The Joy of Letting Go
Luke 19:11-27
November 3, 4, 2007—Commitment Weekend

You may have heard the story about the man who was strolling in a park one day, enjoying the beautiful, fall afternoon. Suddenly, he heard the screams of a woman. She was kneeling in front of a child who is in distress. He ran over to see what was going on. She cried: “This is my son—he swallowed a coin.” “I don’t know what to do!” “And he’s having trouble breathing!” Immediately, the man grabbed the child by the heels. He held him upside down and gave him a few shakes. Just like that, a quarter popped out of his mouth. Obviously, the mother was extremely relieved! She said, “Oh, thank you sir!” “You seemed to know just how to get it out of him.” “Are you a doctor?” He said, “No, ma’am, I’m not a doctor…but I AM the Treasurer at my church.”

DURING THE PAST FEW WEEKS, WE HAVE BEEN THINKING ABOUT THE SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE OF STEWARDSHIP. As people of faith, we recognize that stewardship involves much more than what we share as our offerings and tithes. Stewardship is the recognition that all that we are and all that we have are gifts from God. A healthy perspective about stewardship focuses not on the need of the church to receive, but on the spiritual need for all of us to give. Today is “Commitment Day.” After my comments, we will make our pledges for the coming year. And I promise that no one from the ministerial staff… No one from the Finance Committee… Not even our Treasurer will grab you by the heels and turn you upside down and shake you! We will be encouraged to present our cards as an act of love and thanksgiving to the God from whom all of our blessings flow! The theme for our stewardship emphasis this year has been “Stewardship: The Cheerful ‘S’ Word.” The theme is based on the passage from 2 Corinthians that states that “God loves a cheerful giver.” I also want to remind you that if you are in a bad mood today, God also accepts gifts from grumpy givers and grouches! As Seneca stated many years ago: “We should give as we would receive, cheerfully, quickly, and without hesitation; for there is no grace in a benefit that sticks to the fingers!” And yet, as much as we seem to love money in America, we also seem to have a taboo against talking about it. In his book, God and Mammon, sociologist Robert Wuthnow points out that very few Americans discuss personal finances with people outside their immediate family. Around 90% of the folks in our country never talk about their family budget. Over 90% never talk about what they give to charities.

UNFORTUNATELY, THAT DOESN’T SET WELL WITH JESUS. Jesus is never afraid to talk about money. Although we don’t have any stories in the Bible that describe him holding somebody upside down by the heels… Jesus does share lots of stories about money that turned people’s heads and knocked them on their tails! As disciples of Christ, we are challenged to let Jesus take a peek at our pocketbook and check out our checkbook. This money-stuff is serious; it’s a First Commandment matter—because too many folks worship it as another god or idol. Jesus wants us to have a check-up of our checkbook. He wants us to experience the joy of being generous, the joy of letting go!

Jesus makes the point very clearly in today’s parable. This parable of the “pounds” or tale of the “talents” was apparently important enough to be included in three out of four of the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Some scholars believe that Jesus was making an allusion to the journey of Archelaus to Rome in 4 BCE. Ol’ Archie was trying to secure his succession to his father’s throne—his dear ol’ dad was Herod. So there was a little political editorial being delivered! And yet, one of the “bottom line” messages in the parable is that those who are willing to risk nothing may end up losing everything. Use it or lose it.

There is an “edge” to this story that makes me feel very uncomfortable. So…I wonder if we can hear the Good News and grace within Jesus’ words? Jesus could not be any clearer. He describes what happens when the master returns. The servants who invested their talents are described as “good” and “faithful” and they are given additional gifts. But the servant who buried his cash is not only negligent; he is described as “wicked.” That won’t look very good on his resume, will it?

SO WHAT WILL WE DO WITH STORIES LIKE THIS ONE? All of us have an opportunity to hear Jesus’ message and respond. Of course, some will, and some will not. Some will take risks and be generous, and some will remain cautious and close-fisted. Some will accept the idea of abundance, and some will hold to the myth of scarcity. Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggeman says, “We never feel that we have enough; we have to have more and more.” “And this insatiable desire destroys us.” “We are torn apart by the conflict between our attraction to the good news of God’s abundance and the power of our belief in scarcity.” “When we hold to the myth of scarcity, it makes us greedy, mean, and unneighborly.” “Whether we are liberal or conservative Christians, we must confess that this is one of the central problems of our lives.”

I am thankful to be a part of a church that takes these matters seriously. The church family is making steady progress on the journey of generosity. Many people are experiencing the joy of letting go. Financial support for the ministries and mission of the church has been very strong and steady. Many thousands of over-and-above dollars have been directed to special outreach offerings. Over-and-above gifts to support our facilities and renovation efforts have not only met the total pledged amount—but have exceeded it! The big picture is very good—“Well done, Beargrass!” And yet, we are encouraged to continue to grow in our giving.

If you look at the chart on the insert in your bulletin, you’ll see the giving patterns for our church family. Let’s assume that as faithful followers of Jesus that we are all tithing, giving 10% of our income, one of the biblical guidelines for giving. If that is true, then the figures on the chart indicate that only 42 households out of around 700 in the church family are making more than $52,000 a year—the top two steps on the chart. And if we assume we’re all tithing, the chart indicates that around two-thirds of us are earning less than $15,000 a year, less than the poverty level for a family of four. Surveys of church-goers in America indicate that about 20% say that they tithe. But only about 6% actually do.

Have we bought into the myth of scarcity when God has blessed us so abundantly? Are we packing the pews with “one pound” people? The “stair step” chart and the “5 and 10%” table on the back of the chart offer some tangible suggestions as to what our next step might be. We still have a long way to grow. Can you imagine what God could do through the church if we all started to tithe? Can you imagine the possibilities for mission and ministry? Can you imagine how people’s lives could be transformed if we all experienced the joy of letting go? Quaker theologian/philosopher Parker Palmer shares a wonderful story.

Parker was a passenger on a plane that pulled away from the gate, taxied to a remote corner of the field, and stopped. You know the feeling. The plane stops and you look out the window and see that you’re not on the runway. The engines wind down and your heart sinks. The pilot came on the intercom and said, “I have some bad news and some really bad news.” “The bad news is there’s a storm front approaching and we’re socked in and shut down.” “We’ve looked at the alternatives and there are none.” “So we’ll be staying here for a few hours.” “That’s the bad news.” “The really bad news is that we have no food and it’s lunchtime.” Everybody groaned.

Some passengers started to complain; some became angry. But then one of the flight attendants did something amazing. She stood up, took the intercom mike, and said, “We’re really sorry, folks.” “We didn’t plan it this way and we really can’t do much about it.” “And I know for some of you this is a big deal.” “Some of you are really hungry and were looking forward to a nice lunch.” “Some of you may have a medical condition and really need lunch.” “Some of you may not care one way or the other.” “And some of you need to skip lunch.”
“So I’ll tell you what we’re going to do.” “I have a couple of baskets up here and we’re going to pass them around.” “And I’m asking everybody to put something in the basket.” “Some of you brought a little snack along—something to tide you over—just in case something like this happened, some peanut butter crackers, candy bars, whatever.” “And some of you have a few LifeSavers or gum or Rolaids.” “And if you don’t have anything edible, you have a picture of your children or spouse or girlfriend or boyfriend or a bookmark or a business card.” “Everybody put something in—and then we’ll reverse the process.” “We’ll pass the baskets around again and everybody can take out what he or she needs.”

What happened next was amazing! The griping stopped. People started to root around in pockets and handbags. Some got up and opened their suitcases stored in the overhead luggage racks and got out boxes of candy, snacks—even a bottle of wine. People were laughing and talking. The flight attendant transformed a group of people who were focused on need and deprivation into a community of sharing and celebration. She transformed scarcity into a kind of abundance. She helped people experience the joy of letting go. After the flight, which eventually did proceed, Parker stopped to talk to her on his way off the plane. He said, “Did you know there’s a story in the Bible about what you did back there?” “Jesus fed a lot of people with very little food.” She said, “Yes, I know that story; that’s why I did what I did.” And I will bet that she knows the story we have heard today too.

Friends, today is Commitment Day. This is a time when, as an act of worship and discipleship, we will make our commitments to God’s work through our church for the coming year. Many of you have come today with a set figure in mind to put on the pledge card. But what if we all took a step or two more than we planned, as an expression of our faith? Jesus summed up the matter very succinctly: “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. “You cannot serve God and money.” Experience the joy of letting go.