Today is the last Sunday of our Stewardship Campaign, and I was tempted to follow the lead of the pastor who decided that the best way he could promote his parishioners’ generosity during his church’s annual fund drive was to preach the shortest sermon of his life: “Folks,” he said, “the church needs money, and you have some.  Give as much as you can.  Amen.”

 

Well, like I said, I was tempted to follow this pastor’s example, but I have successfully resisted that temptation, and so you are going to get one more full-length sermon from me on stewardship.  "Sermons on the Amount" are not easy to write and preach.  I’m sure they’re not that easy to listen to, either.  But at the heart of any appeal for funds is the belief that all of our resources really belong to God, and our primary responsibility as children of God is to be wise and generous stewards of all that God has entrusted to us.

 

One of the most precious things God has given to us is this family of faith, the First Congregational Church of Stoughton, United Church of Christ.  This morning’s scripture lesson from Psalm 127 says, “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.”  And so let us consider the house of this, our beloved church.  By house, I don’t mean the physical building with its leaking roof and damp basement.  Rather, I mean the spiritual community that dwells here. 

 

In this house built by God, we find friends, family, and loved ones.  It is where we learn to love God and are encouraged to grow spiritually.  It is where we love and are loved by others and show that love by serving and reaching out to those within and beyond these walls.  And being part of this spiritual community, of this house built by God, means being a good steward and supporting it financially.  Because stewardship is not a business transaction; it is not about paying the bills or balancing the budget.  Stewardship is an act of faith -- the kind of faith that says, I am blessed, so I will give; the kind of faith that says, I have enough and I want to share; the kind of faith that realizes it is in giving that we truly receive.  Stewardship takes root when we walk into this house of God’s love and decide that this place is our home, and stewardship is about living in covenantal relationship with each other.

I hope all of you have reviewed the stewardship packet you either received in the mail or picked up in the lobby.  If you don’t yet have one, fear not – there are more in the lobby, so please take one after worship.  The stewardship packet is your invitation to invest in our communal life we treasure so much here in this house built by God. 

To frame this year’s campaign, we are using adapted words from this morning’s epistle lesson: “We are well on our way, reaching out for Christ who has so wondrously reached out for us… We’re off and running, and we’re not turning back.”  These words sum up, we believe, where we are as a church.

We too are off and running.  Over the past year, the Holy Spirit has blessed the First Congregational Church of Stoughton, United Church of Christ, with new hope, new faith, and new energy.  In the last seven months, we have received 21 new members; every Sunday, we greet newcomers to our church; our Sunday school is growing; we have expanded our ministries and program offerings; and last year’s Stewardship Campaign was our most successful in years.

We are well on our way, and thank you to all of you who have contributed your time, talent, and treasure to the revitalization of our beloved church.  But there is still much work to do, and our challenge is to keep this positive momentum going.  We greatly need your financial support to carry on the good work begun at this house built by God.

Next week is Thanksgiving Sunday and I can’t think of a better day on which to show your gratitude to God through your pledge to this church.  We invite you to bring your completed pledge cards with you to worship next week and place them on the altar during the service in a visible act of your commitment your faith community. 

 

I know that there are many different reasons why you come to church, and why you come to this particular church.  Whether you have worshipped here all your life or walked through our doors for the first time this morning, I suspect that each one of you has a desire to know God, a hunger to be with kindred spirits, and a yearning to find meaning for your life.

 

We long for these things because we haven’t found them in the places our culture tells us to look.  We may find that rather than controlling our money and possessions, they end up controlling us; rather than being consumers, we end up as the ones being consumed.  Our longings are rarely fulfilled by powerful careers or material possessions, and if those are the only places we look, we are likely to come up spiritually empty. 

 

That is exactly what happened to me.  In my 20s and 30s, I fell for the idea that a big job, a fancy car, and a nice house would make me happy.  But the more I was consumed and controlled by money and possessions, the more I realized that my life lacked meaning and purpose.  I had a yearning, an emptiness, in my heart, that could not be filled by material things.  My life didn’t change until I let God build the house of my life, and that’s when everything started falling into place.  When God became my focus, when my relationship with God became my top priority, when I became a good steward of my life – that’s when I finally found wholeness and joy. 

 

And being a good steward of my life includes giving back to God from whom all blessings flow.  My annual cash compensation from this church is $30,000, and I also receive a $30,000 housing allowance, for a total of $60,000 per year.  During 2005, I gave 10% of my income, or $500 a month, to this church.  Then, in response to last year’s request to increase our giving by 10%, I upped my pledge and now give $550 per month.  In addition, my husband Peter puts a minimum of $20 a week into the offering plate himself, and we also give to the various special offerings and collections sponsored by this church. 

 

Now, I’m sharing this information with you for several reasons.  First, I could not stand here in this pulpit and ask you to give, to give generously, to give sacrificially, if I did not do so myself.  As your pastor, I am to lead, and lead by example.  But in prayerfully and carefully considering how much to give to Christ’s church, I am mindful of how very much God has entrusted to me.  My giving is a reflection of the importance of God in my life.  And my giving is part of the covenantal relationship I have with this faith community, this house built by God.

 

How we spend our money reveals how we prioritize and orient our lives.  When God is at the top of our priority lists, when our lives are focused on God, when we let God build the house of our lives – that is when we will find our hunger fed and our yearnings fulfilled; that is when we will find the One who fills that God-shaped hole in our hearts. 

 

What about you -- is the house of your life built by God?  Do you value this church’s fellowship and sense of family?  Do you embrace this church's mission?  Do you treasure that here children and teenagers, youngsters and oldsters, the sick, the grieving, and the marginalized are all invited to share in the Good News of God's love?  Do you cherish this as a place and community in which lives are transformed and empty hearts filled?

 

I pray that God is at the top of your priority list and you are willing to support this house that God has built – support it not just with your attendance, not just with your time and talent, but also with your money.  Because the reality is that unless you are willing, it will be difficult to maintain this spiritual home and all the things about it that we hold dear.  Yes, things are turning around for this church, and we are moving in the right direction.  But we still have a long way to go, and we need support from every one of you.  We don’t have a large endowment that produces enough interest to cover the shortfall in our budget.  We don’t have a few large contributors who will carry the rest of us.  We aren’t supported by an archdiocese.  We are totally dependent on you.

 

Unlike some churches, we have no rules about how much you give.  We don’t run ads in our worship bulletin.  Our hymns and prayers aren’t sponsored by local businesses.  We don’t sell tickets at the door.  We don’t charge tuition for our church school.  We have no membership dues.  We are not a club or an association or a union or a society.  We are the First Congregational Church of Stoughton, United Church of Christ.

 

As you prayerfully and carefully consider how much you will give to this house built by God this coming year, I pray that you will be wise and generous stewards of all that God has entrusted to you.  I pray that your giving will be a reflection of the importance of God in your life.  And I pray that we work together in continuing the positive momentum that has begun in this church, making these words from the Apostle Paul our own:  “We are well on our way, reaching out for Christ who has so wondrously reached out for us… We’re off and running, and we’re not turning back.”  Amen.