Let’s face it: in the end, what matters most is how we have treated others, especially those without as much prestige, power, and privilege as we have. Why is that so all-fire important? The four scriptures we’ve read today, when taken as a whole, suggest that it is because as we care for and care about others, we are actually embodying God on earth. St. Teresa of Avila said as much several hundred years ago when she wrote, “Christ has no body now on earth but ours, no hands but ours, no feet but ours; ours are the eyes through which is to look out Christ’s compassion on the world. Ours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good, and ours are the hands with which he is to bless us now.” Teresa’s words assure us that through what we do, we are making real God’s kingdom and extending God’s realm, one faithful caring act at a time.
This morning, the prophet Ezekiel begins painting this picture of faithful, caring living for us with his beautifully gentle figure of a shepherding God—who searches for the wandering sheep, rescues them from danger, and gives them special land for grazing—the best pasture in the area! As if that weren’t enough, God covenants with them to be their shepherd—every morning, all through the day, and tuck them into the safety of the sheepfold each night. In return, they are to be mindful of how they have been shepherded by God, protected, fed, and watered by their shepherd God, and they are to do the very same for their neighbors. I love the rhetorical device used by the author of Ezekiel in the middle of the passage… “Is it not enough for you,” he or she writes, “to feed on the good pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture? When you drink of clear water, must you foul the rest with your feet? And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have fouled with your feet?” In other words, “Pay attention!” Pay attention to how your actions affect the life and livelihood of your neighbors…for they too are God’s sheep; they, too, are God’s beloved daughters and sons.
The story from Acts cautions us from believing that such caring and faithful embodiment of God can be bought with money…it cannot. Oh sure, I tease about being paid to care! But, in reality, you and I both know that our moments of deep caring for another have nothing to do with money, and everything to do with being a faithful conduit of God’s care for all.
And if we need an additional theological overlay for this truth, we can thank the unnamed apostle of the Apostle Paul for providing it in the short letter to the Ephesians. She or he comments on the generosity and love that the Christians at Ephesus show toward all the saints, not just their own kind; this action, the author concludes, emanates directly from their faith. “I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus,” we read this morning, “and your love toward all the saints, and for that reason I give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers.” In other words, in the life and ministry of the Christians at Ephesus, their faith forms and guides their ethic of care.
And in case we missed this point of today’s collection of lectionary passages, the author of Matthew drives it home with one of the most familiar parables Jesus ever told. Make no mistake: caring for those in need is not optional on this journey of following in the footsteps of Christ. Caring about others is not just a “pretty good idea.” Our ethic of care, which is birthed and nourished daily by our faith, is the way by which we embody God and follow Christ. In the end, says the king in the parable, it matters not how many Bible passages you can quote, or books you read, or money you amassed. What matters in the end—in the end of your life and of mine—is how we embodied God’s care. On this score, friends, none of us will bat 1,000. I often jokingly comment to those particularly worried or fretful about this seemingly-judgmental passage, fearful that they are perhaps more goat than sheep, that if we only bat 300, it’s good enough for the majors! Fortunately for us, God’s expectations of us sheep, with regard to embodying the ethic of care, are laced also with God’s grace and God’s forgiveness. But that’s another meditation for another day.
Today, you were promised some reflections on our congregation’s faith, as it is revealed each year in that proverbial budget-balancing tool, the so-called “faith line item.” What in the world do any of these scriptures have to say about that? Stay with me, and we’ll see together!
Since the birthing of Redlands United Church of Christ in 1975, faith has been at the core of our story. The original group of 130 founders had faith, first of all, that their victory party on the eve of their defeat could lead them to a brighter day. They had faith that the Spirit was not only guiding them, but urging them to follow and to trust that all would be well, even if all was not funded! Their faith naturally extended itself into deep caring for each other, and eventually led into a remarkable and noteworthy reputation for caring far beyond these walls. This same level of hearty faith continues here today, thanks to its good and strong rooting through the years. Now, it is not uncommon for guests to pop by here throughout the week, or stop by on a Sunday morning for worship, just to see the group they’ve been reading about in the newspaper, or hearing about through various community organizations. To a person, there is surprise that we do so much with relatively few resources. And you, like me, when we hear such surprise, we smile, and respond humbly and gracefully, for we know that it is not us, but the Spirit who works through us in all matters of faith and life and ministry.
This includes our unique way of budgeting! To those of you who have not yet been blessed by sitting in our hours-long, but very inspiring!, church board meetings to participate in detailed budget discussions, or for those of you whose eyes glaze over and ears immediately plug at the annual congregational meeting when the numbers page surfaces, listen up! We here at Redlands UCC do not, in any way, do budgeting like any other church I’ve ever seen. Here, quite literally, our faith has a pricetag.
This year’s faith pricetag is $13,000. Last year, the price of faith was $40,000—we’ve had a sale!—and the year before just a bit over $22,000. For the past 7 years, the price of faith around here has ranged from $9,000 to $40,000—sort of parallels the national economy, with even the price of faith increasing exponentially!
What do I mean by the phrase, “the price of faith?” Specifically, it refers to the amount of money needed in each budget year to balance the income with the projected expenses. But more than that—and this is what makes us unique in Christendom—I have noticed that the faith line item is a symbol of our actual faith as a community. Each year, at our annual congregational meeting, without batting an eye, we vote an enthusiastic yes on what some would accurately see as a deficit budget. Now this is not to say that all are in agreement when we vote. In fact, for the first few years of my tenure here, I wondered and worried about the wisdom of a deficit budget, no matter what nice Christian words were used to describe it. This doubt came from years of sitting in budget meetings in other congregations I had served, where the proverbial paring knife was slashing right and left. Here, I noted, none of that took place. No knives, no harsh words, no people slamming doors because their area’s budget was reduced, no angry staff who felt unappreciated at budget time. What replaced all that was a responsible, open, and very faithful process that declared, “we are not the only ones involved in this church budget.” When I say that worried me, it says much more about my history with other congregations than about our present reality here!
A book by the name of The Gift that was itself a gift given me last Sunday, describes the concept of our kind of annual budgeting as “the commerce of the creative spirit.” I like that! It suggests that our faith line item is fluid, part of an ongoing creative discussion between each one of us and our God and our siblings here at church. The commerce of the creative spirit is one in which the book’s author Lewis Hyde notes that “the increase of gifts is…something simultaneously material, social, and spiritual…” He concludes the thought with this observation, “the accumulated wealth of our [collective] spirit continue[s] to grow among us, so that each of us may enter, and be revived by, a vitality beyond his or her solitary powers.” Though I am just beginning this fascinating and relevant-to-us read, I commend the book to you as well.
Without knowing Redlands United Church of Christ or any of us personally, this author couldn’t be more descriptive of the dynamic that repeats itself in nearly every annual congregational meeting. For when we vote “yes” on that once-again deficit budget, we choose to see our vote as a declaration that this work of God, Christ, Spirit, this ministry of love, these programs and financial obligations, this generalized ethic of care…is one we shall enthusiastically try to do yet again. Our “yes” proclaims that we have faith enough to see them and to raise them through another year.
Surprisingly—to me at least, and perhaps to you as well—every year of our 33 years of life this faith line item amount has been met or exceeded. Sometimes it was met by intentionally using savings; more often and most recently it has been met by increased donations throughout the year and by the steady influx of new folks who want to be a part of this place and this ministry that so embodies God’s care for all people. Ah, now we circle back to this morning’s scriptures.
Faith, the author of Hebrews famously tells us, is the assurance of things hoped for, and the conviction of things not seen. I believe that the Prophet Ezekiel, and Paul’s unnamed apostle, and the early church historian who wrote Acts, and most especially Jesus himself would heartily, joyfully agree! As our faith urges us to care, so does our church budget reflect that care through programs and staff and dreams. Do we ever have enough funding in hand at the beginning of the year to do any of this ministry? Heavens no! And that, sisters and brothers in faith, is precisely where our collective faith—our “commerce of the creative spirit”—steps in.
Over the next couple of weeks before Covenant Sunday, as each of us ponders, prays, and reflects on where God, Spirit, Christ are calling us in service, let us also (like all our ancestors in faith) be mindful of the pricetag of our faith journey. To be fair, this faith line item is much more than an accounting tool. It is, as its name suggests, a matter of faith…of believing…of trusting…of hoping…of knowing…that God will provide through each of us and through those yet to find us, God will provide just as God has provided in the past through the steady faithfulness of our ancestors. Our faith line item is a constant reminder that all will be well, even if all is not completely funded…that by working together, and creatively, we will find ways to do whatever ministries the Spirit is calling us to do…that in connecting to one another through Christ, we really can accomplish great service. So, does our faithful, caring ministry here at RUCC have a pricetag? You bet it does! Year after faithful year…!
