5th Sunday after Pentecost--Proper 8B

Proper 8B July 1, 2012
     Church conflict. Competition and a little bit of one-upmanship between neighboring churches. Power dynamics, and an appeal for taking up a collection for believers in need. All that is part of the context for our reading from 2 Corinthians today.
     Paul is writing, in what is characterized as his 2nd Letter to the church in Corinth, and he is asking them to renew their efforts in an important endeavor that they had begun a year before. He wants them to take up a collection, to go into a greater collection which he is gathering from other churches over which he has influence, to be given to the church in Jerusalem, which Paul has seen to be very poor and in great need. He reminds them that they had been on fire for this project a year ago, and they had pledged to help. But then we think Paul and the Corinthians had some sort of falling out; he wrote them a “harsh letter”; things got patched up; and now he is encouraging them to take up the task again. Add into that how Paul has some ongoing conflicts with Peter and James, who are the leaders of the Jerusalem church for whom Paul is collecting money, and how Paul uses comparison with some of his other less wealthy churches in the neighboring province of Macedonia (Phillipi and Thessolonika) to invoke a little bit of sibling rivalry and inspire the generosity of the apparently well-off Corinthians. It is quite an interesting story!
     It is also an excellent passage to use for a stewardship sermon, and the temptation to do such has been almost overpowering for me; I long to craft phrases that echo Paul’s encouragement to finish what they started by fulfilling their pledge when I learned earlier this week that our pledges for May were at 85%... But that’s not what I’m going to preach about today. I’m going to tell you about the amazing work that people in this church have done, primarily behind the scenes, these last two weeks, to meet several quite significant needs of people in this very parish. I made a few phone calls, and then a few others made some phone calls, and as a result, we have collected over $6,000 in two weeks to help people in need. My friends, if that is not the work of the church, then I don’t know what is, and I celebrate that, and I am so fiercely proud of you!   
     But we are not finished, and I’m not talking about the need to raise more money (although there is still much need, and it certainly wouldn’t hurt if you’d like to pitch in and help out—giving out of your own abundance to help relieve someone else’s need). We, like the people in Corinth, are being challenged to remember: to remember who we are and to remember “the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ”; we are a people who are called to become more and more shaped and formed into his image. Paul reminds us that our identity is to be the people who belong to the one who was rich but became poor for our sakes. We belong to the one who emptied himself of power and prestige to become humble and lowly, and we are called to try to live more fully into that by our own self-emptying, letting go of our own priorities and self-importance, and allowing God to fill us with the priorities of Jesus which is a relationship with God and care and concern for other people. A product of this understanding of our identity is an awareness of our own abundance and a deep desire to live generously. And according to Paul, it’s not enough to give; the really important part is the desiring to give. He wants them not to just give money to help the poor in the church; he wants them to want to give money to help the poor in the church in Jerusalem, because they are all connected to one another as the body of Christ. He wants them to grow deeper in that connectedness and in their identity as those who belong to Christ. It’s not so much about money; it’s about our relationship with God (although how we give or don’t give, spend or don’t spend money is actually an important part of our relationship with God). It’s about our relationship with God, and it’s about our understanding of our connectedness to all other people of faith and followers or Jesus. It’s about whether or not we are too full up of ourselves to have any part of God or others in our hearts. It is about emptying ourselves like Jesus did, so that we might encounter the peace, the fullness, the abundance of God. It’s about paying attention to those times when you can feel God and the priorities of Jesus gently tugging at your heart, and you make the choice to respond. That is generosity.
      The other day, I was really late leaving home and coming to the office. I had a meeting I needed to get ready for, and I was somewhat preoccupied. I headed off down Courthouse Road on my usual route, and I passed a truck broken down on the side of the road. As I drove past it, I saw a man in the driver’s seat, and the head of a little girl popped up into the back window. I kept driving, but as I drove, I wondered if they needed help. I was running late; I needed to get to the office; but I sure wouldn’t want to be stranded somewhere with one of my kids. So I turned around and drove back, and I stopped and asked them if they needed help. He told me that they had someone coming from right around the corner, and he thanked me for stopping, and I headed on my way.
     There have been many, many, many moments when I have not responded to the tug of God’s love and priorities in my own soul (usually because I am just too busy, too filled up with myself). But in that one moment, I listened, and I responded. And even though they didn’t even need my help, I discovered that I had a sense of abundance about the whole rest of my day—a sense of having not just enough, but more than enough. I suspect this abundance was also shared by those members of the church in Corinth who gave to the collection to help those in need in Jerusalem, and it is what those of you have felt when you give to alleviate need here in our own parish.
     “Now as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in utmost eagerness, and in our love for you—so we want you to excel also in this generous undertaking.” Paul’s words to the Corinthians echo to us across the miles and the centuries. Live generously in response to all that you have most generously been given by our Lord Jesus Christ! May God give us the grace to empty ourselves, to listen, to respond, to be mindful of our connectedness with each other, both near and far, and to live generously and abundantly.