The Eliot Church of Newton

 Texts: I Corinthians 1:18-25 ; John 2:13-22

The two scripture passages we heard this morning are the texts
      suggested by the Lectionary for the Third Sunday of Lent. 
When I first read that Gospel passage
      about driving the money changers from the Temple, I thought,
      “Oops! No Way! I’ll have to find a different Gospel for a Stewardship Sunday theme.” 
But then I reflected a bit about the times we live in,
      and the financial crisis we’re experiencing as a nation and a world right now,
            and I realized that this may be just the right message
                  for us to be hearing in our churches.

Where have we been placing our faith in the past few decades? 
We have lulled ourselves into believing in unlimited economic growth and prosperity,
      and trusted the investment bankers and financial gurus
            more than we’ve trusted any prophet or pope. 
Wall Street has become our Mecca, our Vatican, the Sacred Mountain. 
The banks and financial skyscrapers have become our temples, our cathedrals.
The money changers have become our priests and prophets. 

Many in our society have replaced the church with the country club,
      and have felt no need of a centering pole for their moral compass,
            or a source of spiritual nurture for themselves or their children,
                  or a foundation for altruism in their lives.
 They decided they could take care of their own, thank you very much
      – their own retirement, their own health care,
                  their own happiness and eternal wellbeing.  
And everyone of us who had any money saved at all
      thought we were wise investors and financial geniuses,
            because, well, look how well our investments were doing! 
And it was all, literally, a house of cards. 
The whole market became a Ponzi scheme,
      creating imaginary wealth our of non-existent assets. 

An editorial commentator suggested this week
      that our current financial meltdown may not be “The Great Depression”,
            but maybe it should be called “The Great Collapse.” 
I would suggest that it should be known as “The Great Delusion”
      or “The Great Self-Deception.” 
This would be a way to remind ourselves how we as a nation
      let ourselves be deluded and lulled into complacency by our wealth and well-being.

It almost seems as though Paul’s words from First Corinthians
      were written just for us:
For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
      and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe?
Where is the debater of this age?
Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 

Another translation of that passage says it this way:
It’s written:
   ”I will destroy the wisdom of all who claim to be wise.
   I will confuse those who think they know so much.”
    What happened to those wise people? What happened to those experts?
What happened to the ones who think they have all the answers?
Didn't God show that the wisdom of this world is foolish?”

Did any of you notice that the hymn we sang just before the sermon
      is a slight alteration of a poem by GK Chesterton,
            the British poet, author, philosopher and Christian apologist? 
This poem was written a hundred years ago,
      yet it too seems as though it might have been written just for our time. 
Chesterton’s original poem is this:

O God of earth and altar, bow down and hear our cry,
Our earthly rulers falter, our people drift and die;
The walls of gold entomb us, the swords of scorn divide;
Take not Thy thunder from us, but take away our pride.

From all that terror teaches, from lies of tongue and pen,
From all the easy speeches that comfort cruel men;
From sale and profanation of honor and the sword;
From sleep and from damnation, deliver us, good Lord!

Tie in a living tether, the prince and priest and thrall;
Bind all our lives together, smite us and save us all;
In ire and exultation aflame with faith and free,
Lift up a living nation, a single sword to Thee.

In a world where the rich have been steadily getting obscenely richer
      while the poor have been getting miserably poorer, until the bubble finally burst,
Chesterton’s poem-prayer asks for a renewed sense of community
      and common humanity:
“Tie in a living tether, the prince and priest and thrall;
 Bind all our lives together, smite and save us all” 
      and that would be my prayer too.

Not that I would pray that God should smite us; I just think its inevitable
      that we will all feel the blows and burdens of this downturn. 
Like everyone else’s, my pension has tanked and my retirement savings have plunged.
I have relatives and friends who have lost their jobs,
      and wonder how they will pay next month’s mortgage. 
But if, in this time of crisis, we can come together to seek the communal good,
      and pursue the best for the common wealth,
            our nation and our society may come out of this stronger and nobler
                  than it has been for half a century.

And I think the church can have, and must have,
      a significant role in that transformation and that new vision. 
I have a dream that in this time of economic downturn,
      the churches and temples can become centers of service and solace and support
            for people facing financial stress and personal crisis. 
We can pool our resources here, network with one another,
      supply referrals to other sources of assistance,
            and offer moral, emotional and spiritual support for one another. 
And after worship on some soon Sunday, I would like to invite everyone interested
      to gather for a forum on this topic, to brainstorm about how we here at Eliot
            might become such a center of service and solace and support.

I believe that we need the church now more than ever. 
I believe that we do need a centering pole for our moral compass,
      individually and collectively. 
I believe that we do need sources, wellsprings of spiritual nurture
      for ourselves and for our children.
I believe that we do need sacred texts and compassionate communities
      to firm up the foundations of altruism in our society,
            and remind us what it means to be our brother’s keeper, our sister’s keeper. 

And that is why there has never been a more important time than now
      to support the church, and build up the church,
            and make use of the resources of the church. 
We all know that our congregation is also in dire financial straits right now. 
The declining investment portfolio means less endowment support
      for our annual budget. 
If we are going to maintain the staff and programs and services we want,
      more of the funding is going to have to come from our annual pledges. 
Of course, there are some among us who have little or nothing to give right now. 
They have little or no disposable income, and the little they have may be in jeopardy. 
And the church exists for them too. Perhaps most of all for them. 
We never value one member over another
      by the size of their pledge or their bank account. 
And people give generously in other ways besides money. 

But for those of us whose finances are relatively secure,
      and who can make choices about their disposable income,
            I would ask that you consider giving a greater portion of that income
                  to the church, to help us maintain our programs, staff and services. 

I’m going to offer you a personal testimony here:
Over the years, I have prayerfully used the percentage guide
      to challenge me in my giving. 
As you know, my wife Karen is also a pastor, so we pledge to two churches. 
Of my share of the household income,
      the salary and housing allowance I earn from my ministry,
            I now give seven percent in my annual pledge Eliot. 
                  And that doesn’t include my contribution to the Capital Campaign. 

I don’t know if you can do seven percent, or five, or three, or ten percent
      – but I would invite you to increase your pledge
            to whatever percent of your income
                  that you feel the Spirit of Christ might be inviting you to.

I will conclude with one of my favorite hymn verses on the theme of Stewardship.
It is the third verse of our opening hymn today. 
It’s from a longer poem titled “At A Harvest Festival” by Geoffrey Studdert-Kennedy,
      an Anglican Priest and famed World War I chaplain. 
I actually like it better in the original version, which was in the Pilgrim Hymnal: