"Stewardship is Worship"

Genesis 28:10-19

Psalm 96:1-9

2 Timothy 1:1-12

John 12:1-8

A few weeks ago, when we were talking about funeral planning, I explained that throughout my professional life, I have made a habit of breaking taboos. My first career was fundraising, where we talked about money a lot. And then I became a pastor and part of my job is to talk about God and religious tradition. And I also worked as a hospital chaplain where I had holy conversations about death. Money, religion and dying - all things that are generally excluded from “polite conversation.”

But when I was fundraising, I got to have conversations with people about what kind of legacy they wanted to leave, and how they wanted to use their charitable giving to tell a story about their lives or values. One conversation I remember was not with donors, but among the staff in our advancement office. As we were thinking about how we would ask people for contributions, we talked about why people give. This was not in a church, but another non-profit, and some of the reasons included “recognition”, “duty”, “loyalty” and even “guilt”.

And while those reasons may be part of why you give,
in the Church, we teach that our giving is a response to what we have first been given;
a response to the abundant grace and forgiveness of God;
and, a response to the fullness of life we have, that especially here in our congregation, we have roofs over our heads, clothes on our backs, and food in our bellies.

As Pastor Jonathan preached last week, when we rightly recognize that everything we have belongs to God, the question we ask isn’t “How much are we giving?” as much as it is, “What are we withholding or keeping back from God?”

During this season, as you reflect on how you will go deeper in your faith and what that may look like as you make choices about your time, financial resources and the gifts you share with our congregation, neighbors and world, I want to offer another way to think about being stewards of what God first has given us.

I truly believe that stewardship - planning how we will respond to what God has first given us - is worship and that giving is joyful.

In our Lutheran tradition, “Worship is fundamentally about what God is doing and our response to God's action. Worship is an encounter with God, who saves us through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.”[i]

Looking at today’s texts, we see where our response to God is gratitude, and where our response to God’s generosity to us is praise. It is worship.

In Genesis, Jacob receives a vision where the Lord speaks to him. And in response, Jacob awakes and says, “Surely the Lord is in this place” and “How awesome is this place!” and he takes a stone, sets it up as a pillar and pours oil over it, creating an altar to the Lord.

And in Psalm 96, the psalmist commands us “Sing to the Lord, bless his name…declare his glory….” And then says, “Bring an offering,…worship the Lord in holy splendor.” Our song and our worship is our response to the greatness of the Lord.

In Second Timothy, the author states his gratitude to God (1:3) and remembers the gifts that God has given them – “the spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.” (1:7) And then he asks Timothy to guard the treasure – which in this context is not gold or silver, but faith and love in Christ Jesus – that was entrusted to him, and to depend on the Holy Spirit for help. (1:13-14) One of the places where we remember the faith we have been given and where we ask for God’s help is here, in worship.

And finally, we have the Gospel text where we witness the extravagant gift that Mary gives to Jesus. Jesus is with his friends at the home of Lazarus in Bethany at a Passover dinner, and the Evangelist John tells us that “Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair.” (12:3)

We’re not surprised when Judas Iscariot objects, and maybe a part of us even agrees with him that her action is reckless or excessive. But Jesus doesn’t.

He praises Mary, recognizing her gift as a gift of love. Mary was delighted to pour out this treasure for Jesus. Her action was an expression of her love and adoration of Jesus. It was an offering, and it was worship.

I have said before that God is always the actor in our Bible stories and in our lives of faith. We are called to live in response to what God has already done. And so, our gratitude and praise for God who abundantly loves us and has set us free from sin is why we give.

Our giving is joyful because, like Mary, it is an expression of our delight and our response to all that we have first been given, and worshiping God – responding to what God has done - is central to our life of faith and following Jesus.

Let us pray…
Good and gracious God,
Thank you for all you have given us.
May we delight in your love for us, and
may we depend on your Holy Spirit to help us respond faithfully,
with glad and generous hearts.
We pray in Jesus’ name.
Amen.

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[i] https://www.elca.org/Our-Work/Congregations-and-Synods/Worship#:~:text=Worship%20is%20fundamentally%20about%20what,and%20resurrection%20of%20Jesus%20Christ.