Pastor Christa von Zychlin

Our Savior’s Evangelical Lutheran Church

Stewardship Sunday  Nov. 18, 2003

Psalm 116: 12  “What can I give you, Lord, for being so good to me?”

Mark 14:3-9  “But Jesus said:  Leave her alone! Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing for me.”

“A Beautiful Thing”

Well, this is the weekend that we’re all being challenged to pledge our regular giving for God’s ministry at Our Savior’s in the 2004 calendar year. 

   Some of you are visitors or you’re not members or maybe you ARE members and you’re still thinking, oh boy did I pick the wrong week to make it to church at this place!  Stewardship Pledge Sunday!  How much should we give to the church?   Where’s the nearest exit?

 On the other hand, there are some of you, --probably the small minority, but you kinda like this Sunday.  Or at least you enjoy the facts & figures aspect of it. 

 (READING FROM CHARTS)

Hmmmm.  The church is looking at a balanced budget.  Hmmm, the giving is up 5% at Our Savior’s this year but still 10% below ministry dollars needed…

Look at this chart.  Proportionate giving, ah yes, Biblical principle: give according to income, Strictly speaking, tithing is 10% but if God’s church received just 3.4% of median household income multiplied by 176 giving units at Our Savior’s equals a fully funded stretch ministry budget amount of $421,000…

 Ok, I WILL ask you to raise your hand…. Who’s been following me so far?

THE STEWARDSHIP MINISTRY TEAM, MAYBE!!!!

 And which of you can feel your eyes glazing over and you’re wishing you had a 2 year old with you in church so you’d have an excuse to leave suddenly & quickly!

 You know God has created us in very different ways, hasn’t he?  Two weeks ago we studied Jesus’ words when he said, that the greatest commandment is that we love the Lord our God with all our

 Heart     soul     mind     strength.

 And we know from living in families

That we human beings were created really different from each other in all those ways.

 The way my heart, for example is touched is not the way my sons’ hearts are touched.  “Are you crying, MOM?” My youngest will demand, embarrassing me as we’re watching a soppy family movie on t.v. 

 The way my brain engages is definitely not the way my husband’s does:  Sometimes I still forget that and I’ll call & say something like, “Wayne, could you get the frozen turkey loaf out of the freezer ?”      He’ll try:    but usually he can’t see it:  frozen turkey loaf is not a concept that registers in his brain.  Frozen pizza, yes, frozen turkey loaf, uh-uh.

 God created us human beings with preciously unique ways of thinking and feeling and worshipping,  and our ways and reasons for managing,  using & giving our money can be very very different from each other.  

 Many of you have learned somewhere along the line that the brain is divided into 2 hemispheres, the left and the right sides,  and that people use both sides but one side is often more dominant.  The theory goes that if you’re right brain dominant  you tend to be intuitive, subjective, artsy, and a big picture kind of thinker,  if you’re left brain dominant (L) you tend to focus on logical thinking, analysis, you pay attention to details, do things in an orderly fashion.

 QUIZ:  (yes or no)

q       I always wear a watch.

q       I believe there is a right and wrong way to do everything

q       The expression “Life is just a bowl of cherries” makes no sense to me

q       If I had to assemble something, I’d prefer to read the directions first.

(If you say yes to 3 or 4 you are left brain dominant)

q       I hate reading through directions.

q       I’d rather draw someone a map then tell them how to get somewhere

q       When I’m confused, I usually go with my gut instinct

q       I lose track of time oh, so easily.

(If you say yes to 3 or 4 you are right brain dominant)

Well, pledging is kind of a “left-brained” activity, all those details: balanced budgets, percentage giving, calculating ahead for next year… these are things that your leadership & stewardship teams have been wrestling with these past two months as we try to shape a balanced yet growth oriented budget for next year.

 On Sundays we’ve been providing the “Did you know factoids?” (on the half sheets) with details & facts & figures kind of information about Our Savior’s.

 But then we’ve also heard 5 different members of Our Savior’s talk about “What Our Savior’s means to me”:  and there we not only heard but we felt some of the “right-brained” kinds of ways in which God shapes peoples lives through his Church:

 Our Savior’s ministry is not just about 1 step growth charts, but it’s about

v    Bob & Joyce’s grandchild - reborn in the waters of baptism. 

v    It’s about prayers reaching out to Istanbul for Mary & Peter’s son, Andy in the Marines.

v     It’s about Mindy seeing a filled in sign up list for meals at Wally’s funeral, and saying, “I want to have my wedding  at and I want to ground my family life on Church that serves with Jesus by cooking meals for people in need.” 

v    It’s about little Riley laughing out loud at a Peli puppet and recognizing that God is a God of laughter and God loves little people. 

v    It’s about Jeff, steadily growing in Biblical strength through Our Savior’s men’s group and the bright but wooly confirmation students he engages with week after week in studying the Scriptures on Wednesday nights.

 I believe in the coming together of these two ways of thinking about giving:

left brain// right brain,

facts & figures// ministry stories

we’ve been living out in some fashion, today’s Gospel story:  Right into our careful calculations -- you in the pew & us in the ministry team meetings --  in waltzes this unnamed woman, of the Gospel of Mark, chapter 14.  Did you see her, in your “right brained” mind’s eye? She comes right up to Jesus, and pours out an entire, terrifically expensive jar of perfume to honor God  with all her heart, soul, mind, and financial strength.  It was a pretty expensive bottle of perfume there.

 That’s what got some of the “pie chart” guests at Jesus’ table are angry.

 (VOICES RAISED FROM OUT IN THE CONGREGATION):

1.     “If that isn’t the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen” “What a waste” 

2.     “What kind of a budget does that woman live on, anyway?”

3.       “You could have supported a whole poor family for an entire year on that kind of money”. 

 (PAUSE)

But Jesus says, “She has done a beautiful thing.”

 I don’t think you can give a left brained reason for why Jesus said that.  But you can give a right-brained assent, a recognition, YES, what she did was exactly right and it was beautiful.

 In your decision today as to how to pledge your giving to Our Savior’s ministry for the coming year… or as you go about making other  year end financial decisions, about Christmas spending, about special giving to this church or any other charity, you will need to do a lot of “left brained” kind of things:  calculate percentages, look at what it means to increase giving by one step, look at giving charts, study the tax benefits, maybe sign up for the automated giving program, write it down on the bright green pledge card… to be handed in either today already, or in the next two weeks if you want to avoid the Stewardship team phone call!!! (left brained tip here--- hand in your pledge card in the next 2 weeks and you WON’T face a call from one of the left-brained Stewardship ministry team members!!!)

 These are all very much logical sequential, objective, “left brained” kinds of tasks.  They are necessary for our church planning for ministries that matter to God’s people and to God himself here at Our Savior’s.

 But in the middle of that, maybe, possibly, hopefully,  the Spirit of God is ready to waltz in and do a beautiful thing in our Church and in your life.  Maybe our left brained figuring will be united to a right brained generosity… a thankful  response, an emotional remembrance of how much you and I DO love the Lord of this Church, and there will be a whole hearted pouring out of our offerings and promises to God’s sometimes clear and orderly (L) and sometimes mysteriously  beautiful & extravagant gifts poured out … for us and for our salvation. 

 It is after all, God’s extravagant generosity in Jesus, that is the most beautiful gift of all.  AMEN. 

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