If you travel around Israel today, you will encounter two big bodies of water. Go down from Jerusalem through the hills below sea level to the Dead Sea. You can see it off on the horizon as you approach; and it is incredibly beautiful. Bright turquoise water gleams in the sun. It looks as if white caps are dancing on waves — a stunning sight against the browns and tans of the dessert. But as you get closer, it all changes. What looks brilliant and lively from a distance is dead and oily up close. The white caps are really just big chunks of salt. When you enter the water it repels you because of the high salt content. You can only go into the water waist deep, even at 15 feet. That’s far enough — it leaves a smelly residue on your skin. The water in the Dead Sea is so full of minerals that it supports no life at all: no marine life, no plants, because there is no outflow. The water stops right there. The Dead Sea looks so good from a distance but up close, it’s a giant dead end.
But then you go to the north of Israel and see the Jordan River: it tumbles and surges as a mountain stream. Marine and plant life flourish in its brisk current. Water flows in; water flows out, and the Jordan River distributes its wealth around the country. You see those riches in the Galilee region where crops flourish year round.
I often think of these two bodies of water as metaphors for how people live in relation to their financial resources. Those who share their money allow God’s blessings to flow through themselves and connect them to others. But we have all known people who cling to their money and refuse to share either their resources or themselves. They look great from a distance, but up close, they hold you at arms’ length. Nothing goes in, nothing comes out.
In the life of the church we are entering the stewardship season. This is the time in which we make pledges, our financial commitments to God through Trinity Church for the coming year. Do God’s blessings and resources flow through you or do they get stuck in a dead end?
Giving our money is complex in this culture; money can symbolize so many things for us. To some, it affects our self-esteem. To others it may hold at bay our fears about the future. And to some of us, money gives access to endless entertainment and distraction from thinking about deeper issues.
Our ambivalence about giving money away starts early. Years ago I set out to teach three young children about giving. I suggested that they should put 10% of their allowance in the church offering plate each week. The first child said, “No, it’s mine and I am not giving it away.” The second child said, “That sounds like a good idea but I’ll wait and do it after I get my new toy.” The third child said, “Here, take all of my money. I give it all away.” I was shocked, because I realized that all those responses live in me. They have all crossed my mind over the years, and perhaps they sound familiar to you, too. “I work hard for what I earn and I am holding on to every bit of it.” “Sure, let me pay off my car and get my house fixed up the way I like it, and then I’ll give some money.” “Here, take my money. I have more than I will ever need.” These things have all been said before.
Here in the church we set the biblical goal of the tithe for our giving. The tithe is simply an old-fashioned word for 10 percent. We urge everyone to work toward the tithe by making proportional increases in our giving every year. This year we take the next step toward tithing as we raise our pledges. For many of us here today, this is a new experience. Others have already gone beyond the tithe. How we relate to God’s blessings as we use our money goes right to the heart of our life with God. So there is no reason to expect that to be simple, especially when you read the Bible. If you are wrestling with how to use and give away your money, you are in good company.
We walk into the middle of a dramatic story in Genesis today. Jacob is in a tight place. He is has angry in-laws behind him and his estranged brother coming towards him up ahead. Jacob has cheated and he has been cheated. He cheated his brother out of his inheritance, then he ran off to a new place and started over. Since then Jacob has worked hard and earned his money and has become a successful entrepreneur. It’s all about the money.
But when he is cheated by his own father-in-law, Jacob decides to cut his losses and run. His money represents everything he has worked for over the years: what if he looses it all? So he travels with everything he owns: his family, his servants, all his possessions. Everything Jacob has is on the line. The story tells us that everyone else goes to sleep that night, but not Jacob. He gets in a wrestling match. He wrestles all night with a stranger in an encounter with God. When day breaks Jacob is left with a blessing, with a limp, and a new name: Israel. This is the first time that the word “Israel” appears in the Bible. It means one who wrestles with God and lives to tell the tale.
You may not be a big fan of TV wrestling. I am certainly not. But as descendants of God’s revelation through Israel, we come from a long line of wrestling champions. If you are wrestling with God about your use of money, if you struggle with the idea of making a generous pledge to the church, you are right on schedule.
The same God who fills our life with blessings and abundance also makes demands on us. So expect to wrestle with difficult decisions, especially those that involve what is precious to you, even and especially money. Don’t forget that God never gives up on us and stays up all night with us if necessary as we wrestle.
I have learned that giving away money is easiest when I get clear about where it comes from in the first place. We may work hard for it, but it all begins with God, the creator of everything. To whom does anything really belong?
The Kenyan tribes of East Africa have something to teach us in how they relate to their material resources. Their indigenous economy has spiritual roots that have captivated my imagination. In fact, I have been eager for stewardship season this year so I could tell you about this. Instead of ownership and debts and credits, the economic life of the Luo tribe is based on entrustment and obligation. This begins long before birth and continues after death. Favors are given across generations that will be repaid in the future. So when a senior tribesman gives a cow to a younger cousin for the young man’s marriage, it is understood that the groom will repay the debt to the next generation rather than to the donor. Or, the one who pays for his nephew’s school tuition expects to see it returned in tuition for a future family member. Wealth is entrusted rather than owned and its obligation extends beyond an individual’s lifetime. The next generation receives the entrustment as an heirloom and assumes the obligation. The bottom line is that everyone is entrusted and everyone is obligated to each other.
Here in the church we also live with entrustment and obligation. For over 200 years the faithful have assembled as Trinity Church. Generations have prayed together and built this great building. All of it is now entrusted to us, as today’s blessing and tomorrow’s promise. As we are entrusted with the blessing now, we are also obligated to those who come in the future to follow Christ on Copley Square.
I invite you to strive for generosity as you make a pledge to Trinity Church. It represents your commitment and spiritual maturity. Take the next step toward the tithe. Go ahead and wrestle with it: God won’t abandon you. If you wrestle with giving money and are left with a limp, wear it with pride. Remember that Jacob limps off the scene in today’s story, but he marches down through history as a faithful patriarch and leader.
Let God’s blessings and gifts flow right on through you as you make your commitment to God and the church this year. Give out of thanksgiving for all that you have. Give out of faith for all that is still to come as you live in God’s abundance.
Amen.
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