Dedication Sunday
November 10, 2024

The Good Work of Generosity

Part of the sermon series "Do the Good That Is Yours to Do"

Tom Are Jr.
Interim Pastor

Hebrews 11:32–12:2
1 Corinthians 15:50–16:4

It’s been a week we will not forget. A week when most who voted are celebrating. It is also a week when many are grief stricken and even afraid. On whichever side of that divide you find yourself, our reactions are not mild but quite intense. Some have insisted that America was broken and now will be made great again. Some are feeling that which is good about America is at risk of being lost, and the grief is intense. What has been experienced by almost everyone is a sense that the other side has been slow to be curious about why you see the world the way you do and quick to condemn your perspective.

So what does the preacher say on such a day? Particularly when it happens to be stewardship dedication Sunday. I am reminded that my first Sunday with you was also stewardship dedication Sunday. That wasn’t ideal timing for a new preacher: “Hi, I’m Tom. Please bring your pledges forward.” And this year stewardship Sunday falls on the Sunday after a national election that has been fraught with division, filled with ugliness seldom appealing to our better angels, and awash with juvenile bullying. We have experienced acts of political violence and many more threats of the same.

So this day I have chosen to look to scripture for other times when communities have been divided and life has been chaotic and the good that is ours to do seems to be done in vain. Which means I have bad news and good news. The bad news: I’m preaching two sermons today. The good news: it won’t take any longer than when I preach one.

I can sum up both sermons this way: the God who is our help in ages past is our hope for years to come.

The letter of Hebrews reminds of the God who is our help in ages past. The writer of Hebrews rehearses a litany of the faithful who have gone before. Remembering what God has done provides the foundation for them to do what God calls them to do. Of course, you know what the Hebrew writer is talking about.

One of the joys of sharing this last year with you is that I have from time to time been able to listen as you recite moments when you have experienced God in this place. Some of you have told me of tutoring and how you are pretty sure those weekly visits changed the life of a child but you are certain it changed your life. Some of you have told me of your passion for Meals Ministry, that you have always known when people gather at table, at this table or any table, Jesus is present but that you have never felt it quite the way you have when at table in Anderson Hall for Meals Ministry.

Some of you have told me of the ministry of Shannon Kershner and how she had a way of making you feel seen like you seldom had before. Some of you, particularly our LGBTQIA siblings, have said you always trusted that Jesus accepted you but never fully trusted that the church welcomed you until John Buchannan made it crystal clear that the church is always stronger when we are known for who we welcome rather than who we exclude.

My friend the Reverend Dr. Rodger Nishoka is the senior pastor of the Village Church, the church I previously served. Rodger is an American citizen of Japanese descent. He is also an amazing preacher. A few weeks back, he preached to the Village congregation about you. He spoke of a time when he was a guest preacher here at Fourth Church. He said after worship he lingered in Stone Chapel. He knew that during World War II the nation was busy rounding up American citizens of Japanese ancestry and confining them to camps, actions justified by the Supreme Court, which basically said being a citizen is not enough for the nation to include you. In that cultural season, there were some Japanese Christians here in Chicago who needed a place to worship. A number of congregations closed their doors, but you welcomed them. Rodger said when he was here he stepped into Stone Chapel and could sense the presence of his ancestors by race and ancestors by faith. He could not suppress the feeling of gratitude for the courage of the church on that day (Marilee Munger Scroggs, A Light in the City: The Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago, p. 118). He also knew that his own faith traced to a moment like that, because when his mother was a teenager, she was taken to a camp. And during those days, she encountered some Christians who reached out to her with compassion and care. She was so moved by their living out their faith that she adopted their faith as her own. She and Rodger’s father raised him in faith, and today he is the senior pastor of the largest congregation in the Presbyterian Church (USA) that is led by a person of color.

We practice generosity because our own history tells us that God takes what we offer and God makes life-changing moments occur — not only today but sometimes for generations to come.

The God who is our help in ages past is our hope for years to come.

Here endeth sermon one.

But there is more.

And for that we turn to Paul.

I said I wanted to look to scripture that speaks a word in chaotic times, and if chaos is what you are looking for, the Corinthian church will work nicely. First Corinthians was written to a small group of Christians, who no doubt would have preferred this letter to have been kept private, as this particular church was a mess. New Testament scholar Richard Hays says through 1 Corinthians we are given a privileged glimpse of one “tension-filled moment in the life of the first generation of the Christian movement” (Richard Hays, Interpretation Bible Commentary: First Corinthians, p. 1). Tension-filled. I imagine you can relate to that. Paul writes to a community divided within a larger culture that is divided.

Feeling like their faith is making little difference to them and none at all in the world, they are beyond discouraged. They have confessed that Jesus is Lord, but in all appearances of cultural power, Ceasar is the one calling all the shots. Their influence on their world seems nonexistent, and their ministry seems to be in vain.

Into this moment Paul speaks of a laundry list of specific issues, like what you can eat, offers guidance on sexual morality, and exhorts them not to take each other to court. But as the letter reaches a conclusion, Paul’s rhetoric rises and his theological convictions deepen and he says your ministry is not in vain because Christ has been raised from the dead. Death where is your victory?

Paul gives an inspiring sermon.

But then, with no transition at all, his next words are “Now concerning the offering.” Talk about coming down off the mountaintop.

He turns from having the whole congregation singing “Jesus Christ is risen today” to “the ushers will now come forward.” One scholar says, with the important issues addressed, in chapter 16 Paul turns to a few “practical loose ends” (Richard Hays, Interpretation Bible Commentary, p 283). The offering is a loose end.

I’m not convinced. I think for Paul the offering is received because Jesus is raised. Paul says, “When your faith seems in vain, what I need you to do is to make an offering, to be generous.” Why? Because God has raised Jesus Christ from the dead, and this is a sign that a promised day is coming. And our generosity is a significant way we participate in the redemptive work of God and live toward God’s promised day.

We are living in uncertain times. And we may feel like the Corinthians in this way — that our ministry is in vain. And yet as people of faith, it seems to me, our work is as important today as it has ever been.

When we lack the power to change the worst in the world, we double down on our faith to ensure the world does not change the best in us. As Paul says, because Christ is alive, we know our ministry is not in vain.

But how does resurrection, the promise of God’s better day, mean our ministry today is not in vain? This is because that promised tomorrow shapes who we are today.

I was in second grade when my parents told me they needed to talk. Report cards had not come out, so I was confused. We sat at the kitchen table on our vinyl-covered chairs. I could tell they hadn’t made a plan. They didn’t know who was supposed to say what. After stumbling around a bit, my dad said, “We want you to know that mom’s going to have another baby. You will have a younger brother or sister.” I said, “Today?” I wasn’t the brightest second grader. “No, after Christmas.” Well, it was still September. When you are seven and it’s just September, after Christmas may or may not ever get here. They said, “We just wanted you to be prepared.” OK, I’ll get right to that.

Then I came home from school and there was a crib in my room. “Mom, I don’t think a lot of second graders sleep in a crib.” “It’s not for you; it’s for the baby.” “Is the baby here?” “No, not yet. We just want to be prepared.”

Then they painted my room. They painted one wall blue, with clouds on the wall, right next to the crib. I thought, “This is ridiculous; this kid’s going to think he’s falling out of an airplane all the time.” Painting my room? “We just want to be prepared.”

The point is because my family knew my brother was coming someday, it changed how we lived each day. That promised tomorrow shaped the present, and we simply couldn’t continue on business as usual.

Church, trusting in all that God has promised, we have work to do. Doing the good that is ours to do is as important today as any day. Just one example: We have the faithful work of being particularly attentive to those who are vulnerable in our current day. Before, when the government identified an enemy within, Fourth Church welcomed all of our neighbors. Once again, we have a government that has threatened to use force against those deemed the enemy within. It seems once again being a citizen does not ensure that you belong. But in my faith, in my piety, you belong not only to the nation but to God, so the church should be a safe haven for all people. We have work to do.

And we might feel inadequate in that work. We may feel powerless in that work. But our ministry is not in vain, because Jesus Christ is alive and God is at work. Even if we cannot change the worst in the world, we will trust in God so that the world doesn’t change the best in us.

God who is our help in ages past remains our hope for years to come, so we will be generous, and we will do the good that is ours to do, and in time, we will know the fullness of that promised day.

Sermon © Fourth Presbyterian Church