Worship at First Presbyterian Church of Marion, Illinois

Micah 6:6-8, Matthew 23:23, Deuteronomy 14:22-29 

           What

we return to God isn’t all tangible goods, though. Everything doesn’t have a

value that fits on a 1040, or that we can make an insurance claim for. What

does God expect of us? Even if we tithe spices, what does God want us to offer

from our lives? Does it sounds like God is more interested in the financial

sacrifices, or the sacrifices that cost us in who we are and how we are?

           And

then there’s this passage in Deuteronomy. We act as though we are giving things

completely up when we give to God. Yet this passage asks us to give as a part

of our relationship with God. We are to give food so that we can sit and eat

with God. We are to give our time to God so that we sit and feast with God.

Picnics with Jesus. Are we willing to give God the time, the space, and the

energy to be in relationship?

Mark 12:41-44, Luke 21:1-4

           There

is a huge church debate about how much we’re supposed to give to God. Usually

this debate circles around the idea of tithe and 10%. Is that 10% before

taxes? Is it gross or net? Does it include gifts? Is it 10% of everything, or

just 10% of our salary?

           You’ll

notice that this discussion doesn’t come up in our passages today. The rich

people don’t seem to be working out the figures, and the poor woman certainly

isn’t. This offering isn’t 10%, it’s everything.

How much are we

willing to put in the plate? How much are we willing to offer up? What do we

think about one another? What happens if we watch one another come forward?

What do we see one another put in the plate? What do we see one another give to

God?

Genesis 14:17-24, Genesis 28:10-22

           If

giving isn’t really giving, then why would we give? If it’s all really God’s,

and we’re just giving back to God, then why would we give? These two passages

give us some insight into why.

           Abraham

responds to what God has done for him. Jacob responds to what he hopes God

will do. Both have been called and chosen, and both have fallen short of the

mark God has set for them. Abraham returns from battle, from what could have

been disaster, and gives to God 10% of things. Jacob has an encounter with

God, and hopes, and prays, and (maybe) bribes God with 10% for his future. In

both cases, the gift is a response to the relationship with God.

           Why

do we give? What have we seen? What have we experienced? What do we hope for

in our relationship with God?

Psalm 24, Psalm 50

           God

makes some things very clear in these passages. God considers it all to belong

to God. We are God’s, the earth is God, everything is God’s. God is not

apologetic about it or shy. God doesn’t need our offering. God will accept no

bull from our houses. If God wants what we have, God will just take it.

           That

is quite the contrast to how we often approach giving. We talk about what we

are going to give to God. Yet, there is also a problem with us treating giving

like repaying a loan from God to us. It’s God’s, entrusted to us, and then we

use it, and return it to God.

           What

does it mean to belong to God? What does it mean that it all belongs to God?

Does that change how we operate? What happens when we’re just ‘borrowing’

God’s stuff? Do we treat it like our own? Is that a good thing?

Genesis 1:1-2:4a             

           If

we’re going to talk about stewardship, we might as well start at the

beginning. It’s a very good place to start. In the beginning we hear how

things were made, how they were named, and who made them. God made them all.

God made it all. God made us all. We are the work of God’s hands. We are the

work of God.

           And

God invites us into that work. At the end of the first chapter, God entrusts

God’s work to us. It can be read as stewardship, or dominion, and that

decision makes a big difference in how we go forward from there. I prefer to

read it as trust and relationship. God chooses us to care for what God has

made. That’s one another, that’s animals, that’s seas, sky, and soil.

Before we can even talk about what we give to God, be amazed at what God has given to us, and how God has chosen and called us to be trusted partners in creation.

Image credit to STScI as part of their work with NASA and Hubble Telescope. (Serpens Nebula HBC 672)

James 2:14-29, Mark 12:28-31, John 10:11-18

        On Trinity Sunday, we think about the Trinity, that really tough and vague doctrine that is somehow essential to our understanding of God. We’ve talked about three leaf clovers, and many other metaphors over the years. All of them fall short of the understanding of the whole.

           This

Trinity Sunday, We’re going to ask what our three core things are. I’ll start

with mine, and then we can expand and talk about ours. What are the big three

for you? How do they guide you? What are the big three for us? How do they

guide us?

           Live

what we believe. The Messengers remind us to walk the walk if we’re going to

talk the talk. Love God, love our neighbors. Give our lives, lay them down, not

have them taken from us, but offer them up to God, as Christ lays his down.

These are my big three. What are yours?

The kids and youth show us how the Spirit has been moving in their past year of Sunday School.

Acts 2:1-4, Romans 8:14-39

           What Spirit

are we blessed with on Pentecost? Slavery, or adoption? Fear, or Glory? Hiding

in the upper room, or confronting the crowd? Speaking a powerful story that

overcomes the barriers of language, national origin, or hiding for fear of the

crowds?

           Are we

gifted with a Spirit that intercedes for us, or one that leaves us alone? The

Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words, and will not let us go. Are we

gifted with a  Spirit that stops all

trouble, or one that abides with us in trouble?

           What gifts

have you been given by the Spirit, and how do we see the Spirit at work around

us?

Benjamin GVD shares the last year’s mission, ministry, and life from LCC International University in Lithuania.

suffering, endurance, hope, and love. What a range of descriptions. What a range

of adjectives. We end up focusing on being justified by faith, or by this

string of poetic phrases, or that hope does not disappoint. This passage is

filled with catch phrases and memorable lines, and yet filled with even more

content.

behind the phrases? What’s behind the pinterest type of Scriptural sayings?

Justified by Faith. Peace with God. Standing in grace. Enemies of God.

Reconciled through the death of the Son. Saved by the life of the Son. What do

we mean by all of this? What’s the power of the Gospel in this?