SERMON
For all you aspiring preachers out there...THIS is how it's done. Hammer Style.
Jerry Hancock, Preacher
“Stewardship as a Subversive Act”
Preaching Text:
1 Corinthians 16:1-4
Now concerning the collection for the saints: you should follow the directions I gave to the churches of Galatia. 2On the first day of every week, each of you is to put aside and save whatever extra you earn, so that collections need not be taken when I come. 3And when I arrive, I will send any whom you approve with letters to take your gift to Jerusalem. 4If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me.
It is a well known fact among my fellow students that seminarians will only be invited to preach three times during the church year: the Sunday after Christmas, the Sunday after Easter and any Sunday in August. So last fall I was flattered to be invited to preach in the middle of November. But my excitement evaporated when I really looked at the political calendar and the Church calendar.
I realized I had been asked to preach just twelve days after the election, and it occurred to me that, unfortunately, some people in the congregation might be more in need of pastoral counseling than a sermon. I also realized that this was a dreaded “Stewardship Sermon.” That realization produced a frightening prospect for both me and the congregation.
For my part, I had this sudden fear that maybe my ordination would depend on the outcome of the stewardship campaign, that if the church didn’t raise more money this year than last year people would question the authenticity of my call. I would become a sort of special witnessing steward: “Give money to the church to save my career.” But eventually I realized that those thoughts were, probably-- or at least hopefully-- only paranoia.
My concern for the congregation was very real. A Stewardship Sermon (like a Christmas Sermon and an Easter Sermon) goes a long way toward defining who we are as a congregation. Those three sermons must add up to more than just “Jesus is born,” “Jesus is risen,” “Give us money.” As with the Christmas and Easter Sermons, there is also the challenge of saying something new.
So the question that day and today -- after an election that sent many of us into deep despair and in the second millennia of the Christian era-- the question is what in God’s name can I say about stewardship that is both hopeful and faithful?
First we fist need to recognize where we are.
You and I, like it or not, are citizens of the American Empire. We are living in an American Empire that dominates the world: culturally, economically, politically and militarily. As American’s, you and I must accept that fact.
The scope of America’s cultural domination was brought home to me last year when my wife, Linda, and I spent two weeks in Florence. It was our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary gift to each other. We have been married thirty-five years, so it had taken awhile to get the present actually delivered. It always seemed that when we had the time, we didn’t have the money and on those rare occasions when we had the money, we didn’t have the time. But finally both kids were out of school (and hopefully out of the house), so we had both the time and the money.
The pride of Florence--and this is saying a lot for a city that has Michelangelo's David and the world’s greatest collection of paintings from the Italian Renaissance-- the great pride of Florence is the Cathedral. It is made of green and white marble and has a fantastic Dome. It is surrounded by a square that includes the Baptistery. The doors of the Baptistery have sculptured gold panels. When Michelangelo saw the doors, he said “these must be the gates of Heaven.” While we were there, the square was the scene of a rally by striking municipal workers and a protest against the American Empire’s war in Iraq. For the people of Florence, the Cathedral Square is a very special place that defines the city and remains the center of civic life. It is also the place where McDonald’s wants to add the Golden Arches to the Golden Doors. Needless to say, the people of Florence are very upset by the prospect, but given the corrosive power of the American Empire, I’m glad Linda took lots of pictures to commemorate its current look.
As painful as the prospect of a McDonald’s on the Cathedral square in Florence may be, the most painful symbol of the American Empire’s cultural domination is the picture you see all too often of a young kid in some war-torn country. He is about twelve. He has no shoes, but he does have an AK-47 or an M-16, and he is inevitably wearing a Chicago Bulls T-shirt. The scope of the American Economic Empire can be seen on virtually every label on every piece of clothing in this sanctuary. We, as the members of this American Empire, feel virtuous when Nike agrees to voluntarily raise the wages in its factory in Indonesia to two dollars a day.
After the election I think there is not much more to say about our military and political empire. During the campaign, both candidates made it clear that Imperial America was free to do what ever it wanted, whenever it wanted, wherever it wanted. Both candidates abandoned the requirements for fighting a Just War, which had always been part of both Christian doctrine and American foreign policy.
So this is where we are, you and I, Citizens of the American Empire. But what if we don’t like what is being done in our name? What if we don’t like the illegal, immoral and unjust war in Iraq? What if we don’t like the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo? What if, we don’t like the military occupation of Okinawa that protects Marines from local prosecution when they rape and brutalize Okinawan women? Are we just supposed to open our windows and yell “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this any more?” That might be therapeutic but not very effective.
Or maybe if we could raise lots of money, register people to vote, find a candidate that talks sense to the American people, have a big rally, maybe even get someone like Bruce Springsteen to sing, get everybody we know to go vote, maybe then we could change the course of the American Empire though the electoral process.
Which brings us back to yelling “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore.”
So where is the hope? Where is the hope?
Our hope, as Christians, is in subversion. We must work to subvert the American Empire. Today I declare myself to be a subversive element and declare this church to be a subversive cell dedicated to undermining the American Empire. I do so publicly, in the name of Jesus Christ who subverts all empires, because he never stands with the Emperor but with the victims of Empire. I take as our manifesto the Beatitudes:
‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
And I claim Saint Paul as our role model. Paul was a Roman citizen and new Christian. While he had not known Jesus while Jesus was alive, he knew the people that had been with Jesus. He knew the people who had felt the wind of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. He knew the people who had formed the first church in Jerusalem. He also knew-- because as a citizen of the Roman Empire he had played an active role in it-- the persecution they had suffered. It began with the crucifixion of Jesus, and then, in rapid succession, the martyrdom of Stephen and the arrest of Peter. He knew that Imperial persecution had disastrous economic consequences.
As he traveled around its eastern edge, Paul saw the enormous, cultural, military and economic power of the Empire. The capital of Palestine was a port city rebuilt by the Romans and, not surprisingly, named Caesarea, in honor of Caesar.
As an aside: Given the possibility of history repeating itself in the Middle East, I will not be surprised if Baghdad is renamed “Georgetown.” But let me be clear, the corrosive power of the American Empire is so great, it is just as likely that Baghdad would become “Johnstown.” Or eventually, “Clintonville.”
In Greek areas around Corinth, Thessalonica and in Galatia, Paul saw that the temples of the Greek gods had been converted to worship of the Roman emperor. Roman Imperial law prevailed as well as Roman Imperial systems of colonial government.
Paul, like you and I, was a Christian citizen of an empire that he knew was persecuting the poor and oppressed. So what did he do? So what did he do to challenge this imperial power?
He had a Stewardship Campaign.
In his letter to the church at Corinth, Paul gives the first recorded Christian Stewardship message. He urges the congregation to take up a collection for the aid of the oppressed in Jerusalem. For Paul, as a Roman citizen, this was profoundly subversive. To ask a Greek Christian congregation to stand with and financially aid a Jewish Christian congregation was a radical act. To ask people in relative safety to stand with and financially support those at risk was radical act. To ask the Corinthians who were also subjects of the Empire to stand with and financially support those whom the empire had deemed dangerous was subversive.
So that’s where we are, you and I. We stand with Jesus, and we stand with Paul. As Christians we are called to be subversive. Today as you make your offering realize that you are financially supporting the subversion of the American Empire, not the American Republic, but the American Empire. Your money will be used for such subversive items as tomato paste, macaroni, date syrup, cooking oil, conscious, lentil, powered milk, tea, rice, eggs, sugar, flour, ghee and jam to be given to 2500 Sunni Muslim families in Iraq. Your money will fund the Center for Constitutional Rights which brought the law suit in the Supreme Court that forced the American Empire to recognize the basic human rights of the prisoners at Guantanamo. Your money will fund the US-Japan Committee for Racial Justice which seeks to end the American Empire’s military occupation of Okinawa.
So if you want some more hope, if you want to do something more positive, if you want to do something even more subversive--- Give more to the Church.
Finally, to those agents of the Empire, both religious and secular, who will object to our moral values and faith base initiatives, to you I have three words: BRING IT ON.
Anywhere, anytime, everywhere, every time: bring it on.
We are Christians.
We will stand with the God of the Beatitudes.
We will stand for peace and justice.
We will stand with the poor, the oppressed, the forgotten-- both here and abroad.
We will put our money where our mouths are.
We will not be silent.
So, bring it on.
Amen.