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  • St Paul's UCC New Orleans
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  • Jazz & Jambalaya
  • Read Books! Fiction Recs
  • Sermons from Rev. Greenhaw

Listening for the word...

Tithing for righteousness?

10/26/2016

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​It’s stewardship month here at St. Paul’s UCC.  Next week is Pledge Sunday, the day when we will ask one another to pledge our financial support for this congregation for the coming year.  A frequent sermon topic during Stewardship month at many churches is the idea of tithing.  A tithe is a biblical concept which describes the Israelite practice of giving one/tenth of your harvest to God, or to the temple in Jerusalem. During stewardship month, preachers often talk about the need to give a tithe of your income; how to work out what your tithe should be, and how you might slowly build from giving one to two percent of your income up to ten.  
Personally, I think a tithe is a good goal for your giving to the church. Planning in advance what you will set aside for God and Christian ministry is a good way to make this ministry a priority in your life. Plus, the more people give, the more likely we are to keep the lights on here, the more likely we are to grow and expand our ministry in the community, and to be blunt about it, the more likely we are to be able to pay my salary.  So yeah, I think giving, especially attempting to give as generously as a tithe, is a good thing, an important thing. 
All this means that I was a little at a loss of what to preach on when I read our text from Luke for this week. Because although this text does explicitly mention tithing, it doesn’t exactly portray it in the best light. In fact, in this parable, the one who tithes is the negative example, he is the one that we are supposed to abhor, the one we are not to want to be like.  After my first reading of the text, I briefly thought about preaching on something else, something that showed giving in a more positive light, something that would make for a better sales pitch.  But, I soon remembered that I’m not just a fundraiser, I’m a Christian minister. My job is preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ above and before all. So even if its not the best sales pitch, I’m gonna go right ahead and preach the Gospel of this little anti-tithing parable during our stewardship month. Maybe I’ll talk us all out of giving entirely, maybe not. I suppose we’ll just have to see.
Within the context of the Gospels the Pharisee and the Tax Collector each represent extreme cases: The Pharisee represents the extreme legalism and self-righteousness that could be found within that sect. The tax collector represents the quintessential sinner. Collecting taxes on behalf of Rome, these Jewish tax collectors made their living by extracting whatever extra income they could from their fellow Jews. The profited from their complicity with the oppression of their own people. The Pharisee is our upstanding, respectable citizen, whereas the Tax Collector is the reprehensible bottom feeder leeching off of the oppressed. 
Jesus intentionally juxtaposes the prayers of these two radically different people to show two radically different conceptions of God and religion. The first understanding of religion is that of the Pharisee.  Listen to the Pharisee’s prayer: “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.” The focus of the prayer is more on the Pharisee and his actions, than it is on God. In fact, the prayer reads a little like a resume listing the Pharisee’s moral accomplishments: I am not a thief. I am not a rogue, nor an adulterer. I fast two times a week and I loyally tithe. The Pharisee is confident in his own righteousness, he is self-righteous.  His relationship with God is transactional, he gives his fasting and his tithe, and in return he may claim righteousness.  He gives to God and the Temple, he doesn’t steal, he is good and therefore God must reward him.  In fact, he already has his reward in part, he has the confidence that he is morally superior to those who are not like him.  While others may be thieves and adulterers, he is righteous. While others do not give, his tithing serves as the positive proof of his moral superiority. 
If the Pharisee’s prayer illustrates the religion of the self-righteous and morally superior, the prayer of the Tax Collector represents the religion of the sinner and the outcast. While the Pharisee proudly describes his own righteousness, the tax collector is painfully aware of his own sin. He is standing at a distance from the altar, the representation of the divine presence, as though he is not worthy of approaching it.  Similarly, he is afraid even to look up at heaven. His prayer lists no moral achievements, as he does not believe he has any to claim. In it he describes himself accurately as a sinner. 
Despite knowing that he has sinned, despite believing in God’s righteousness and knowing how far short of it he falls, the tax collector has nonetheless come to the Temple to pray. His prayer acknowledges his sin, but it also acknowledges the possibility that God, righteous as she is, is loving enough to show mercy to the sinner.  With no pretense of self-righteousness, no defense of his own worthiness, the tax collector honestly confesses his identity as a sinner, and throws himself upon the Mercy of God’s love. 
The Christian Church has been given the mission of continuing the ministry of Jesus Christ, the mission of expanding the kingdom of God here on earth.  It is for this mission that St. Paul’s United Church of Christ exists.  It is for this mission that we ask one another to pledge our financial support for the congregation.  We are trying to create and sustain a community which seeks actively to do the will of God in Jesus Christ.  So when we are presented with these two startlingly different conceptions of God and religion, the question we must ask ourselves is what kind of community do these understandings foster? How does the self-righteous faith of the Pharisee shape his view of others and his community? How does the repentant faith of the tax collector lead him to think of others?
The Pharisee believes in his own righteousness. For him religion is the proof of his righteousness, it is the pathway to moral superiority. For the Pharisee religion is a means to feel confident in one’s own righteousness. Having done his duty, he is entitled to God’s blessing, to his own spot in heaven.  His religion is a place to feel safe among other righteous persons. It is a place that’s inward focus protects it from difference, and difficulty, and dissension.  It is a place where God’s chosen people can live in separation from the sinful mass of humanity, a place where people can be safe from the taint of their fallen brothers and sisters. The religion of the Pharisee creates an entitled and morally superior community with no concern for those it deems less fortunate.
The tax collector believes himself to be lost in sin and in need of God’s salvation. Though he admits his sin, he nonetheless believes God can and will save him from it. He cannot rely on his own righteousness, for he believes he has none. The only righteousness that he knows and trusts is that of God, for whose mercy he now prays. His justification, his receiving God’s grace, is due entirely to God, not to his own works.  He is in the position to identify with all lost sinners, having been one himself.  He is in a position to be incredibly grateful to God without whom he could not have been saved. He is in a position to preach the Gospel, the good news of God’s loving forgiveness, to all those sinners outside of the temple. For if he, lowly sinner that he is, could be justified, there is no one beyond the grace of God.  His overwhelming gratitude for God’s unmerited grace translates into a desire that all other lost sinners should know the feeling of God’s loving acceptance and the glory the new life it makes possible. In the religion of the Tax Collector, there is no inside group and outside group, there is no firm division between the righteous and the sinner, there is only those who have yet to experience the grace of God, and those who have claimed it in faith.  For the tax collector, the difference between the righteous and the sinner is not essential, it is only a matter of timing and luck. The religion of the Tax Collector springs from the gratitude for God’s unmerited Grace, and it exists only for the purpose of spreading the knowledge of that grace to all the sinners of the world.
As a congregational church, we as members, have an incredible amount of power to shape this congregation and its ministry in the world, for the responsibility to do so falls only to us. There is no pope, or no bishop to tell us what we should do. I want very much for this church to be sustainable. I want very much for us to have the money to keep on the lights and to pay my salary. But what I want more than anything is for St. Paul’s to be a church that practices the religion of the tax collector.  Your pledge, even if it is a full tithe, does not buy you righteousness. Your participation in the ministry of this church does not make you morally superior to those outside of it. But should you choose to give honestly and freely of yourself to the work of this congregation, you may experience the overwhelming grace of a God that loves you, claims you, and sets you free to serve your sisters and brothers. Should you surrender all your belief in your own righteousness and come to rely upon God, you may find within yourself a growing sense of solidarity with the sick, the suffering, the poor, and the sinful. Should you choose to invest your entire self in this congregation, you may find yourself recognizing more and more of the kingdom of God right here on earth, right here at St. Paul’s.  It is my prayer that through giving honestly and freely of ourselves, we might create just such an experience of God’s amazing grace, and we might be so bold as to invite others to share it with us.  
Amen. 

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​The Grateful Samaritan

10/19/2016

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When I was a little kid I thought playing cards were super cool.  I taught myself how to shuffle, how to play Hearts and Spades with my Grandma, and I even bought a big book about strategy in card games. Blackjack was the game I was most interested in and so I studied the blackjack section of this book, and learned about odds.  The odds, are the statistical probability of a certain outcome.  In the game of blackjack, all face cards have the value of ten, as do the number 10 cards, which means that out of the 52 cards in the deck, 16 of them have a value of ten.  So the odds that you’re next card will be a ten are 16/52, or 4/13.  Four out of every 13 cards dealt will have a value of ten.
All this study of card games, never made me a gambling fortune, but it did help me to pay attention to odds and probabilities.  So much so, that even when I’m reading the bible, I can’t help but see the odds jump out at me from the stories.  For instance, in the parable of the Good Samaritan, if you’re half dead by the side of the road what are the odds that someone will stop to help you?  1 out of 3, right?  The priest and the levite, will pass you right up, its not until the third person that you get any help.  The odds in our story for today, the story of the Grateful Samaritan, are even worse.  Out of ten lepers healed, how many return to show gratitude?  One.  One out of ten.
In the story, Jesus is walking through Samaria and Galilee when a group of 10 lepers calls out to him for help. Jesus responds by telling them to follow the protocol of Israelite law at the time and visit the priests who could declare them clean.  During the trip, the 10 are miraculously healed.  One of them returns to Jesus and shouts praises to God and falls at Jesus’ feet giving thanks. Jesus gives voice to our shared sense of indignation at the other nine, “Were not ten cleaned? Where are the nine? Was none found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” What’s the deal with the other nine lepers?  This guy just healed your chronic, painful, socially isolating disease, for free after having just met you, and you can’t even be bothered to say, “Thanks?” What a bunch of jerks.
Our shared indignation at the lack of gratitude shown by the other nine, raises the question of in what sense were they healed?  The story is clear that all 10 were cured of their leprosy. But do we think that the other nine are better people as a result of their cure?  Have they been made whole?  Has their spirit been healed, or only their bodies?  We don’t know the answer to these questions, but the action of the one grateful Samaritan, certainly suggests that he has been changed beyond the mere physical cure. After experiencing the miracle of his healing, he returns to its source, he shouts praise to God, and throws himself at the feet of Jesus Christ. His body has been cured, but so too has his life been changed.  The gratitude for his healing has transformed him and the course his life will take. All 10 are now lepers who have been cured, but this one is also now a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Stewardship refers to the management or care of something valued.  As I was thinking about our pledge drive this year, I was reminded of a previous stewardship campaign at a church I served in Berkeley.  The leader of the stewardship drive that year was a father of three in his forties.  Although he was relatively new to the community, and not terribly religious himself,  he was a businessman in the community and it was thought that his financial sense would made him a good choice to lead the campaign.  I can’t remember his pitch word for word, but I’ll paraphrase.  He told the story of he and his family began coming to the church.  Like many of you, they had little kids that they were trying to raise with good morals, little kids that would ask cute but terribly difficult questions about life and God.  So they began looking for a church, and they stumbled into First Congregational Church of Berkeley.  At first, they just attended worship, and then Sunday School.  And soon they were going on trips to the food bank, or planting trees in rough neighborhoods in Oakland.  They became regulars, they started to really care about the church. 
And then the man had a thought that caught him by surprise, “Who’s paying for all this?”  Each Sunday, when the basket came around he’d put in whatever cash he brought with him, sometimes a good amount even.  But when he thought of the volume of expense involved in the operating of the church, he realized his contributions were peanuts. The property the church owned, he had not purchased. The maintenance of the property over 100 years he had not contributed too.  The staff who dedicated their working lives to building this Body of Christ, had to be supported financially.  When the thought first occurred to him, he was upset and a little embarrassed?  Why hadn’t anyone charged him anything? He and his family had walked in off the street and just started participating, taking advantage of all the programs and buildings, like a bunch of freeloaders.  Why hadn’t anyone asked for a membership fee?
But then his thoughts moved to where all the money to run the church must have come from.  People before his time, even before he was born, had freely chosen to give substantially of their time and their money to create this congregation.  Over years and years of their lives they had given money, money that was saved and invested and purchased the incredible buildings that the man and his family were free to walk in off the street and begin to use.  They had taken their own hard earned money and given it away so that the congregation could support a Pastor to care for the entire community.  These people had done this without knowing who would make use of their congregation.  They didn’t know who would join, who would get to use their buildings, be cared for by the Pastors they funded.  They didn’t know if the people who came would be grateful for their years of sacrifice and commitment.  And most of the people who came probably weren’t, they probably didn’t give much thought to all the work, the money and the time that went into creating the Body of Christ at First Congregational Church of Berkeley.  The man knew that up until this point, he hadn’t given it much thought.
But now, thinking about these people who had given freely so that he and his family could discover this loving community, be welcomed and embraced by it, and participate fully in its life and ministry, filled him with incredible gratitude. That they had given so much with no expectation of reward or thanks.  That he and his children had the beneficiaries of this selfless gift was overwhelming. It was a profound experience, which he said he allowed himself to sit in and experience for several moments. That gratitude transformed his life and his relationship to the church. He knew that he wanted to be like those people who had gone before him.  He knew that he too wanted to give selflessly so that others could have this experience. Though he had never been much of church person before, he now felt incredibly invested in this Body of Christ, because of what it had done for him and what he now felt called to do for it.
If the odd’s from Jesus’ parables hold true, this man and the transforming gratitude that he experienced are the exception, not the rule.  For the one grateful leper, there were nine others who did not return to say thanks. There were certainly countless other people in Berkeley who stopped in the church for a few weeks, a few months, even a few years and never felt the profound sense of gratitude that that one guy did. But for the one leper, and the one man, the experience was life changing. They didn’t just find a cure, or a nice community, they found a sense of calling, a sense of purpose, a cause greater than themselves for which they wanted to devote themselves.  They were not just cured, they were made whole.
We too are the beneficiaries of generations who have gone before us.  People who never knew us, but who nevertheless gave freely of themselves so that we might have a loving and serving community to be a part of.  Entire lives spent serving and building up this congregation. Purchasing land, building a sanctuary and fellowship hall and parsonage. Supporting Pastors and teachers. Educating and caring for children. The fruit of their labors is here for us to enjoy.  There is no membership fee. There is no charge for receiving or participating in the ministry of this church.  But if you want to make the most of this congregation and of your life with us, I advise you take just a few moments and consider all of the sacrifices that people made to create this congregation and to keep it going.  Allow a feeling of deep gratitude to fall over you, to fill you to overflowing.  Let yourself appreciate what God and those whom God has called have done for you and for your family.  Each one of us has the opportunity to give thanks, to fall at the feet of Jesus Christ in gratitude.  And gratitude has the power to transform us, to inspire us, to heal us. If allow ourselves to be truly grateful for all that we have received we might realize that we have the opportunity not only to receive, but to give.  Not only to be served, but to serve.  We have the opportunity to be like one of those that came before us, those whose gratitude resulted in their lifelong service to this congregation.  We have the opportunity to not only be cured, but to be made whole.  May it be so.
 
Amen. 
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To give freely of yourself...

10/2/2016

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​One of the candidates for the highest office in our land, recently claimed that his not having paid federal income taxes for years was a smart thing to do.  Just to give you all a shock this morning, I believe that to a certain manner of thinking, he’s statement was correct.  As a business person in a capitalistic society, your primary goal is to maximize your income while minimizing your expenses.  The goal is to get as much as you can for as little as possible. To that way of thinking, a man who is able to avoid paying any federal income taxes, while maintaining an astronomical income, is a success, he is a smart businessman, he is a good capitalist.
Jesus was not a very good capitalist.  I don’t mean to suggest that Jesus adhered to communism or socialism or some other economic system developed centuries after his birth.  What I mean to say, is that in our capitalistic society, Jesus’ values and teachings often appear nonsensical at first glance.  Because we all to some degree or another accept and internalize the values of our capitalistic society, when we are confronted with opposing value systems, they seem counter-intuitive at first, they seem silly.
The sayings of Jesus that we heard from Luke this morning can be difficult to hear.  First century Palestine was a slave holding society, as was the rest of the Roman Empire. We no longer live in such a society, over 160 years ago, this nation decided that slaveholding was immoral and cruel practice that damaged all involved. So when we hear about the practice of slaveholding, we are immediately put off, as we should be. We expect swift and stern condemnation of this practice anywhere that it should arise.  Jesus’ use of slave labor in a story that does not directly condemn the practice, is troubling. But I don’t think we need to read this saying as an endorsement of slaveholding. In fact, I believe there are many parts of the New Testament as well as the Old that do explicitly condemn slaveholding. In his teaching Jesus typically used familiar examples from the world of his audience to illustrate a spiritual truth. In this case, his disciples would have been quite familiar with the expectations regarding the treatment of a slave.
So what is Jesus trying to say in his use of this example of a slave returning after a long day’s work? “Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, “Come here at once and take your place at the table?” You and I may want to respond, “Me, I would do that.” But that is because you and I are not slaveholders, and we are not familiar or comfortable with the expectations of a slave holding society.  The job of the slave was not finished when he was done working in the fields, serving his master dinner was also an expected part of his job. Jesus continues, “Would you not rather say to him, “Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink? Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded?”  To invite the slave to dine with the master, would be to reward the slave for doing half a day’s work by giving him the other half off.  It would be to reward him for doing the absolute minimum. This is the point that Jesus is trying to make with his slave illustration, “So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, “We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done.” Jesus’ is saying that if you only give the bare minimum to your life, to that which you value and pursue, if you only give the minimum to the kingdom of God, you cannot expect a great return.
As I noted before, this idea does not make Jesus a very good capitalist.  As this presidential campaign has illustrated, in a capitalistic society you can make an incredible amount of material wealth, by doing the absolute minimum for others, the absolute minimum that is required of you by law. So why would you want to do more than the minimum?  What kind of slave would ever go above and beyond?  What is in it for them?  What is in it for us?  Why try harder, why give more of ourselves, if we can become wealthier by doing less?
My mother told me a story about the first church that my Dad served in Bayshore, Long Island. There was a man in his sixties, a lifelong member of the congregation, whose wife had died. As such a tremendous loss has a way of doing, it sunk the man into a rather deep depression. He was dis-enchanted with life, and with his church. He felt that the he had been cheated, that his wife had been unfairly taken from him. My father was a young pastor, and though he was doing his best for the man, he was at a loss as to how to help him out of his depression. 
One day, my mother decided to plant a row of flowers along the side of the parsonage where they lived.  The next day, the man rang the doorbell at the parsonage, and when my mother answered he asked if he could talk to her about the flowers she had planted.  So the two of them, walked to the side of the house, and the man began to explain all of the errors that my mother had made in planting these flowers.  They were not the right kind of flowers for this sunlight.  The soil had not been properly prepared or fertilized.  They would need a good layer of mulch.  My mother tried her best not to be offended by his numerous criticisms, but when my dad returned that day, she complained to him about how the man had critiqued her flowers. My father, listened, and then said, “Give em the flowers, Leigh. I haven’t seen him interested in anything since his wife died. If he cares about those flowers, let him have them. Let him fix him however he want.”  Sure enough, the man started to fix the flowers at the parsonage. After he had them how he wanted, he asked my father if he could work on some of the flower beds at the church.  For the next year, this man worked hard beautifying the outside of that small church.  And as he did, he came to care more and more about the church.  At first, he cared about the flowers. Then he cared about the bushes, and the grass. Then he cared about the children who began to help him outside. Then he started to care more about what the church was doing, its ministry in the community, and how it would sustain it. By the end of a year and a half of his constant gardening the man had returned to his former place in the congregation.  He stepped up to serve on the council once more. He again became an admired and valued member of his church.
There is no doubt in my mind that the man stilled missed his wife, that he still grieved for her. But he was no longer trapped in his depression. Those flowers had given him a way to get outside of himself. They gave him the opportunity to do something for someone else, to serve a purpose greater than himself and his own interests. No one had asked him to care for the flowers. It was not a requirement of church membership. His work on the church grounds was above and beyond what was required, and he reaped no financial reward for this hard work.  But in giving freely of himself to a greater cause, he found healing. He found a way to move through his grief. He built relationships and re-built a sense of self-worth. He rediscovered a purpose to his life, he heard again God’s calling to him. He gained all of these things, by giving freely of himself, by going above and beyond what was expected.
This is what is to be gained from giving freely of yourself to others. This is what is to be gained by going above and beyond the service that is required from you. Healing. Community. Connection. Relationship. Love. A sense of greater purpose.  There are preachers whom I believe get the values Jesus and the values of capitalism a little mixed up.  There are those who preach a “prosperity gospel.” Who assure you that all of the financial gifts you give to the church, will come back to you ten-fold.  I’m not going to make such a promise, nor do I believe Jesus would have made such a promise. But giving freely of yourself to the church, is not without its reward.  I am asking that each of give freely of yourselves to this congregation.  I am asking that you prayerfully consider this month what financial contributions you can pledge to this church for the following year. But finances are not the only way to give. It is my hope that each of you will consider a special way that you might be able to go above and beyond in serving others through this congregation.  Because that is what St. Paul’s means to be. We aim to be a congregation that seeks to follow Jesus Christ by offering opportunities for people to serve one another in love. And though I will make no promises about you gaining material wealth from so doing, I have faith that through your giving you will gain incredible gifts. You will find love, mission, community, God.  That is what is to be found through giving freely of yourself.
Amen. 
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    Rev. Andrew Greenhaw

    Eternal Student, Christian Minister, Buffalo Wing Enthusiast 

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