Revelation 21.1-6a                                                                                    1 November 2009

“WE STILL LOOK UP TO THEM”

Last week John Brink visited our most venerable member, Vera Dewar, at Pleasant Bay.   As pastors we look forward to visiting Vera because at age 102 she always has youthful surprises of good humor, girlish charm, and ready faith.    Vera is blind and bed-ridden, but full of life and vigor, curiosity and a clear mind.

As John made ready bread and cup to commune with Vera, she mentioned her early life in the Unitarian Church. She was a student at Tufts University when it was a Unitarian school.  “I have a question I cannot answer for myself, John.  Do you believe in the trinity?”  “Yes, I do,” John smiled, realizing Vera was taking him someplace special.  ”Good,” she said. “Now if Jesus is part of the trinity with God and the Holy Spirit, why does Jesus refer to the Father as a superior entity or be-ing?” John froze in his tracks and savored being asked that by the likes of Vera. 

Today is All Saints Sunday. One of the best parts about All Saints is remem-bering saints who are such worthy examples. Paul the Apostle advised new dis-ciples, as they puzzled over how to live out the faith, “Whatever you see, in me, do.”  Of course, some--like Vera Dewar--are more worthy of imitation than others. But we do well to pause, to notice, to learn, to grow in our faith, and pass it along. That is how the Christian church has found its way forward for over 2,000 years.

As I hear the cadences of our first hymn, “for all the saints”, I can see their faces. The longer I am a pastor, the more shining is their witness and the more touching their memory becomes. Like Joe Gillison in my Illinois church, who did my taxes. He never failed to mention his beloved departed wife, and his eyes always teared up, even after 30 years apart. Or like Helen Peterson in my Ohio church.  Helen once walked out of a two-hour meeting where we accomplished nearly nothing and deadpanned, “You know, Dale, sometimes people are so open-minded that their brains fall right out.”  I hear that first hymn, and I see the faces of saints like Vera Dewar, whose depth, breadth, and winsome charms rocks us on our heels.

Or saints like Vernon and Gladys Rosenberger, my grandparents. I mention them today because it is All Saints Sunday and they were saintly, even if imperfect.  I mention them today because it is our Stewardship Ingathering and Celebration Sunday.  If you are ready to pledge, we would gladly welcome your faith promise. If you have misplaced your card, or if you haven’t yet gotten it together to send in your card, or if you want to increase your pledge, cards are provided in the pews.

I don’t know if it was because they were farmers, and tied to the rhythms of the earth, but my grandparents taught me about being stewards of God’s good gifts. My grandpa was the church Treasurer for many decades.  Whenever they didn’t have enough money to buy more coal to heat the church, he quietly saw to it.  My grandma was the church organist in this little white clapboard Mennonite church. Oh, and she loved to bake bread, Ginny Haskell!  Like so many here this year at DUC, Gladys found creative ways—selling her homemade pickles, for example—to support her church.  Today I pass along some lessons they’ve imparted to me.

First, they always pledged.  Never mind being Treasurer, they were at the heart of their church’s life and knew the church needs to plan just like a school, a business, or a hospital. They knew that giving in a regular and systematic way made possible things that otherwise could not happen.  They knew that a faith pledge is not a legal contract.  If they had a bumper crop of oats, they gave more.  If it was a lean year, they gave less. And no one would come after them. That’s not what the church is about.  A pledge is a best guide and guesstimate of giving.

Christian Smith and Michael Emerson write about trends in today’s church, “Many Americans appear to want to avoid adopting systematic, routinized methods for carrying out their financial giving. Instead, they want to give whatever money they give in an unplanned, situational, almost impulsive manner. They would rather give as they feel able and spontaneously put money in the offering plate as it strikes them as the right moment or put in the offering plate whatever cash they happen to have in their pockets at the time.  We know that unplanned, situational approaches to nearly anything produce spotty results.“

Second, Vernon and Gladys gave proportionally to their church.  In their case, it was ten percent, a tithe. They believed in proportionate giving because they knew they could feel right with God about giving their fair share. What did Ted Walker say a few weeks ago? If you give 10%, you can squander the rest.  Ted, you’re saintly to us and you squander nothing. But you’re right. Now that my Lise has graduated from college, I can get back to my tithing. And this year I want to exceed it. I feel wonderful writing those checks. If we asked what percent of our income we’re giving, and gave 5% post-tax, DUC’s money issues are all solved. 
 
Third, Vernon and Gladys were enthusiastic about the church’s mission outside of its walls. They lived only months after I began parish ministry in 1979 at St. Peter’s UCC in Champaign, IL. But when I mentioned that I was leading a youth work trip to the poor of Kentucky, she lit up. “A mission-minded church is always a growing church,” she gushed.  Actually, in fact those were her last words to me. 

Studies show the greater the percentage of giving that goes beyond the church itself, the more enthusiastic church members are about their financial giving. Otherwise, churches come down with this Pay-the-Bills mentality about church giving. That inspires exactly no one and it results in a general lack of enthusiasm. But we yearn to be a part of a visionary, moving, and exciting spiritual movement.

Last, and maybe most significant, through their giving to the church, Vernon and Gladys taught me how to link sacrifice and joy.  When we give to what we believe in most, we place our treasure where our heart belongs. There is no substitute for that.  Vernon and Gladys fully expected God to transform all things.  And they were happy to be a part of it. They radiated positive, enthusiastic energy.  Frank-ly, my grandparents didn’t leave a lot behind them after they died. But they were happy people.  Giving was no burden to them.  Giving for God’s work made their hearts sing.  Giving was a special hidden ingredient to their happiness. His quiet smile and her easy laugh were rooted vibrant generosity. The Christian approach to generosity is not give till it hurts. Instead it’s give until it feels good.  If it doesn’t feel good yet, maybe we should give a bit more.  My prayer as your pastor is that your faith would grow, with it your giving; that’s what these Sundays are all about.

Can you see the faces? Vera? Joe? Helen? Vernon, Gladys? Which saintly faces have shaped your life? The charm of saints is not taking themselves too serious-ly, not taking their possessions too seriously.  Of course, we all believe we don’t take our possessions too seriously, just as we all believe we have a sense of humor or are good drivers.  But it ain’t necessarily so. The best test of whether we take ourselves and our possessions too seriously is how tightly we clasp them and how easily we relinquish our grip upon them. The more easily we relin-quish that grip, the less they grip, claim and own us. Do you know how saints be-come angels? They take themselves and what they possess so lightly, they be-gin to levitate off the ground. That’s how angels fly.  They just lift up off the earth.

Today look to the faces of God’s saints.  And know that the next generations look within our faces to see what they can see.  May we emit a light not of this world.  Amen.