Sermon notes from Commitment Sunday
When I was growing up, my mother always told me that there were three things that were forbidden from polite conversation: politics, religion, and money. Admittedly I am about to talk about all three, so I hope we’re all feeling a bit impolite this morning.
Today is commitment Sunday here at Saint Mark’s. Some parishes call this “stewardship Sunday,” but I like that we add this element of obligation. To be a steward is a right and joyful thing, caring for something and holding it in trust for those who come behind us. But a commitment – now there is some grit. There’s some passion in there.
There are as many reasons to be committed to Saint Mark’s, spiritually and financially, as there are people who’ve walked through our red Fiske doors. There are more reasons than that, to be sure, and these months of pandemic have made us even more aware of the particular gifts of this holy place. As the world descended into new darkness in March of 2020, this place tended the light of Christ. Prayers to Almighty God continued in this place. In this place, people still found ways to safely feed and care for our neighbors in need. This is not in any way to compare or to compete with other churches or organizations - all of us have been doing our best in good faith - but I know that each and every one of you knows that there is something special about this place. When death itself crawled up our porch steps and left us lonely, sick, terrified, and in despair – this place showed us the victory of Jesus Christ.
So it is appropriate for me to stand in this pulpit and to point toward our endurance this year. I can tell you about our outreach ministries, our care for our elders and our children, our partnerships with the Saint James School, the Church of the Crucifixion, and St. Simon’s, our food cupboard, our daily masses and recitation of the church’s holy and ancient daily offices, our new and impressive live-streaming ministries. It would be enough, I think, to celebrate these holy things together and to ask you to support them – to commit to them – with all your heart and with a nice portion of your bank account. Because giving to these ministries is a vital thing. It is good and necessary to be generous. Committing to our neighbors is a commandment. But there is even more at stake here.
We, people of Saint Marks - friends near and far - we do not just give because we have to, or because we enjoy the beautiful music here, or because we want to care for others or stand together during a pandemic. At the heart of this commitment of ours is the astounding reality that we believe in Jesus Christ. We give because we are in love with Jesus, and from this love, everything else is transformed. We give because we know that the Bible tells us today in the Epistle to the Hebrews - that we are to “hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.”
He who has promised is faithful. We give because he who has promised is faithful. This is the part where I talk about religion... Jesus - his commitment to us and to all creation was no ordinary commitment, but a perfect commitment to restoration and salvation. Jesus’ Resurrection was the seal of that promise - a truth that wrapped its arms around eternity and presented it, fresh and new, for all people. In Jesus Christ, everything else is transformed, and his faithfulness to us insists upon our response, in love and in generosity.
And we know we can’t do it alone. And so we have the Church. In response to this faithfulness of Jesus, we gather together in these places where the good Lord has led us, in order to support one another, preach his gospel together, and live in witness to that heavenly transformation. And the stakes are high.
Because the Church is no ordinary gathering place of assorted human beings. Here we’ve come to the political part, but don’t worry, because the only one we’ll really be offending is Satan and all the powers of sin and death. The Church - both the broader Church of Christ’s followers throughout the world, and this parish church of Saint Mark’s specifically - the church stands directly in opposition to the majority of political philosophies that define our world today. The majority of respectable philosophies these days are centered on power, superiority, personal gain, and self-preservation... They break people. They sort people - worthy from the unworthy. Churches are essential in the midst of this sorrow. And while I do mean “churches” as communities of those who love Christ, I also mean the buildings. Yes, the pandemic has shown us how we are able to connect with each other online, but the fact of this building - this place - is a dagger in the heart of worldly oppression.
This place is for all of God’s people. This building is a threshold of heaven. Yes, God is everywhere, and we can meet him in the woods or at a concert, but this place is a carving out of a holy place where we glimpse God’s kingdom on earth, because God meets us here - in Word and Sacrament - and this place belongs to all of us. In cities in particular, it is not hard to see the reality that if you want privacy, peace, silence, beauty - you have to have money to pay for it. If you have no shelter, and you’d like to be alone, at peace, where can you go? If you are rich, and you want your identity to mean more than the money you make or the position you occupy, where do you go? If you are young and depressed and you cannot pay for distraction or affirmation, where can you go? If you are older, and alone, and you find yourself invisible to a world that is speeding up with every second, where can you go?
You can come here. Because God is in love with you. And this is the place where we help each other believe this. He who has promised is faithful. To you.
And so we need to talk about money. My hypothetical title of this sermon was “Jesus paid for your sins, but he didn’t pay for this sound system.” But I promise, this is the fun part, because remember - in the love of Jesus Christ, there is not a single thing on this earth that is not transformed, and that includes how we talk about money. We’re bad at this, a lot of us, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Here, in the heart of Christ, money will not separate us or judge us or make us feel better or worse than anyone else. Because in our life in Christ, money is a tool. In the Bible, Jesus commends the widow who places her two small coins in the treasury, and we know that the first churches in the Acts of the Apostles were supported by wealthy women who opened their homes to the disciples. Money is a tool, and while we cannot fully shake free of the burdens that the rest of the world has placed on these discussions, we can begin to try.
When I was in my mid-twenties in Los Angeles, I made twelve dollars an hour at my job. I knew - every single week - how much gas I could afford to put into my tin-can Chevy Sonic and how many times I could afford to drive to work and to the grocery store. And in Los Angeles, I also knew that I was doing okay. I saw my own neighbors doing more with less. But I was embarrassed at church. I was elected to the vestry, and in order to accept, I had to become a pledging member. After calculating my budget, I found I could pledge $4 a week. $16 a month. And so I did. And I was embarrassed about that. But I didn’t need to be.
He who has promised is faithful. And my gift was too. And so if that’s you today - or even if you cannot spare four dollars today - this place belongs to you. Maybe today you’re in a place, praise God, where four dollars doesn’t sound like very much. This place belongs to you too. We are responding to the faithful love of Christ together. We are making something new and beautiful together. We are using the tools that we have to ensure that those red Fiske doors remain a threshold of heaven both now and for all of the assorted human beings who will come after us, yearning for the love of Jesus.
And so today I invite you to give all of your money away to the church. Maybe not all today. But maybe. You won’t have much use for it in heaven. Be transformed by the freely given, unstoppable love of Christ. Know that your commitment - of two coins or two thousand - proclaims the possibility of a world made new. Believe that in Christ, there will always be more, always be enough. Trust that when you give - time, talent, or treasure - you are at prayer.
Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.
Preached by Mtr. Brit Frazier
14 November 2021
Saint Mark’s, Locust Street, Philadelphia