  SO, Charlie leaves his truck with the KEYS in it.  And whenever the KEYS are in it, that means ANYONE can use it.  And if NO keys are in it, that means someone ELSE is using it.  And ALL he asks is that people put GAS in it occasionally.  Well, apparently the BANK robbers KNEW about the little red pick-up truck, because they left their OWN vehicle just outside town, a few miles down the road & USED the Charlie’s pick-up truck as their GETAWAY car.  The only PROBLEM was: they didn’t know the RULE about the KEYS.  SO, weren’t THEY surprised to come OUT of the General Store with their duffle bag of CASH and find that the truck was GONE!  They left the KEYS in it, so somebody ELSE had borrowed it.  And those two ROBBERS were RUNNING down the road toward their CAR when the State Police went by, responding to the BANK robbery.  And who ELSE would be running down the road in Lake Moore with a DUFFLE bag?  SO, they were NAILED immediately.  BUT, they got the whole TOWN talking, that’s for sure!

            Well, at the Lake Moore Community Church this week, Pastor Peters has had a TOUGH week.  TODAY, you see, is the day – the last Sunday in April – when he gives his annual STEWARDSHIP sermon, asking people to PLEDGE to the CHURCH.  And he always has a TERRIBLE time writing this particular sermon.  He always feels like he’s SINGING for his supper, so to speak.  In his YOUNGER days, he really felt GUILTY about it and tried HARD to find CREATIVE ways to talk about it.  One year, he LITERALLY danced up and down the aisle singing, IF we were a RICH church, didle, deedle, didle, deedle….  He changed all the words to FIT the church, and it was GREAT!  And even though it was VERY funny, and people LOVED it, HE found it humiliating, and it made him SAD.  Yes, EVERY year, it’s HARD for Pastor Peters to preach about STEWARDSHIP.  THIS year too!  You see: the church is asking for a BIG increase in PLEDGES, and Pastor Peters just DOESN’T know how to ASK for it.

            At FIRST, he thought he might REMIND people that you get what you PAY for.  And in the process, he’d REMIND them of a very HARD lesson that the people of Lake Moore learned a few years ago with their POLICE.  Pastor Peters will NEVER forget his FIRST night in town.  He went to check out the Lake Moore Inn, where he met SID, the town’s ONLY police officer.  Sid was sitting at the bar having coffee.  Pastor Peters INTRODUCED himself as the new MINISTER in town.  And Sid said: Hi, I’m SID.  I AM the POLICE department in Lake Moore.  Well, AS they talked, Sid revealed 2 very important pieces of information.  First, when Pastor Peters joked about whether even the POLICE needed a GUN in Lake Moore, Sid replied: Oh, don’t worry about the GUN.  It’s just for SHOW!  I don’t TELL anybody this, but I actually FAILED the FIREARMS test at the police academy.  When they HIRED me, the Selectmen said I could carry a GUN, but NO bullets.  BUT, they were able to hire me CHEAP!

            The SECOND piece of information Sid revealed was about the CRUISER.  Pastor Pastors said, Gee, Sid, I haven’t seen a BUBBLE on the top of police car in a LONG time.  It’s pretty OLD, isn’t it?  Sid said: Yeah, and it’s actually WORSE than it LOOKS.  You see: that old cruiser has a STANDARD transmission, but only 2 of the gears work: SECOND gear and REVERSE.  Most people in town don’t KNOW that, especially the TEENAGERS, so I PARK in different places to SLOW them down!  But I couldn’t catch ANYBODY.  Well, it wasn’t long AFTER that when there was a JAIL-BREAK up in KEENE and escapees made their way to Lake Moore and TERRORIZED some townsfolk.  Poor SID was HELPLESS to do anything ABOUT it.  HE lost his job anyway; the Selectmen needed a SCAPEGOAT.

            Then they hired FLOYD, who actually went to CHURCH at Pastor Peters’ church.  They didn’t pay FLOYD very much either.  Like SID, he hadn’t done very WELL at the police academy.  Well, I guess about 2 years later, Pastor Peters was called to the hospital in Athol.  It seems that one of the MEN in Lake Moore had SUSPECTED Floyd of having an AFFAIR with his WIFE, so he set a TRAP.  Sure enough, Floyd was caught with his pants down, and BEATEN with a baseball bat.  BUT, things got WORSE!  The STATE police found out that FLOYD was running a PROSTITUTION ring over in Athol.

            NEXT, the Selectmen hired NICK and gave him a brand new CRUISER and RADAR gun.  Well, his SECOND night on the job, a CAR passed Nick going 5 miles an hour OVER the speed limit.  It was a bunch of TEENAGERS.  SO, Nick turned on his LIGHTS, but not before the kids had disappeared around a corner.  Nick sped up and was FLYING down the road trying to CATCH the kids.  Well, the kids knew the area, so THEY drove down an embankment into a cornfield to HIDE there.  Poor NICK, however, didn’t know the roads yet, so HE thought they just went down a HILL, and when HE got the embankment, he was going so FAST that his car actually FLEW through the air.  And wouldn’t you know: it landed on TOP of that car full of KIDS.  And Nick, who STILL wasn’t sure what had happened, JUMPED out of his cruiser and fell TWO cars down into the DIRT.  Unfortunately a couple of those kids got HURT pretty badly, and Nick got SUED -- and SO did the TOWN.  And THAT’S how the people of Lake Moore learned a HARD way about getting what you PAY for: 3 policemen in a row.  BUT, Pastor PETERS decided that it really wasn’t FAIR to bring THAT issue UP on Stewardship Sunday.

NEXT, he thought about telling his congregation about what was expected of the early HEBREWS when it came to GIVING, what the Old Testament says.  MOST people think it was just 10% of your income, the TITHE.  Well, THAT was just the BEGINNING.  In FACT, there were SEVERAL types of MANDATORY giving for THOSE who wanted to be FAITHFUL people in Old Testament times.  FIRST, there was the 10% LORD’S tithe, or LEVITE’S tithe, as outlined in Leviticus 27:30.  That’s the tithe we HEAR about the MOST.  And it tells us that one-tenth of EVERYTHING we produce BELONGS to GOD.  And IF we DON’T give it back to God, we are considered THIEVES, because we’re ROBBING God, as it says in Malachi 3:8.  BUT, there was also a SECOND tithe, described in Deuteronomy 12:10-11.  And THAT was the FESTIVAL tithe, used for religious CELEBRATIONS and ceremonies.  SO, that’s 20% of your INCOME so far!  THEN, in Deuteronomy 14:28-29, there is yet ANOTHER tithe, the POOR tithe, which is offered every 3 years, so it’s actually only 3.33% per year.  And THAT tithe is used to help the POOR.  BUT, still MORE is required.  In Leviticus 19:9-10, it talks about a mandatory type of PROFIT-SHARING with the POOR, in which you LEAVE some of your HARVEST in your fields, maybe one or two percent of it, for the POOR to harvest.  SO, all-in-all, a faithful Israelite was REQUIRED to give between 23 and 25 percent of his income EVERY year.  THAT was MANDATORY!  And AFTER that, THEN came your VOLUNTARY giving and your FREE-WILL offerings, which included what they called FIRST FRUITS giving and various TEMPLE offerings.  SO, the IDEAL in the Old Testament, including mandatory giving and voluntary giving, was that people would GIVE, for GOD’S work, up to 30 or maybe even 40 percent of their income.  Well, after much thought, Pastor Peters decided not to talk about THAT either.

He also considered talking about the JOY that comes from GIVING and GENEROSITY, but THAT’S what he talked about LAST year.  He thought about reminding them that the church is just a big FAMILY, and that if we ALL give OUR share, it can run very SMOOTHLY for ALL of us.  He thought about basing his sermon on a QUOTE from the German poet, Rainer Maria Rilke, who said: HATRED is once more the decisive and driving FORCE in the world which can only be healed in the LONG run by a SUPERABUNDANCE of LOVE, MERCY and GOOD WILL.  And that’s SO true, he thought, and that’s what the CHURCH is about!  He also considered talking about being PART of something LARGER than ourselves, something that’s LIFE-CHANGING and WORLD-CHANGING – and HOW much JOY and MEANING being PART of something like THAT can bring into our lives.  And THAT’S the CHURCH!

Well, in the MIDDLE of ALL this thinking and praying, Pastor Peters received a PHONE call.  It seems that a 39-year old MAN in town, a father of 5 little children, had DIED very suddenly.  He’d fallen from his ROOF while cleaning out the GUTTERS.  Now, STEVE wasn’t a MEMBER of the church, but Lake Moore is so SMALL, just over 300 people, that EVERYBODY knows everybody ELSE.  SO, Steve’s death was felt ACUTELY as word SPREAD from household to household.  And as Pastor Peters CONTINUED thinking about his STEWARDSHIP sermon, he WONDERED if it would be INSENSITIVE to talk about MONEY and BUDGETS when everyone in town was feeling so SHOCKED by this senseless tragedy.  At church, the PHONE kept RINGING as people called to TELL Pastor Peters what was happening with Steve’s family, and to REPORT what the family NEEDED, and to ask how THEY might HELP Steve’s family.  MANY also came INTO the office with TEARS in their eyes, STUNNED by the news, and feeling a tremendous CONCERN for Steve’s WIFE and kids.

Well, AS this week went on, Pastor Peters REALIZED that it is PRECISELY for times such as THESE that the witness of the church is SO desperately NEEDED.  Indeed, he thought, it will be through the ministry of the Lake Moore Community Church that REAL help will be GIVEN to Steve’s grieving FAMILY.  In fact, MANY church members were already preparing MEALS for the family.  OTHERS were caring for Steve’s CHILDREN.  Still OTHERS brought in CASH donations.  And these were just the TANGIBLE ways that the church was HELPING this family in need.  Even MORE important was what the CHURCH would offer them that no OTHER organization COULD offer.  And THAT is SPIRITUAL hope and healing!  You see: Pastor Peters KNEW that GOD would be at WORK, in and through the CHURCH, to bring HEALING and HOPE to Steve’s family.  In fact, THAT’S the church’s GREATEST gift to people in times of CRISIS and DEATH.  It’s that SPIRITUAL hope that the church can provide them with.

SO, as the week went on, THAT’S what Pastor Peters decided to TALK about today in his STEWARDSHIP sermon.  He decided to talk about the fact that there is NO line item in the church budget for HOPE, but he WISHES that there COULD be, because HOPE is what the church of Jesus Christ can OFFER people that nobody else CAN.  And he’s going to say to his congregation: OUR God is a REDEEMING God, who WORKS in the midst of THIS and EVERY tragedy, in the midst of EVERY kind of CRUCIFIXION, and FROM such horror and pain, weaves NEW LIFE, brings forth RESURRECTIONS, and offers HOPE!  AND he’s going to TELL his congregation today: You know: YOUR church budget is NOT really about the BUILDING.  And it’s NOT really about the programs!  And it’s not EVEN about the STAFF!  Your church budget is REALLY about HOPE, and FAITH and LOVE!  You see: THOSE things are REALLY the BOTTOM line.  And THESE are things that last FOREVER, as St. Paul says so ELOQUENTLY!  And friends, WE need YOU!  NO!  GOD needs YOU to support THAT bottom line, and to make THAT your PRIORITY!  For when THAT is our bottom line, WE are doing GOD’S work, and that’s the church’s JOB, to do GOD’S work in our world!  And IN this life, there is NO more IMPORTANT job!  There is no GREATER work than THAT!  SO, I HOPE you will SUPPORT it and MAKE it happen.

Well, that’s the GOOD NEWS from Lake Moore, where ALL the women are STRONG, all the MEN are good-looking, and all the CHILDREN are above average.  Amen.