9th Sunday at Rock Springs, WY First Congregatioal UCC

For the Love of Christ!
By Rev Steven R. Mitchell
First Congregational UCC, Rock Springs, WY
Hebrews 10:11-14, 19-25; Mark 13:1-8
Based on UCC Litany, “The New and Living Way of Christ” confessional Litany 11/15/2009


I wish I had some humorous antidote to start this morning’s thoughts off, but I don’t. I’m not even sure where I want to start in the things that I wish to share with you this morning. Usually when this happens, I can start off by quoting some piece of the mornings Gospel reading, but the lectionary selection of Mark ends in such a downer that it only seems to feed into the very emotional week that I have just finished dealing with. To be honest with you all, this is the first week of my being in Rock Springs that has been extremely emotionally draining on me and today’s Gospel reading just doesn’t really cheer me up.
Today is the day that we finish with the annual Stewardship drive by bringing up to the altar a piece of paper that states what each of us is willing to commit in financial support for the next year for the ministry that will take place here at First Congregational. I often wonder what motivates us when we sit down at the kitchen table and think about that magic figure that we put down on our pledge cards (this is assuming that we give much thought to this process.) Do we sit with our spouse or partner and discuss with one another what we are willing to give based on what our household budget is; or do we sit with each other and direct our discussions through our heart and ask questions like: How has God blessed us in the past? How much have we been blessed by attending this church? Or, if I give this much money to the church, what can I expect in return or more subtly, what will the return on my investment in this ministry be?
If you have been listening, the way that I have directed the questions you will note they all stem toward, “self” or “what’s in it for me”. I don’t think we intentionally think this way, but it is a result of living in a consumer based society. Just think of yesterday’s bazaar; I walked out of this building with 3 sacks of “stuff”. Yes, most of what I purchased are gifts that will be going to people that are very dear and near to me, like my grandchildren, but still it speaks to our culture of consumerism. If the purpose of the bazaar is to bring in money to help finance this churches ministry, then why wouldn’t we just write a check and give directly to the church and not fund the ministry by purchasing “product”? Because we are a product of our culture that states over and over, we need to receive something for what we give, even when we are giving to charity. I’m not sure that Christ would really sanction this type of rationalization.
And yet there are benefits of the Bazaar that goes beyond finances. There is the building of community; community among the ladies who work putting together and operating the Bazaar; there is community building with those who attend the Bazaar. Is this then one form of ministry that occurs here at First Congregational? Yes I believe it is.
As I grew up in the American Baptist denomination, there was a large emphasis on tithing to the church. It was just “give what you feel you can give” type of teaching, but a strict 10% of your income needs to go first to God and then you live off the other 90%, where you pay for your housing, food, clothing, entertainment and savings and investments; and you are suppose to give joyfully! So you would think that as a man of God, as a minister no less, I have always giving my tithe not only at the 10% mark but was happy to just hand over my money to the church treasurer. WRONG! ! !
Let me share a confession with all of you. For years when I would write out my check to the church, I did it not as a “happy camper”! In fact, I believe the word “begrudgingly” would actually be a more accurate description of my mental state when I would either fill out my pledge card or my check. In the early years of my marriage, on top of all the financial obligations that I had with a young family, I was also focused on building my own financial empire. When I was writing out those checks I only saw potential investment funds going out the window. Then to top it off, my wife would tell me that God would not bless us unless we gave 10% to the church. Again this particular concept of “Tithing” or “giving” is based on “what will I receive back from giving”, I will receive “blessings” from God.
It wasn’t until just about seven years ago that my attitude changed in my contributions to the church. It wasn’t until I started going to St Paul’s UCC in Seattle, that I really felt good about writing out my check to support the ministry of that church. One day I realized that not only was I happy when I was writing out my check to St. Paul’s, but I looked forward to the opportunity to give my monies, even when I had lost my job and was only living on 1/3rd of the income I had been use to making. What changed in me? What had changed was my heart. For the first time, I began to understand and view the impact that a local church could have within a community. I had finally realized that, this money wasn’t mine, really, but more importantly, I was no longer looking at “what can I get out of my giving or how much will come back to me?” I was finally able to look beyond physical pay offs for me and started to invest (if you will) into the non-tangible aspects that ministry can offer and not caring if I personally receive any benefit through the use of my money. See the change here. No longer was I looking at the benefits that “I” can receive but rather how can others benefit through my gift?
This past Thursday we had a Celebration of Life for Becky Moeller at this church and I was once again reminded about the outreach that any church can have throughout the larger community. I started thinking about the ministry that this church provided to the Moeller family and all of Becky’s friends and what has been the impact in their lives because of First Congregational being open to them?
Through the monies that are given to First Congregational, you hire a minister to hold Sunday morning Worship, to help oversee various operations of the building, to go on hospital and in home visitation, as well as officiating at weddings and funerals, mostly of the membership of this church and on occasion to some who are not members. I happened to officiate at Becky’s memorial and do what we would call ministry to those involved with the Moeller family, but you know what, I wasn’t the only one involved in the interaction this week. Every person who contributes to the life and activity of this church was involved in ministering to this family as well to the 300 or more friends and family members who attended her memorial service. This is the type of non-tangibles’ I am speaking about. The ministry that happened this week to a family that has been devastated by a tragedy can never be measure and it is the type of ministry that happens not with the idea of “what can we receive back” but a ministry that is given solely for the benefit and comfort of people who are experience great loss.
I started thinking about the ministry that we have here at First Congregational and what does that ministry look like; how do we want our ministry to be; do we try to measure our impact in the community of Rock Springs by the number of people who attend worship or that we count as members? What type of vision do we have for ourselves as a faith community? Are we here just to serve ourselves or is there some greater good that we expect out of ourselves through this church?
We read a rather long confessional this morning and I believe there are a number of questions that we ought to be asking ourselves. We confessed: “While we have not willfully disobeyed your commandments, our own short-sightedness and impatience have led us to make choices based upon our immediate needs over your desires.” Questions that come to my mind with this statement are: What are our long term goals? What is our church to Rock Springs? Why do people come to First Congregational? Why would they come? What do we offer them? What can we offer them?
Another piece of today’s confession is:”Many of the challenges we have faced have evoked fear in us. We have let these fears at times overwhelm our faith and trust in you.” Some more questions that come to my mind are: How has the ministry changed at First Congregational with a shrinking budget? What are the reasons for a shrinking budget? Is it a result of “fear”? Fear of what? Fear of change; fear of losing leadership position within the organization; fear of letting go of the past glories of the ministry? Fear of current financial uncertainty? President Franklyn D. Roosevelt in his first Inaugural Address stated: We have nothing to fear but fear itself! The Apostle Paul wrote, “In Christ, we are no longer slaves to fear.”
Another part of our confession is: “We don’t always recognize or acknowledge that our reticence to embrace the stranger comes from our own biases.” What biases do we have that keeps potential visitors from coming to our church? And the last part of our confession was: “We know you created this world with enough for everyone. Yet, in this land of plenty people know deprivation.” How do we use our money, not the money that we give to the church, but that portion that we don’t give to the church, how do we use it?
Ministry is what we call the thing that we do here at First Congregational. My challenge to you this morning, after we give our pledge cards, is to take home this order of worship and deeply examine each piece of the confession that we read today and honestly examine your heart and see how this affects how you envision the minister of this church, and to what extent you are willing to support that vision, and I don’t mean financially. Ultimately – I hope the answers that you start to come up with will be based through your relationship with Christ. For no ministry truly exists without the Love of Christ at its heart. Amen