{"id":3244,"date":"2019-08-19T11:11:47","date_gmt":"2019-08-19T11:11:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/?page_id=3244"},"modified":"2019-08-19T11:37:24","modified_gmt":"2019-08-19T11:37:24","slug":"sermon-18th-august-2019-evening","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/information\/sermons\/sermon-18th-august-2019-evening\/","title":{"rendered":"Sermon – 18th August 2019 – evening"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sermons index<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ninth Sunday after Trinity \u2013 evening<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

Sunday 18th August 2019 <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Trinity 9 – Proper 15 \u2013 evening
\nIsa. 28.9-22
\n2 Cor. 8. 1-9<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\"Maureen<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\nNothing is likely to get the\naverage congregation shifting uneasily in their pews than to bring up\nthe subject of money! And probably nothing is likely to make clergy\nfeel uncomfortable too \u2013 than to have to preach on the subject!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nWhich is a bit odd when you\ncome to think of it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nConsidering, that is, the\ncentrality of the language of giving and receiving in the Christian\nvocabulary. Money seems to exist on the wrong side of the divide that\nwe have invented between the sacred and the secular. Probably not one\nperson here thinks of themselves as rich… we could always do with a\nbit more! (unless anyone has secretly won the Lottery this weekend?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nBut of course to many people,\nliving in the developing world, we would seem unimaginably wealthy.\nWith our bulging wardrobes, our full fridges and cupboards, our lack\nof true hunger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nAnd there is no pressure for\nus to \u2018cash out\u2019 our Christian faith in terms that really cost.\nIt is sometimes said that the wallet is the last item to be\nconverted. And let\u2019s face it, historically, the church has not been\nseen in a good light on this one. Too keen to gather wealth and power\nto itself \u2013 rather than redistribute it to those in need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nWhich is one reason why the\nPCC and I work to determine a good ratio of how much we should seek\nto give away of our own funds as a church, in spite of the demands on\nour budget to heat and light the church \u2013 to contribute to the\nDiocese for the cost of my stipend \u2013 because, yes, I am afraid that\nto have a Vicar \u2013 albeit a half-time one, is still an expensive\ncommodity. I leave it to others to determine whether you think you\nget a reasonable return for your investment in me!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nSt Paul found it just as hard\nto beg \u2013 even in the church at Corinth that he had founded, but\ncircumstances dictated that he must, and his treatment of the subject\nstretches to three whole chapters. \u2013 And you probably have heard it\nsaid that Jesus talks far more about money than about personal and\nsexual morality!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So back to Paul. He begins by offering an example \u2013 in his case the church in Macedonia. They suffered both poverty and affliction, but rather than turning inwards to conserve their resources for themselves, they wasted no time in arranging to make payments for the relief of other Christians \u2013 notably those in Jerusalem \u2013 and they were very keen to be generous. As a poor church, they were contrasted with the community in Corinth, who needed Paul\u2019s letters to convince them to part with their money. The disparity between the generosity of the poor and the tightness of the rich, is still replicated today from the evidence collected. It is usually the poorer churches, struggling in poor areas, who are the most willing to give generously. That is to say that proportionally, they give a much higher percentage of their income.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nAs Paul puts it when speaking\nof the Macedonians, theirs has been a ministry of \u201cgrace, blessing,\npriestly service, relief work, participation and fellowship.\u201d The\nissue is not merely about the transfer of assets, it is that the gift\nof money has served to extol and exemplify the generosity of God. God\nwho did not withhold even his own Son.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThe Macedonians, says Paul,\nhave transposed the giving of relief into an opportunity for\nself-giving and for an outpouring of joy and blessing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul\u2019s ministry took him to places of widely varying prosperity. Christianity was in some quarters derided as the religion of the poor and outcast \u2013 and women of course, but right from the beginning, there were wealthy individuals who provided for the needs of Jesus and his followers from their own pockets. Some of them were effectively business people \u2013 think of the fishermen brothers James and John who left their father in the boat with the hired men. Think of Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod\u2019s Steward, who was among those women providing for the disciples. Think of Lydia, the dealer in purple dye or Nicodemus, prominent among the members of the Council and wealthy enough to have secured a new tomb for his own use. And Paul reminds his audience \u2013 and us \u2013 that our lives and needs have to be seen against the generosity and life of Jesus himself. \u201cFor you know…. that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.\u201d The life of the Son of God could be depicted in terms of the wealth he forsook in becoming human. And that life was cruelly terminated in the poverty of crucifixion \u2013 an execution reserved for the dregs of society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nIf that is the costliness of\nGod\u2019s self-giving, how can it not determine and inspire our giving\nand the generosity by which we live?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nI have heard it said that in\nsome of the non-conformist churches, the offertory is given a far\nmore prominent role that in the average Anglican congregation. They\nwould never take the collection while singing a hymn for example, for\nit should be an activity that you do not do while trying to\nconcentrate on something else! And notable preachers would call for\n\u201ca silent collection\u201d \u2013 meaning that they did not want to hear\nthe sound of coins being dropped onto the plate or into the bag!\nFolding money only! Now of course, that sort of thing has to be done\nwith sensitivity \u2013 for even within a relatively prosperous\ncommunity there will be those for whom a coin or two would be a\nreally sacrificial sum. But for many the sort of amount they would\nplace on the plate would have remained at the same level for years \u2013\nsometimes since their own childhoods, with seldom a thought for\nincreasing it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nI never want to know how much\nis being given by individuals \u2013 and I know that we have some\nremarkably generous folk in Pattingham and Patshull , so all I will\nsay in conclusion is to remind us all that the money we give to God\nshould be what is right….. and not merely what is left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ninth Sunday after Trinity \u2013 evening Sunday 18th August 2019 Trinity 9 – Proper 15 \u2013 evening Isa. 28.9-22 2 Cor. 8. 1-9 Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs Nothing is likely to get the average congregation shifting uneasily in their pews than to bring up the subject of money! And probably nothing is likely to make … <\/p>\n

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