Jess: So, after our wonderful 10 months and 4 days of blissful marriage, we have really only had one thing that we don't like/basically annoys the crap out of us. Those of you who are really perceptive probably discovered from the title that it's money. What a pain in the butt money is, especially when you don't have a whole lot of it.
Over the past few weeks, Wes and I have been reading a couple of books about stewardship and Wes has given two sermons on the topic. It's really had both of us thinking about stewardship in general, especially with regard to our situation. I will admit that we have not been perfect stewards of our money. When we first got married and moved up here, I was the only one working and we had a very limited income. We had no choice but to be good stewards of our resources or face not being able to pay our bills. Now that Wes is working, life has been a lot easier. Not only do we have more income, but we don't have to pay for utilities or our house.
Our problem is that, now that we have a bit more money, we are tempted to use it for ourselves and trick ourselves into believing we still don't have enough. Ironically enough, one of the books we read is Enough by Adam Hamilton, which is a wonderful book I would recommend for everyone. It explains that Americans desire to have more and more, but there is a point where the possessions we have no longer satisfy us. Instead, we want to keep buying and consuming and never enjoy the stuff we have. The result of this is that we have bills we can't pay, debt we can't get out of, things we never use, and we wonder why we're not happy.
So we have committed to being better stewards of what God has given us. We are going to hold off on buying a second car until next summer, because our schedules mesh well enough until then. We have not gotten cable at our house because there is no reason to pay $50 a month for cable when we can pay $8 a month for Netflix, watch basic cable, and use Hulu if we want anything else. We only eat out once a week, and we got a BJs membership, saving us probably $50 a month on food. I think we're doing a good job, but there are clearly other things we need to do. It's going to take a lot of work to stop our desire to "keep up with the Jones'" and be content to "use up" all of our stuff. For example, I'd love to have a new pair of tennis shoes, but mine are good for at least a little longer, so I'm going to wear them out!
I read a news story a little while ago about a couple that super-simplified their life. They got rid of all but 100 of their possessions, downgraded their house, sold their car, got rid of their TV, etc. Although I don't think we all should/need to be this extreme, I think they've set a great example for the rest of us. We are stewards of God's earth and everything with which he has blessed us. We're trying to be more environmentally, fiscally, and generally responsible. So here's to continuing that awesomeness!
Wes: As Jess mentioned, I just had the immense pleasure of giving a two-sermon series on stewardship. I tried breaking it up into two topics: (1) hilarious generosity and (2) stewardship as a spiritual discipline. Now, I have struggled for a long time in how to best articulate the subject of giving in the church, because I have heard some really bad stewardship sermons in the past. I did not want my homilies to come across as a "give me money" plea. Instead, I wanted to make sure that my message came across as a call to continued discipleship. So I broke my sermons up accordingly.
The first one, hilarious generosity, was based off of 1 Corinthians 9:7, which says that we should give joyfully. Stealing from the pastor of my home church, Charles Anderson, I talked about how the Greek word that is used for the word "joyful" in this is the word hilarion, which is the same root from which we get our word "hilarious." So maybe, the better translation of this verse would instead be "give hilariously," not "give joyfully." Now, for me, this is much easier to understand. I struggle with the phrase "give joyfully," because sometimes it is hard to be joyful about parting with our things. But to give hilariously, to give when it doesn't make any worldly sense to do so, to be outrageous in our generosity, this is something to which I can grasp on. We are called to be in this world but not of this world, and we are called to trust in the wisdom of God, not the wisdom of the world. Now, I did not mention the term "tithing" or "stewardship" at all in this sermon. Instead, I tried to focus as much as possible on the generosity of the faithful disciple to those who are in need. I challenged my friends present to pray about their acts of generosity and how they could give even more hilariously.
The second sermon's premise was taken almost completely from Adam Hamilton's book, Enough, that Jess mentioned above. I talked about how we are called by God to be faithful stewards of the world's resources, and a large part of this is to give back to God from the resources God has given us. We are called to do this lovingly, and as an act of worship. This is, of course, the first ways in which God's people worshiped God: by building an altar and placing on it the first fruits of their bounty. We should take just as much care and pride in our offerings to God as a Abraham and Jacob did in building their altars and placing their sacrifices upon it. Then I had them do something crazy. I had them take part in the weekly offering in the same way that our sisters and brothers in Rwanda do their weekly offering: by walking up to the altar railing and dropping their offerings in it while grasping one arm with the other (a sign of respect in Rwandan culture). By doing this, they were shaking hands with God, and showing God the highest amounts of respect. And I was pleasantly surprised by the response. Everyone happily stood up and took part in this outward sign of worship to God.
So now Jess and I are joining our churches in looking at our own giving to the church and our own stewardship practices. And let me tell you, this is not always easy. I have an Xbox game reserved that comes out in two weeks that I have been waiting for with great expectation. I want a new pair of boots because the soles on mine are wearing down. I want a flat screen TV that doesn't weigh 250 pounds like the one we have. There is a book that just came out--the twelfth and penultimate book in a series I've been reading since I was in 6th grade--that I have reserved at the library instead of buying to be a step closer to completing my library... There are so many things that I wish that I could be spending our money on, but they are not things that we need or can't live without. We are upping our giving so that (after a few months of gradually increasing the amount) our monthly tithe will exceed the 10% that should be our minimum. We are also looking at starting or contributing to a scholarship fund for seminary students to help support people like ourselves going into ordained ministry. And we cannot do these things if we are spending all of our money of the... niceties of life.
So that has been our trip down stewardship lane. What has been your experience with churches and the topic of tithing and stewardship? Have you heard a good sermon on it, or have they all been kind of oppressive? I have very strong views on the role of the disciple when it comes to giving, but I feel like this has not been very well translated into the sermons that we give on Sunday mornings. I would love to hear from you about your thoughts on it and how you see your walk with Christ in respect to your money and resources.
Well, that's it for us! You stay classy, World Wide Web!
-Jess and Wes
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I'm in a similar boat that you guys were in a little while ago: too many bills and not enough paycheck. Fortunately my student loans are paid off, and my family is willing to support me by keeping me on their insurance (the parts that aren't covered by my job). Jon and I also eat at his parents'/with his parents at least once a week.
ReplyDeleteThe annual "you should really tithe" sermon happened at my church a few weeks ago. The pastor's sermon was called "Pink Chiclets," and she talked about how she was always willing to share her handful of the forbidden candy/gum. She shared every black and white Chiclet -- but the pink ones, those were hers.
The sermon basically boiled down to the idea that you should give of your first fruits.
Sadly, Jon and I are at the point where our "first fruits" are our ONLY fruits -- and I'm just not as willing as Jesus was to give up my home and all of my possessions. Perhaps that's selfish or un-Christian of me.
I don't know a whole lot about religion (or even about faith). But I have always been taught that if I can't give my money, I can always give my TIME.
So I'm trying to find something at my church to get involved in. I'm in the choir, but the weekly bulletins always list so many activities that are going on. And they all need helping hands.
I think it's good to know that just because I can't give money, doesn't mean that I can't be a steward.
Amy,
ReplyDeleteWes and I were in the same boat with tithing when I was the only one working. We just plain didn't have enough money to keep our house, car, school, etc. and tithe. What it boiled down to was us tossing $5 or $10 in the plate whenever we had some spare cash, and when we didn't, we didn't. Now that we have the money, we're working on the "firstfruits" part. I would argue that time and money are NOT the same thing IF you have both to give. Since you don't, the more you can give of your time, the better. When you get into a place where you're more financially secure, do what you can. God knows your heart, and so do you. :-D
Jess (and Wes)