The sermon text is below the sermon video –
click here: https://zionepiscopal.com/Sermon%20Videos/twenty-second-sunday-after-pentecost-11-6-2022-neale.html
Sermon preached at Zion Episcopal Church, Washington NC
Sunday November 6th 2022
The Reverend Alan Neale
“Praise, the energy for giving and remembering”
So… you can all, nearly, heave a sigh of relief… stewardship sermons are almost over… this is the third and final sermon on stewardship (do I hear a whispered alleluia?). Jim Hackney, Ann-Marie Montague and I have dared to share with you all thoughts and encouragements, comforts and challenges on the theme of stewardship – the joyful giving to God in gratitude for all of God’s giving to us.
Yes, we “dared to share”! The giving of time, talent and treasure is a most sensitive ground upon which to tread; all preachers can do is to provide guidelines and principles, then each of us prayerfully applies them to our own circumstances and, by God’s grace, we try to stretch ourselves a little further, daring to venture just a little more into the kingdom of generosity.
At its best Christian giving is not about meeting external needs (these are important but they are transient), but rather meeting the internal needs of our hearts (these carry within them the spark of eternity)- it is healthy to be generous, and in so doing we dare to follow the example of Jesus who emptied himself that we might be filled.
“Dare to aspire to generosity.”
Today’s Psalm, 149, is the penultimate in the Psalter; it is a terrific, exhilarating song of praise and victory. During this week I have come to see that praise and victory is the absolutely perfect context in which to consider our stewardship, yes even our estimates of giving for 2023, but praise is also the absolutely perfect context to remember, on All Saints’ Day, those who have given of themselves in this place, at this church, for decades; all those who now on a different shore cheer us on (remember Hebrews 12:1? “Seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us run the race set before us…).
The opening verses of our Psalm speak of Praise and its Community, Praise and its Creation, and Praise and its Channels.
First, Praise and its Community. Psalm 149:1 “Sing His praise in the congregation of the faithful”. The Psalms contain community lament, community prayer but throughout they are laced with community praise. Like those in the Hebrew Temple and ever since, we gather weekly (not weakly!) to praise God. We establish, we confirm the truth that the Lord is King. When we begin to worry “What is the world coming to?” Praise answers, “It is coming to Jesus!” When we begin to worry “What are we coming to?” Praise answers, “We are coming to Jesus!” And when we grieve and cry, “To where have our beloved deceased come?” Praise answers, “They have come to Jesus!”.
This Zion Church is remarkable for its acts (your acts) of generosity in service – in the giving of time, skills and money. We praise the Lord in our community as we act together, as “we dare to aspire to be more, to work more, to give more”.
Second, Praise and its Creation. Psalm 149:2 “Let Israel rejoice in its Maker, let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.”
Most of us, well maybe only some of us, know what it is to be conflicted people. Remember St. Paul? “The good that I would, I would not; and that which I would not, that I do.” I remember hearing years ago, and to this day have not found its source, these words “I am not a man/woman; I am a civil war”.
Friends, I want to dare to be generous (in heart, mind and pocket) but I fear what will result, I fear becoming vulnerable, I fear surrendering control but then… but then I hear these liberating, freeing words… “The Lord is my Maker, the Lord is my King… let the children of Zion by joyful!” The Lord works on me with potter’s hands that are skilled, firm and gentle. Cracked though I may be (no comment), given to relapse and insularity, the divine maker carries on and then, my friends, causes me to praise as I dare to aspire to generosity. The saints whom we remember today, we remember not as perfect, maybe often as struggling, and yet in some way they reflected the One who made and sustained them – the One who made their generosity possible.
And thirdly, Praise and it Channels, the various Conduits of praise. Psalm 149:3 “Let them praise His Name in dance, let them sing praise to Him with timbrel and harp.”
I have mentioned before that I have attended worship in charismatic/Pentecostal churches. When the time came for the offertory, no collection plate was passed around – no, instead every one danced to the front, waving their offering, and depositing them with gay abandon, with gleeful exuberance. Now, I am not asking that we do this today in Zion church (though maybe our ushers will do it on our behalf?). No, what I pray for me (and for you) is that whether we dance or sing, play timbrel or lyre – what we will do is this, look for daring and imaginative ways to praise our Lord with our lives – time, skills and money.
As we dare to aspire to generosity at home, in shop, in church or (sometimes most challenging) in political arena – let us praise the Lord and bring praise to His Name.
Ecclesiasticus 44 begins with these memorable words, “Let us now praise famous men…” but a different theme emerges in verse 9 “And there are some who have no memorial – 10 but these were men/women of mercy whose righteous deeds have not been forgotten…”.
Today we praise the Lord for saints who have served in many ways this Christian community of Zion, some have left their names behind them while others have served with anonymous yet powerful quietness.
Today we praise the Lord for all those whom we remember, whose lives have somehow reflected the goodness of the Lord.
And today, we praise the Lord as we decide how we will give to Him who has given so much to us.
AMEN
(The hymn, in place of the creed, gives us a different way to affirm our faith and to commit our lives “to give and give, and give again; to serve right gloriously the God who gave all worlds that are, and all that are to be.” – Hymn #9 Episcopal Hymnal “Not here for high and holy things…”)
Hymn #9 click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jrw175aDutk