Many of your have heard of W. C. Fields, the humorist and film star who had a distinctive speaking style and eccentric outlook on life.  Fields was a profane man not especially known for his piety.  You would definitely not call him a saint!  On his deathbed, Fields was seen furiously leafing through an enormous Bible.  “What on earth are you looking for?” he was asked.  “Loopholes!” he responded.  “I’m looking for loopholes!!”

 

In our Gospel lesson this morning, we meet a man who seemingly has it all.  But although he has wealth and possessions, he senses that something is missing from his life, and he approaches Jesus with a question: “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  He has been keeping the commandments; he’s religious, prosperous, sincere; but somehow, it seems, there is something lacking from his relationship with God.

 

And Jesus tells him, “If you want to go to heaven, sell everything you have, give all your money away, then come follow me.”  Ouch!  These are hard words!  This is an impossible request!  What Jesus is telling the young man seems pretty clear.  It’s also hard to do.  Sell…everything?

 

The Rich Young Man who approaches Jesus can represent any one of us.  And this is where I’m like W.C. Fields – I start looking for loopholes!  I start looking for all the ways that I am not like that rich young man so I don’t have to meet the same strict requirements.

 

First loophole.  I’m not like the rich young man, because I’m not rich!  Just because I live in the wealthiest nation in the world and am blessed with plenty of food, and clothing, and a home, that doesn’t mean I’m like the rich young man in the story; after all, I’m not Bill Gates or Warren Buffet, and so Jesus isn’t talking to me, right? 

 

Second loophole.  OK, it’s confession time.  I have not kept all the commandments since my youth.  I will admit that I have not always honored my mother and my father.  And if I have not kept all of the commandments, then I am definitely not like the rich young man, right?

 

Third loophole.  I had to go looking for this one, but it’s good.  This story shows up in three of the gospels, and in St. Luke’s version, we are told that the young man is not just rich, he’s some kind of ruler.  And I am not a ruler.  Sure, I think there is a definite ring to the name “Queen Jean,” but I have no power, no authority over a state, country, or principality -- not even in my home!  Jesus certainly isn’t asking me to sell all my possessions, because I am not like the Rich Young Man – or am I?

 

When the Rich Young Man hears what he must do to inherit eternal life, he goes away grieving for he knows he can’t part with his possessions.  And I know that if Jesus asked me to sell everything to follow him, I too would hesitate.

 

As Christians, we look to the Gospel for Jesus’ guidance on various aspects of life.  But you know, Jesus didn’t talk about a lot of things, including the topics that divide modern-day Christians, such as abortion and homosexuality.  What Jesus did talk a lot about was money.  In fact, he spoke more about money and issues surrounding it than any other subject – more than prayer, more than love, more even than God in heaven.  Jesus talked about how we use money and it uses us; how it can be used for selfless or selfish purposes; how it can serve God or take the place of God.

 

Jesus wasn’t against wealth and possessions; he simply believed that we need to reflect upon the things for which we are willing to sacrifice and spend our money – because that’s the best, most accurate indicator of what we worship. 

 

At the heart of our scripture lesson for this third Sunday of our Stewardship Campaign, Jesus is trying to get us to lessen our attachment to material things.  Then, as now, many people defined wealth by their material possessions.  But true joy comes not from external, material, earthly things; it comes instead from within – from being in right relationship with God and filling our hearts with love for God.

 

I hear so many of you say, “This is my spiritual home, my church family.”  This is the place, and these are the people, to whom you can come, no matter what.  We sit here together in worship each week, a sanctuary full of souls quieting heart and mind, listening for the holy.  Together we pray our deepest hopes and yearnings; this is where we can get back in touch with whom we are and whose we are, it is where we can connect with one another and with the sacred. 

 

But the fact of the matter is we cannot maintain our spiritual home without a substantial increase in your contributions.  This is straight talk, and it’s uncomfortable.  We have a $70,000 deficit in our budget this year which must be made up by taking interest AND principle out of our endowment.  This deficit is down a little from the year before, when we also had to take money from our endowment.  We can only take from the principle for a few more years and then it will be gone – forever.

The bible tells us that “A tithe of everything… belongs to the Lord” (Leviticus 27:30).  If we give 10% to God, and keep 90% for ourselves, we will take a very practical step towards lessening our attachment to money.  Now, you may find giving 10% of your income is too much – and that’s perfectly understandable, given the escalating price of gas and heating oil and the reality of fixed incomes.  But how about giving 10% more to the church than you gave this past year?  If you are giving $5 a week now, that would mean giving $5.50 a week next year; if you are giving $100 a month, it means giving just $10 more a month. 

None of us will have a drastically different lifestyle if we give just 10% more -- but that 10% more will greatly help this church.  Perhaps more importantly, it would be a huge, personal symbol of your willingness to grow your relationship with God, because stewardship has very little to do with paying a bill to the church.  Stewardship is about how we view our personal relationship with God, with our neighbor, and with our faith community; our decisions about money and possessions are, at their core, spiritual decisions because they affect our relationship with God, with our neighbor, and with our faith community – this church. 

 

On this All Saints Sunday, we celebrate people who loved God and who served as God’s instruments here on earth – ordinary people through whom God was able to do extraordinary things.  But All Saints Day is not just about commemorating those who began and built the Christian community we call the Church; it is also about being a Christian community here on earth today.

 

There is a saying – “We find Jesus in the faces – of the people – in the places – where we go to give our hearts away.”  That’s the church.  It’s a place where we can come and experience the presence of the Christ, a place where we can see Jesus in the faces of the people here.  It’s the place where we can come and give our hearts away and have others extend their hearts to us.  And being part of a Christian community includes supporting that community not just with your attendance, not just with your time and talent; but also with your money.

 

If Jesus were to ask you to part with some of your possessions in order to have a deeper relationship with God, how would you respond?  Would you start looking for loopholes?  And when we say we need your financial support so that this community of faith can continue, do you try to rationalize that this message is directed at someone else but not at you? 

 

I pray that you will make your relationship with God a priority.  I pray that you will consider how much this faith community means to you.  And I pray that your stewardship commitment will reflect your loving and grateful response to a loving and gracious God who abundantly blesses us.  Amen.