Reflections on "Teaching Stewardship" I Chronicles 29: 1-9; Mark 12: 41-44

This sermon begins a 4 week series on Stewardship.  Every once in a while, a sermon goes like I had hoped and it works for me.  This sermon was like that.  I hit the points I wanted, explored the two texts in ways that I think were faithful and insightful, and even had a good illustration or two.

A major challenge in preparing this sermon is knowing that it is the first of four sermons on a similar topic, so I had to (and will continue to have to) try and keep the focus sharp enough that it does not blur into the next sermon.

“Teaching Stewardship” Stewardship series 2013; FPC, Troy; October 20, 2013

Introduction:  Series on stewardship:  teaching it; living it; how our stewardship can continue after our deaths; celebrating it;

We will have weekly Minute for Missions as well as members share with us about stewardship

We begin this morning by reflecting on how we teach stewardship – to everyone, but particularly to our children.

Move 1:  Question -- If we do not teach stewardship to our children, our grandchildren, to those in our community of faith, how will they learn it?

            a.   “I asked an executive at the South Dakota Community Foundation why South Dakotans donate so much of their incomes to charity [the average  S. Dakota family donate 75% more of their income than the average San Francisco family].  Her response was immediate: religion.  ‘We were all taught to tithe here,’ she told, referring to the biblical injunction to believers that they donate 10 percent of their incomes to charity. Further, she explained, even those who do not attend church regularly donate a lot because they were taught to do so by their parents, who probably did attend.” Who Really Cares: America’s Charity Divide, Arthur C. Brooks, Basic Books, 2006 (32).

                        1. Church was the place it was taught.

                        2. Parents involved in the teaching.

                        3. This is the place; you are the people.

            B. A little boy in church for the first time watched as the offering plates were passed. When it came to his family, he said loudly, “Don't pay for me, Dad.  I'm under five.”  Marj Carpenter, “Presbyterian Outlook,” 9/19/11, p. 9

1. The passing of the offering plates is rather odd, isn’t it?

2.              Imagine if you have never come to church before today. 

3.              Some people put in cash; some do not put in anything, they just pass the plates to the next person.  Who decides who actually puts something in the plates?

4.              Others use envelopes; what’s in the envelopes? Different colored envelopes?

5.              What’s that about?  The only thing you know for sure is that no one is taking any of the money out of the offering plate.

6.              If our children are going to understand what is happening, if those worshipping with us are to understand, we have to teach about what we are doing when we give our offering back to God.

c. We have that same responsibility as a church

1.      Start This, Stop That, by Jim and Jennifer Cowart argue that every church should be teaching a financial management course.

2.      Like the Financial Peace University course currently being taught here.

3.  A class to teach how we handle our money and how we give back to God.

If we do not teach stewardship, then our kids, those who join with us, will never know about the privilege of giving back to God.

Move 2:  When teaching, simple and concrete.

            a.  Dave Conover – note the visual way he suggests teaching it; simple approach

            b. Tithe – we may not know the word, but it’s a simple word once we do know it, and simple to explain.

1.      1 of 10.

2.      For every dime, a penny.

3.      or for every dollar, give a dime.

                                   

4.      or for every $10, give $1.

            b. Thanks – simple, but gets to the heart of things.

1.      I suspect most of our parents are already teaching about gratitude.

2.      Say “thank-you”

3.      Stewardship grows out of giving thanks to God for all God has done for us.

4.      When you talk to your child about why giving that $1 out of the $10 they earned baby-sitting or got in their allowance, we remind them that they do not give because you are forcing them to, or that God will be mad if they do not; no, they give back to God because they are thankful.

Start teaching with two simple words – tithe and thanks.

Move 2:  Stories – I Chronicles

            a.  Chronicles shares the story of how David teaches stewardship by his own example.

           

1.      They already know about King David.

2.      set the stage.  Late in his time as king.  He wants to do something magnificent to honor, to give thanks to God.

3. He wants to build God a grand and glorious temple.

3.      But God tells David “NO.”

4.  This is important.  Ask your kids how they might feel if they wanted to give something special and God said “No.”

5.  You might note that David has several options – eh can take his money elsewhere; he can not give anything.

6. But King David chooses to give a great gift to the building of the Temple that he won’t get to build.

d.  he gives solely because he wants to give thanks to God.

           

1.      David gets nothing in return.

2.  His giving is about his thankfulness.

Teach the story; invite your child to give to God out of thankfulness.

Move 4:  Story from Mark – how Jesus teaches stewardship.

            a.  Jesus and the disciples are in the Temple watching people bring their offerings to God.

1. Good lesson right there.

2. People giving back to God.

3.Part of being God’s people is giving.

b.  But then Jesus calls the disciples attention to the widow (insight for this section of the sermon comes from Patrick Willson’s sermon "Buying God Off," preached November 4, 2012 at First Presbyterian Church, Albuquerque, NM)

1.      The one who gives two small copper coins that amount to almost nothing.

2.       Jesus points out her gift and says, “that impresses me.”

3.      Two coins of such enormous insignificance that it takes both of them to make up one penny.  

4.      You might note that at cash registers there are often bowls with pennies in them. You see those bowls at convenience store cash registers:  “if you need pennies, take them; if you don't want your change, drop it here.”  

5.      Into the treasury of the great Temple of Jerusalem this women drops in two coins which, when added together, total one cent, and Jesus says, that impresses me.

b. Why?  Because everyone else is giving out their abundance; the widow is giving out of her poverty.

1.      Jesus sees lots of people giving gifts, some large amounts.

2.      but the widow digs deep to give back to God.

3.      How thankful she must have been.

4.      If we follow the widow’s example, the tithe is just the beginning of what we give back to God.

Conclusion:  Who will teach the young boy that the offering is not admission to church? 

We will.

"Teaching Stewardship" 1 Chronicles 29: 1-9; Mark 12: 41-44

I am reflecting on stewardship, with this week's emphasis on how we teach stewardship.  

Questions:  What is the best way you have ever been taught a lesson about stewardship?  What is the best way you have ever been taught something about stewardship?

some collected thoughts on stewardship:

     1.  A little boy in church for the first time watched as the offering plates were passed. When it came to his family, he said loudly, “Don't pay for me, Dad.  I'm under five.”  Marj Carpenter, “Presbyterian Outlook,” 9/19/11, p. 9

     2.   Three kinds of churches:  churches that just take up offerings have people give an average of 1.5% of their income;  churches that ask members to write down pledges have people give an average of 2.9%; churches where people are asked to pledge by giving a % of their income they believe God is calling them to give have people give an average of 4.6%.  herb Miller, Consecration Sunday(5,6), taken from Money Matters

     3.  Week after Giving Tree, I gave a report about what had taken place. A member  comes up to me afterward and asks about the shortfall.  “What shortfall?  I didn’t mention a shortfall?”  “Well, I figured if you were talking about it again, we must have a shortfall”


     4.  “But the evidence leaves no room for doubt:  Religious people are far more charitable than nonreligious people.  In years of research, I have never found a measurable way in which secularists are more charitable than religious people.” Who Really Cares: America’s Charity Divide, Arthur C. Brooks, Basic Books, 2006 (34).

The Mark passage tells the story of the widow's mite.  I am using it as an example of how Jesus chose to teach stewardship.  I recently ran across a sermon by Patrick Willson on this passage, and will be guided by some of his insights.  

I Chronicles shares the story of how David teaches stewardship by his own example.  It might be interesting to note that David makes this example after being told that he will not get to be the one who builds the temple.

Reflections on ""Ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda" 2 Corinthians 5: 16-21; Genesis 35: 6-15

The sermon did not do much for me.  It seemed kind of dry and theoretical without much practical application for the listener.  I enjoyed digging through this important concept to the Reformed church, but could not manage to transition it to a sermon. 

One of the problems I encountered was finding illustrations that seemed to fit the concept.  The one I chose probably did not fit very well.  I found it hard to think of examples of changes that seemed to fit the magnitude of the Reformation.  

"Ecclesia Reformata, semper reformanda!" 2 Corinthians 5: 16-21; Genesis 35: 6-15; October 13,  2013; FPC, Troy; Presbyterian mini-series

Introduction: "Ecclesia Reformata, semper reformanda!" (not often the sermon title is so long that it will not fit on the sign outside the sanctuary – of course, no one driving by would have understood what it said anyway!)>

But now you will know what it means – this hallmark phrase of the Reformation translates as: "the church reformed, always to be reformed!"

In other words, the church is changed, and will always be open to change.

Move 1:  No surprise – when we read the biblical text we discover that change occurs all the time.

            a. In both the Old Testament and new Testament

1.      We the story of Jacob becoming Israel; God changing Jacob’s name to signify the new relationship between God and God’s people, who now will be called Israelites.

2.      This , of course, is a pattern already established when God changed Abram’s name to Abraham and Sarai’s name to Sarah as a sign of their new covenant and status as God’s chosen people.

3.      the prophets continually call for God's people to change their ways;

4.      Saul becomes Paul;

5.      How does Paul describe what it means follow the resurrected Christ?  By calling people new creations – people changed by their faith in Christ.

            b. The church always needs to be reformed because the church follows a living God.

1.      To believe that God works in our midst suggests that God works in a variety of different circumstances.

2.      To follow God in new and different contexts means changing.

2.      God decided that the world needed a special group of people to exemplify what it meant to follow God – thus, God calls a special people at that time.

3.      When Christ comes, we see God calling out of the Jewish tradition a new way of relating to God – thus, we see the establishment of the followers of Christ, who become the newly constituted church.

4.      In the time of the Reformation, a new way of relating to God that does not rely on the priests or the hierarchy of the Catholic Church is called for, so God uses the Reformers to create the Reformed church.

The God who speaks in different generations to diverse situations has to be a God who calls God’s people to change.

Move 2:  The church always needs to be reformed because the church is always made up of sinners.

           

            a.  The Reformers made it very clear that humans were sinners.

                        1. none of us could avoid it; all of us needed God to change us.

                        2. Likewise, the church that is made up of humans is, if left to its own devices, a sinful institution in need of change.

                        3. we remember that to repent literally means to change direction 180 a degrees.

            b. We often speak of our church family in reverential terms.

1.      a group of people who faithfully live out their lives supporting one another.

2.      I do not want to deny that.

3.      But, the church too often reflects its human nature, which means the church continually needs to assess and reassess what it is doing and be open to where God is leading the church.

Move 3:  The church cannot reform itself.

a.  “Ecclesia reformata, simper reformanda” is often mistranslated as “the church reformed, always reforming.”

1. That suggests that the church is the agent responsible for making the changes.

2. The accurate translation reads, “the church reformed, the church always being reformed.”

3. Passive tense. 

4. the church is not the one leading the change; God is.

5. The church changes not because it desires change, but because God desires the church to change.

b. Ties the change back to God and how we hear God’s calling.

1. It ought to send us back to Scripture, to discover anew what God calls us to be.

2.  It ought to make us seek out the Holy Spirit, so that we can respond as God desires. 

3. If the change is about what we want, it does not meet the standard for change dictated by the Reformers.

4. The changes we undergo must be at God’s leading.

Only God can reform the church.

Move 4:  when do you change?

a.      Perhaps the Reformers were engaging in some rationalization for their actions to radically change the church as they knew it. 

b.      Women’s ordination in the Presbyterian Church.

1.       The PCUSA, which is our denomination, understood Scripture to allow the ordination of women and that God was calling the church to ordain women as it moved into the 20^th century.

2.      It moved slowly, mind you, but the denomination first ordained women deacons; then elders; then women ministers. 

3.      The basis for the change was both how the church interpreted Scripture and how the church understood the Holy Spirit to be at work in the 20^th century world.

4.      I suspect most of us who gather here today have no problem with those arguments.

5.      Yet, other Presbyterian denominations in the United States today still do not ordain women, and other Christian traditions do not allows ordination of women.

6.      Why? Because as they interpret Scripture and understand how God is at work in the world, women are not allowed to be ordained officers or ministers.

7.      When is change of God?

c.    Look around the Sanctuary – we have just spent lots of money preserving the stained glass windows, which take us back in our history, even as we have added screens and technology to move us forward into the future.

1.      Changes that reflect the God who is at work in our midst, or changes that reflect our own desires?

2.      How do we know?

d. Maybe you remember a story I have told about the church where I worshipped in college.

1.  It sat just off campus next to Trinity University.

2. At one point in its life, the church was the de facto chapel for the university. Students and professors filled the pews each Sunday morning.

3. Then, the University built its own chapel and began its own chapel program. 

4. I imagine that was a difficult adjustment for a church known as University Presbyterian Church.  Ministry as it had known it was changed by a decision the University made.

5. It was forced to change. To focus its energy on other ministries instead of serving the University population.

6. It went from a church that identified itself with the University, to a church with no ministry related to the university.

7.  The fall I arrived on campus, I went to the chapel a few times, but felt then found myself attending University Presbyterian Church because I wanted more family, less college when I went to church.

8. About 6-7 other freshman felt something similar, because they too began worshipping at University Presbyterian.

9.  The church noticed this small group of college students and immediately went into action.

10. They announced a new college age group with activities almost every week, which included a meal!

11. it did not seem that remarkable to me then, but now as a minister who has been involved with churches beginning new programs, I marvel at how quickly they identified and adapted to this ministry opportunity.

12.  this college age group impacted the church in significant ways – we became an integral part of the local congregation, serving as youth leaders and Sunday school teachers; I preached my first sermon from that pulpit; and the local congregation impacted the larger church as three of the group became ordained ministers; several others became ordained officers in their local congregations.

13.  A year or two after we left, the group dissolved because no more students were coming to worship there.

14.  A minor change – yes.  But it had long-term implications.

Conclusion:  Change is never easy; sometimes it is forced upon us; sometimes we choose it.

The Reformers reminds us that the church is always waiting to be changed by the God who calls the church into being and calls us to listen as God’s Spirit reveals to us our next challenge.

**In preparing for this sermon, I consulted and used several ideas from “Our misused motto,” an article by Ann Case-Winters, as found in “What Presbyterians Believe 2,” which is a supplement to Presbyterians Today (26-29).

 

"Ecclesia Reformata, semper reformanda!" 2 Corinthians 5: 16-21; Genesis 35: 6-15

"Ecclesia Reformata, semper reformanda!" was a hallmark phrase of the Reformation.  I translates as "the church reformed, always to be reformed!"

I have not delved deeply into the topic yet due to some other commitments this week, but I had chosen this topic based on an article in Presbyterians Today supplement "What Presbyterians Believe: Part 2" entitled "Our misused motto."  the article articulate several points including the following:
 
    1.  The church cannot reform itself, God has to be at work.

     2.  The church always needs to be reformed because the church is always made up of sinner.

     3. The church always needs to be reformed because the church follows a living God.

I also would note that change always seems to be part of the biblical story.  Jacob becomes Israel at a pivotal time in his story; Abram becomes Abraham; Sarai becomes Sarah; Saul becomes Paul; the prophets continually call for God's people to change their ways; repent literally means to change direction 180 degrees.

I may have shared this story before, but when I was in college about 7 or 8 freshmen began worshipping at church just off the campus where we attended.  Historically, it had been the church where students attended, but that had changed when the university had built a beautiful sanctuary and began having a chapel program of its own.  For whatever reason, the small group of Freshman, including me, decided not to go to Chapel each week, but to attend worship. Within a month or so of our starting to worship there (we didn't know each other before arriving on campus), the church initiated an almost weekly college-age program that incorporated the freshman and a few others in the congregation who were attending local junior colleges or were not in school at the time.  It seemed normal to me then; as  minister serving a church I now marvel at how quickly the congregation adapted to our presence, initiated a new group, and integrated us into the life of the church (I was taking youth to conferences before too long!).  Rapid change that probably had only a four-year expected life, but they did and impacted me and several others in wonderful ways (three of us are not ministers, and at least one other is ordained as a deacon in her church).  Minor change, maybe, but still very important and I suspect indicative of how that congregation understood and acted as church.

When should the church change?  Are there things that should never be changed?  Part of the divides in churches, including the Presbyterian Church, USA revolve around what can be changed and what cannot be changed and still be faithful to God.

I don't have a clear vision for where this sermon is headed, so feel free to guide me with your thoughts.  I'm still open to change!

 

Reflections on "What About Everyone Else?" Acts 17: 22-3; I Timothy 2: 1-7

This sermon and last week's sermon both felt risky -- risky to presume to speak for the Presbyterian tradition; risky to tackle both topics; risky to offer insight into what I believe on a couple of fairly "hot" topics. I found both sermons satisfying -- last week's for cathartic reasons as I see how I was shaped from my childhood experiences growing up in the Bible belt; this week's because I have not delved into the topic of engaging other faiths much.  In fact, probably the biggest "hole" in my ministry experiences is a lack of interfaith dialogues, and certainly never more than Jewish-Christian conversations.  

I think the pairing of the Acts story and the I Timothy story worked well, although Paul may have been harder to handle for the Athenians than I made him out to be.   I am also reminded that my broad sense of God's desire and God's purposes can be challenged by some of the OT passages that deal with punishing Israelites for marrying outside of the Israelite tradition.  Synchretism, the blending of different faiths, is sometimes acceptable in the OT, and other times it is forbidden.   I recognize that the context of the Israelites trying to survive as a people in their world is different than our context, but it does offer some challenges to tendencies toward universalism.

A colleague of mine has had the amazing experience of having his son marry a Muslim.  He not only has experienced several interfaith gatherings with her family (including a wedding), but also has, as he puts it, "fallen in love" with his daughter-in-law.  As I have seen photos of some of the gatherings and read his reflections on this experience in his life, it has helped me both broaden my understanding and also recognize the reality that interfaith issues are becoming more commonplace.  I give thanks for his willingness to share about his experiences as a Presbyterian minister with a Muslim daughter-in-law with me and others.  

"What About Everyone Else?" Acts 17: 22-31; I Timothy 2: 1-7; Oct. 6, 2013; FPC, Troy; Presbyterian mini-series

Introduction:  “A priest, a minister. A Muslim imam, and a rabbi walk into a bar. The bartender looks up and says, ‘What is this, a joke?’” (Adapted from a joke found in Christian Century, Sept. 7, 2004, p. 7). 

The likelihood of seeing all four of these people in the same bar is greatly increased these days as we live in a world where we see and hear more about other faith traditions than we used to.

It is hard to walk down a city street in a metropolitan area in the United States without seeing people whose attire points out that they are part of another faith tradition.

As Presbyterians, how do we engage people of other faiths?  For some, this is a natural extension of last week’s sermon on being saved since the goal of interacting with others faith traditions is to save them; for others, relationship, not salvation is the goal.

This morning I share some reflections on how we Presbyterians (with a reminder that when I began this series on Presbyterianism, I noted that I don’t speak for all Presbyterians, but am trying to share what I believe is a fair representation  approach people of other faiths.

Move 1:  Discover what we have in common with other faith traditions.

            a. We see this as the beginning point for Paul in his conversation with the Athenians.

1. Paul makes the connections with those who worship other gods by noting that the unknown God they already worship is the same God that he worships.

2. While we may not always make the claim that the God of other faith traditions is the same God we worship, we recognize the power of establishing what we have in common with people of other faiths.

3. In fact, when we engage Muslims or Jews, we do in fact share a faith in one God and have a shared history with that God.

b. Obviously, other faith traditions do not worship the God of Israel, but we can still find things we share in common.

1. Maybe both faiths call for its followers to be peacemakers. 

2. Or to care for their neighbors.

3. Or to serve the poor.

4.  Certainly Gandhi from his Hindu faith and Martin Luther King, Jr. from his Christian faith discovered their non-resistance approach to change crossed the lines of their religious divide.

By beginning with what we have in common, we are reminded that in our common humanity we are connected and it creates possibilities for being in relationship with one another.

Move 2:  We also need to lay claim to our Christian faith.

            a. Note that Paul does not give up his own faith.

1.      The only way Paul knew how to proclaim his faith; the only way I know how to proclaim my faith is through the lens of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

2.      Even as we try to connect with other faiths, we do so from the context of our own faith.

2.  Giving up our faith in the name of connecting with other works does not work either party.

            b. Too often it leads simply to reducing God to the lowest common denominator.

1.        Something like common agreement to be nice!

2.        While that might sound good, think about how little power that has in it, especially, when we know the power of Jesus Christ as our Savior and are called to respond.

3.        Being nice does not cut it.

4.        Reducing our Christian faith to some benign statement does not do justice to the God we worship. 

5.        Likewise, the same can be said for the Muslim, or Jewish, or Hindu, or Buddhist faiths.

c.        We should not give up our faith claims, nor should we expect others to give up theirs.

1.      Colin Chapman, in a lecture given at Near East School of Theology, November 15, 2012.  “Is Dialogue Going Anywhere?” Presbyterian Today, May, 2013, 26-29.  “Sheikh Muhammad el-Haji of the Transcendental Theosophy Institute of Beirut.  A Presbyterian pastor asked him, “What do you think of evangelism?  “I suspect that the pastor expected the sheikh to say, “I don’t like evangelism, and you Christians should stop it!” but what Sheikh Muhammad actually replied was that: ‘I have no problems at all with evangelism – provided two things:  firstly, that you realize that while you’re trying to evangelize me, I’m trying to evangelize you; and secondly, that when you realize that I’m not immediately going to become a Christian, that isn’t the end of the relationship.’”

2.      When we claim our faith and engage faithful people in other traditions, it allows us both to grow in understanding our own faith claims.

As we engage others, we lay claim to our own faith and expect the same out of them.

Move 3:  Sense of humility

            a. IN a way, it is hard to be humble when we live out our faith from a position of power.

1.         We kid, ourselves if we think that we are the first group of people to live in religious diversity.

2.         Remember Paul and the early church as they tried to carve out their place in a world filled with numerous faiths and worship of multiple gods.

3.        But, those early Christians were professing their faith as a minority group in a world with religious diversity.

4.        We proclaim our faith in the United States where Christianity is the majority religion, not the minority faith. 

5.        How easy it is to be coercive as we try to engage people of other faith traditions.

6.      Again, we can learn from Paul.  I suspect that Paul did not speak to the Athenians in a condescending way -- "I have the answer dummies, so get on board!" – if he had, he would have driven the Athenians away.  Instead, he points out what they have in common and invites them to hear about the God whom he worships.

7.      When we approach people of other faith, we have a long history of how Christians have extended themselves to other faiths (which is a mixed bag, to say the least) and we come with the background of Christianity being the majority faith in the United States.

8.      In order not to be coercive, we have to be humble in our approach.

9.      Much like our Lord and savior who chose not to force the world to bow before him, but instead chose to love and offer himself as a sacrifice so the world might choose to follow him.

Move 4:  Finally, we cling to our hope in God.

            a. In the first Letter to Timothy, the author insists that God desires everyone to be saved.

1.        If that is God’s desire, why do we create a worldview that believes that God only wants to save us or people who believe just like we do?

2.        In a lecture given a few years ago at UTS, Bishop William Willimon was asked if he believed that all people will be saved?  Willimon responded:  By our tradition, we are not permitted to believe that all are to be saved; but, he goes on, we are encouraged to hope that all will be saved.  Willimon, Evangelism interview, United Theological Seminary, Dayton, OH, fall 2009

3.  His comments leave me with the question: Does hoping in the God who desires to save everyone drive us to demand that everyone believe in Jesus Christ, or does it open us up to considering how God might save others in ways we cannot yet imagine or understand?

b. It seems to me that as we engage people of other faiths, we should profess the God of grace who saves us and show forth that God in our actions.

1. If people of other faiths can find that God in their own faith traditions, perhaps we should celebrate that the God we know is at work in their lives.

2.  If they cannot find God’s saving grace in their tradition, then our testimony stands as a witness to the God they ought to know and who desires to know them.

            Conclusion:  We come to our Lord’s Table on this World Communion Sunday celebrating how connected we are with our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world.

It also reminds us of our differences with people in our faith traditions.

So we come to meet the Risen Christ and hope that he will show us how to be in relationship with all of God’s people.

 

""What About Everyone Else?" Acts 17: 22-31; I Timothy 2: 1-7

This sermon continues the mini-series on being Presbyterian, and it is an extension of last week's sermon titled "Am I Saved?"  Instead of wondering about our salvation, this sermon explores the salvation of those other faith traditions in our world.

We live in a world where we see and hear more about other faith traditions than we used to, or at least it seems that way to me.  It is hard to walk down a city street in a metropolitan area without seeing people whose attire points out that they are part of another faith tradition.  We kid, ourselves, however, if we think that we are the first group of people to live in that kind of diversity.  In fact, the early church was trying to carve out its place in a world filled with numerous faiths and worship of multiple gods.  But, those early Christians were professing their faith as a minority group in a world with religious diversity.  We proclaim our faith in the United States where Christianity is the majority religion, not the minority faith, although it could be argued that the non-religious are now the majority.

These two quotes did not make it into last week's sermon, but they might make it into this week's sermon:

Will all be saved?  Willimon says we are not permitted to believe that, but we are encouraged to hope that.  Willimon, Evangelism interview, United Theological Seminary, Dayton, OH, fall 2009

Ron Hall:  “Looking back now, I mourn the mutual wounds inflicted in verbal battles with the 'unsaved.'  In fact, I have chosen to delete that particular word from my vocabulary as I have learned that even with my $500 European designer bifocals, I cannot see into a person's heart to know his spiritual condition.  All I can do it tell the jagged tale of my own spiritual journey and declare that my life has been the better for having followed Christ.” Same Kind of Different, Ron Hall and Denver Moore, 60

I love the story in Acts.  Paul makes the connections with those who worship other gods by connecting what they already worship with God.  In some ways, this provides a helpful model for us as we approach other traditions, at least to the extent that it allows us to see what we have in common with other faiths.  If Paul spoke this in a condescending way ("I have the answer dummies, so get on board!") then it probably is less helpful to us.  I think it's important to remember that Paul speaks and writes from a minority perspective, which means his claims have little power behind them except the power to connect and persuade and almost no history of how Christians live out their faith in the world.  When we approach people of other faith, we have a long history of how Christians have extended themselves to other faiths (which is a mixed bag, to say the least) and we come with the background of Christianity being the majority faith in the United States. That means we have to be careful in ways that Paul did not (at least in my opinion).

The reading from I Timothy reminds us that God's desire is for everyone to be saved.  Does that drive us to demand everyone believe in Jesus Christ, or does it open us up to considering how God might save others in ways we cannot yet imagine or understand?

I do know that the only way I know how to proclaim my faith is through the lens of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Even as I might try to connect with other faiths, I do so from my own faith. I do not think that giving up my faith in the name of connecting with other works for either party.  That being said, it is also important to remember that Jesus called us to be servants of others and he exhibited a lot of humility (can you imagine knowing you can overturn the world, but still choosing to submit to death on the cross?).  How do we live in that tension between coming to God in Christ and humbly serving Christ in God's efforts to save and redeem the world?

What do you think?