| "Today is Reign of Christ Sunday, the day that concludes the current liturgical year, during which our services of worship have focused, for the most part, on the testimony to Christ borne by the Gospel of Matthew. And next week we will observe the First Sunday of Advent, the day that marks the beginning of our new liturgical year, when the services of worship will focus, for the most part, on the testimony to Christ borne by the Gospel of Mark. Now, we've learned pretty well what Advent is all about-it's a penitential season, a time for awaiting, and preparing ourselves to celebrate, the joyous news of Christ's birth. But what is Reign of Christ Sunday all about? What is God asking us to do on this culminating Sunday of our liturgical year? Well, to put it simply, on Reign of Christ Sunday God is asking us to reaffirm the promise we made when we joined the church-the vow to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, the pledge to put Christ first and foremost in our lives. This is the Sunday when God is asking us to recommit ourselves to letting the one who reigns in our hearts be Christ, to letting the one who sets the priorities in our lives be Christ. This is the Sunday when God is asking us to surrender ourselves anew to the Christ-commanded vocation of loving God and neighbor. Last Christmas, shortly after the current liturgical year began, we celebrated the stunning paradox that, in the days of Caesar Augustus, the Creator of the Universe chose to come to earth, to the small, no-account town of Bethlehem, in order to indwell the most vulnerable of creatures, a baby, the son of Mary. And today, at the end of this liturgical year, in our final lesson from the Gospel of Matthew, we celebrate the equally stunning paradox that the Risen Christ, whom our First Lesson has described as the cosmic Ruler of the Universe-that this Risen, Sovereign Christ has chosen to come to earth daily, in every part of the world, to indwell all those whom the world considers to be least-the hungry, the thirsty, the ill-clothed, the imprisoned, the sick, the stranger. Christ has chosen to indwell these "least"in such a way that whoever renders help to any of them renders it not only to these but to Christ as well. Further, the Gospel of Matthew proclaims that nothing less than our eternal destiny is at stake as we are deciding whether or not to respond with compassion to those in need around us. Now today's lesson from Matthew follows immediately after the parable of Jesus that was read to you last Sunday, the parable of the master who entrusted to his stewards the sound investment of his riches. When these two accounts are read and interpreted together, as Matthew intended that they should be, the two passages in combination clearly teach that stewards of the riches of Christ, that is, stewards of the love and compassion of Christ-well, we stewards are expected to invest that wealth in the work of sharing love and compassion with all who are in need. This teaching of Matthew puts me in mind of a modern story that I've shared with you before, the story of a life-transforming visit to the Central American nation of El Salvador by a person very much like us-an affluent American Christian, named Marjory Bankson. While in El Salvador, Bankson visited a number of rural villages. Of material goods, the villagers had quite few, yet they welcomed her with a cheerful, heartfelt generosity of food and hospitality. They had little, but what they had they shared fully and freely with this woman who was, in the words of this morning's Second Lesson, "a stranger" in need of welcoming. In contrast, Bankson found herself roaming through those villages continually clutching her purse, fearful that the hungry and sick would actually ask her for money. The villagers had little, but were willing to share generously. She had much, but was unwilling to share at all. Then one day one of El Salvador's leaders communicated to Bankson his idea about who, really, is rich and who, really, is poor, and Bankson's heart was transformed. You see, he said to her, "Being rich is wanting to give. And being poor is not wanting to give." By this standard, willingness to give, it was the villagers who were faithful stewards of the riches of Christ's love, and not Bankson. Today's Second Lesson is challenging us to become faithful stewards of the riches of Christ's love, stewards who want to give, who are willing to offer strong support to ministries that bring well-being to persons in need-to persons such as those who are hungry, homeless, victimized by violence, and/or HIV-positive. Several Sundays ago, I am happy to report, our Session took a bold step forward in the growth of our congregation's willingness to give. The Session voted to increase the percentage of our operating budget that is allocated for ministries of outreaching love and compassion-ministries beyond the walls of this church. The Session voted to increase funds for outreach from the current 15% of the budget to 18% in 2003, 20% in 2004, 22% in 2005, etc., etc., until in 2010 we reach the goal of 31%. The Session believes that raising the percentage of our budget used for ministries of outreaching love and compassion, increasing our willingness to give, is essential if we as a community are to be faithful stewards of the riches of Christ's love. As part of this increase, the Session has resolved that, beginning in 2003, 1% of our entire operating budget will be used to help address and overcome the AIDS pandemic that is currently ravaging the peoples and nations of Africa. More than 28 million Africans are now infected with the HIV virus. Each day in Africa, more than 5,500 people die of AIDS. And KwaZulu-Natal, which is the province in South Africa where New York City's sister presbytery is located, is one of the epicenters of the epidemic. Yesterday, there arrived in New York the Sinikithemba Choir from Durban, South Africa, the largest city in KwaZulu-Natal. Each and every member of the choir is HIVand. It was quite a moving experience for me to have representatives of the choir on my radio program this morning. The choir will be singing in concert at the Riverside Church next Sunday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. All proceeds from that concert will support the AIDS work of Church World Service in Africa. Tickets are $25 each, and they will be on sale today following worship at our Coffee Hour. But back to our own church budget and to growing in our personal willingness to give! If we as a congregation are to reach the goals of providing 1% of our budget for the relief of AIDS in Africa and of increasing the portion of our budget allocated for ministries of outreaching love by an additional 2% each year throughout this decade, we obviously need help from each of you. In order for us to grow in our willingness to give, to grow to the level of willingness shown by those Salvadoran villagers, we, too, like them, must let the Christ proclaimed in our Second Lesson-the Sovereign Christ who has chosen to indwell each person in need-we must let that Christ reign in our hearts and set the priorities in our lives. Yes, we must surrender ourselves anew to investing the riches of Christ's love in ministries of compassion that reach outward to neighbors in need. And to reach outward beyond our church family, we will not have to go very far. We will find many who are in need right here in New York City, where, for example, we currently have a housing crisis. Last Thursday, clergy from all around the city gathered at City Hall to launch a major new initiative called Housing First!, an initiative to establish in our city over the next decade 100,000 additional units of affordable housing. Rutgers Church was represented at the rally by no fewer than four people! And of course our own Laura Jervis is one of the top leaders of Housing First!. It is my personal hope that a significant portion of our congregation's increasing outreach funds will be devoted to moving this initiative forward. But here's the question! Are we, the individual members of this congregation, really going to grow in our willingness to give? Are we really willing to help provide the funds that will make it possible for our congregation to take this major step forward in our stewardship of the riches of Christ's love? Well, today just happens to be Pledge Sunday, doesn't it? So today, we, as stewards of the riches of Christ, have the opportunity to demonstrate that Christ is indeed sovereign in our hearts, that Christ is leading us into bold new growth in our willingness to give, in our willingness to commit an increasing proportion of our personal income to ministries of outreaching love! The pledge I am inviting you to make today is the promise to accept Jesus Christ as your Sovereign Savior, the vow to put Christ first and foremost in your hearts and lives, the promise to serve the One who founded his reign upon love, the pledge to model your life on his life, which was one of sacrificial giving. More than 1,600 years ago, before Stewardship Sundays had ever been invented, a Christian preacher named John Chrysostom told his congregation: "Wealth is by its very nature … meant to go out from you, like a light that dispels darkness." Yes, the time has now come for us to allow a share of the riches over which Christ has given us stewardship to go out from us, so that its light may help dispel the darkness in our world. Please spend a few moments right now reflecting quietly on God's gifts to you, and on what this church, its sacraments, its fellowship, and its ministries of outreach mean both to you as an individual and to the community and world at large. During this time of silence, won't you please pray that God's Spirit may first prompt you to put Christ foremost in your life and then pray that God's Spirit may kindle within you the same cheerful generosity of time, talent, and money that Jesus himself possessed. For when Christ is truly sovereign in our lives, we will be led to share the riches of Christ's love freely and fully. I invite you during these next few minutes to reflect on your income, whether that be $200 a week, or $500, or $1,000, or even $2,000. And then I invite you to pledge a fixed percentage of that amount to the work of Christ for the year 2003 through the Rutgers Church, whether that comes to $10 a week, or $20, or $100, or even $200 a week. Please consider pledging 3 or 4% of your income, or perhaps even 5%, or maybe even up to a full tithe of 10%. Please consider increasing your pledge for 2003 over your pledge for 2002 by at least 1% of your total income. Then fill in your pledge card and experience the joy that comes in Christ, the blessing that comes in giving. After several minutes, I will close our period for pledging with prayer. And then during the offertory anthem, please, as a sign of your resolve and commitment, come forward from your pew to the table of Christ to place in the plates that are there both your regular offering for this morning and your pledge of support for the year 2003. I learned last Tuesday at the Presbytery meeting that it is the custom of our brothers and sisters at the Ghanaian Presbyterian and Reformed Church of Flatbush to dance down the aisles every Sunday as they come up to the offering plate. Feel free to do that today if you wish!! So let us now begin our period of silence and prayer as we pledge our stewardship of the riches of Christ. [2 minutes of silence.] Let us close with prayer: Amen |
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