Stewardship Sermon for the First Sunday of Advent

Just in case you missed the stewardship sermon last week you can catch up on it here!

Jeremiah 33: 14-16, 1 Thessalonians 3: 9-13, Luke 21: 25-36

We decided earlier in the year that this would be a good time to hold a low-key stewardship fortnight. I do encourage you all to take a copy of the magazine and to read and reflect on the financial information you'll find there and on what you can do to support the church here and on your own spiritual life.

There are two main reasons why we need to regularly review our stewardship commitment within the church. The first, though not the most important, is for the obvious practical reasons. We have to be realistic about our common household expenses and our responsibility to not only provide for the mission and ministry of the parish here in our own day but to care for and pass on the gifts we have received. Within the living memory of many people here at St Peter’s this main part of the church was paid for by the people of this parish as was the Rectory which I am fortunate to be lent as a home for myself and my family. I am very conscious that this has been a financially bruising year for many people in our congregation and I sympathize with that – my stipend has been frozen until 2011 and I have a growing family. But precisely because this has been a difficult year we have to be realistic about money in the parish. Some people have had to reduce their giving and the Diocese is less able to help support the parishes. Despite the misleading facts that are always about suggesting the Church of England is terribly rich the reality is that our Diocese is facing a £1 million pound shortfall for next year and will be looking to reduce clergy posts by about 10%, losing 33 full time clergy posts. Parishes which cannot cover the costs of a full time clergyman may well lose them.

But beyond the practical considerations there is the response of generosity. The PCC decided that the beginning of Advent was a good time to talk about our giving and stewardship because in this period of the church year we are so firmly focused upon God’s love and generosity. As today’s gospel reading reminds us we look ahead to the last judgement and the heavenly dwelling place that God has prepared for his people. And with the prophecy of Jesus’ birth, the righteous offspring of the house of David, we are reminded of God’s love in giving us the great gift – Jesus his Son – the reason that Christmas is a time of gift giving as we respond to God’s generosity. We give because we have received.

One of the mysteries of life is the importance of costliness. At times when it is harder to be a Christian the church flourishes in strange ways. We always look back to the times of persecution when we have been martyred for the faith for simply being a Christian as times of inspiration. We are unlikely to be asked in this generation to die because of love of Jesus in this country. But we might well think about how much our willingness to get involved in the church and let our faith be a matter of prime importance in our life defines our commitment. Do we love God enough to be generous with our money, our time, and our love?

Our second reading suggests that this theme of love is an important one for us when we are asked to reflect on our level of giving. St Paul’s theme is of course the importance of a right relationship with God, but he emphasizes the importance of mutual love within the community.

‘May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you. And may he strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all the saints.’

See how Paul is concerned with the salvation of the Christians he is writing to in Thessalonica, that they are righteous before God and destined for heaven. But his concern is not a mechanical one – I need get this job done so I can move on to the next church. No his concern is rooted in his love for the people he has encountered there.

I think this is the key to our giving. I can tell you practically that the church recommends that we tithe our income, give away 10% of it, half to the church and half to other charities and good causes we wish to support. So if you take home £1,000 a month the recommendation is that you give £50 a month to the church – and I can tell you that I give this myself to St Peter’s as well as supporting the Catholic Church my wife attends. I can tell you that if everyone gave an extra 50p a week that would close the budget shortfall in the Diocese.

But these figures, on their own, are not the whole picture. They don’t take into account our family situations – some may be able to be more generous, and some less. But the love that St Paul talks about, the love we should cultivate for each other should have two practical consequences here. Firstly we should want to support each other. Some people are really struggling at the moment and those of us who can need to be generous enough to make sure that we can pay our way as a whole. However much we may need to be practical no one should feel unwelcome at St Peter’s because their financial situation is worse than another’s. We have to pay our housekeeping bills but the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is free – that’s why there is no charge for baptism! So to be generous in our giving is often to help other members of our church.

Secondly the Gospel, our faith in Jesus, needs to be shared, not as a way of increasing our numbers to help us pay our way, but because we want to share God’s message of love and forgiveness with others. Jesus is not a private possession to be jealously guarded but the gift of God’s love to be shared. So to be generous in our giving is to help to make sure that there is a church here at St Peter’s open, with the lights and heating on, so that we can meet people, invite them in and share God’s love.

So I do ask you to take the time to review your giving and to be as generous as you can. But as I mention in my letter I also want you to take time to review your spiritual life and the space you are making for God in it.

I want you to be financially generous. Wouldn’t it be great if we were able not only to pay our bills but also to employ a youth worker here or buy a house so we could bid for a curate! But at the same time I don’t want us to become fixated with the money as an end in itself.

So don’t despair if you are already being as generous as you can financially – but please think about what else you can do. Support the church in prayer – perhaps attend an extra service regularly in the week and pray for evangelism in the parish. If you cannot give another penny to the parish funds but you are able to pray for another person and share your faith with them you will have done an even greater work for God.

Imogen Catherine Rose

I was pleased to discover when coming to reactivate the blog that my last posting was, at least in part, about my Stepdaughter Isabella, or daughter number one as we are now calling her! Imogen was born on November 17th and is my latest contribution to church growth here at St Peter's!

I may be biased but I think she's rather wonderful.

Well it's been some time since I posted on the blog, perhaps tomorrow I'll post something about that. Today I was moved by the snow to think of St Thomas Aquinas' speculation on whether Christ should have been born in the winter or not.

This is the sort of speculation that is often assumed to be rather silly. Do we really need to wonder whether it was wise timing on God's behalf to choose a winter birth for Christ?

(Astute readers will notice that I give some credence to the view that Christ actually was born on 25th December.) However St Thomas' speculation revolves around something rather important. Much of the current revisionist theological debate about gender, whether in relation to Holy Orders, or sexual ethics seem to assume that the timing of the Lord's birth was rather poor, given how much better informed we are today. I think this argument needs to be examined carefully. Obviously I am not trying to argue that we need to simply remain within the Jewish culture of two millennia ago, but we also need to be careful not to assume that that culture is irrelevant to us today. God chose the moment in history for Jesus to become incarnate - and he doesn't make mistakes.

None of this I suspect was on my stepdaughter's mind when she was building a snowman today!

Over to St Thomas....

St iii. 35

Article 8. Whether Christ was born at a fitting time?

Objection 1. It would seem that Christ was not born at a fitting time. Because Christ came in order to restore liberty to His own. But He was born at a time of subjection--namely, when the whole world, as it were, tributary to Augustus, was being enrolled, at his command as Luke relates (2:1). Therefore it seems that Christ was not born at a fitting time.

Objection 2. Further, the promises concerning the coming of Christ were not made to the Gentiles; according to Romans 9:4: "To whom belong . . . the promises." But Christ was born during the reign of a foreigner, as appears from Matthew 2:1: "When Jesus was born in the days of King Herod." Therefore it seems that He was not born at a fitting time.

Objection 3. Further, the time of Christ's presence on earth is compared to the day, because He is the "Light of the world"; wherefore He says Himself (John 9:4): "I must work the works of Him that sent Me, whilst it is day." But in summer the days are longer than in winter. Therefore, since He was born in the depth of winter, eight days before the Kalends of January, it seems that He was not born at a fitting time.

On the contrary, It is written (Galatians 4:4): "When the fulness of the time was come, God sent His Son, made of a woman, made under the law."

I answer that, There is this difference between Christ and other men, that, whereas they are born subject to the restrictions of time, Christ, as Lord and Maker of all time, chose a time in which to be born, just as He chose a mother and a birthplace. And since "what is of God is well ordered" and becomingly arranged, it follows that Christ was born at a most fitting time.

Reply to Objection 1. Christ came in order to bring us back from a state of bondage to a state of liberty. And therefore, as He took our mortal nature in order to restore us to life, so, as Bede says (Super Luc. ii, 4,5), "He deigned to take flesh at such a time that, shortly after His birth, He would be enrolled in Caesar's census, and thus submit Himself to bondage for the sake of our liberty."

Moreover, at that time, when the whole world lived under one ruler, peace abounded on the earth. Therefore it was a fitting time for the birth of Christ, for "He is our peace, who hath made both one," as it is written (Ephesians 2:14). Wherefore Jerome says on Isaiah 2:4: "If we search the page of ancient history, we shall find that throughout the whole world there was discord until the twenty-eighth year of Augustus Caesar: but when our Lord was born, all war ceased"; according to Isaiah 2:4: "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation."

Again, it was fitting that Christ should be born while the world was governed by one ruler, because "He came to gather His own [Vulgate: 'the children of God'] together in one" (John 11:52), that there might be "one fold and one shepherd" (John 10:16).

Reply to Objection 2. Christ wished to be born during the reign of a foreigner, that the prophecy of Jacob might be fulfilled (Genesis 49:10): "The sceptre shall not be taken away from Juda, nor a ruler from his thigh, till He come that is to be sent." Because, as Chrysostom says (Hom. ii in Matth. [Opus Imperf., falsely ascribed to Chrysostom), as long as the Jewish "people was governed by Jewish kings, however wicked, prophets were sent for their healing. But now that the Law of God is under the power of a wicked king, Christ is born; because a grave and hopeless disease demanded a more skilful physician."

Reply to Objection 3. As says the author of the book De Qq. Nov. et Vet. Test., "Christ wished to be born, when the light of day begins to increase in length," so as to show that He came in order that man might come nearer to the Divine Light, according to Luke 1:79: "To enlighten them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death."

In like manner He chose to be born in the rough winter season, that He might begin from then to suffer in body for us.