Proper 28 Burglary
& Tithes
Sunday, November 14,
2010
The Very Rev. Loren Fox
In Luke 21 verse 1, we find Jesus praising the poor woman who gave two
mites to the treasury in the Temple of God, and then in verse 5, Jesus turns
his attention to the suffering that his
followers will face.
Luke 21:5-19: "When
you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must
take place first, but the end will not follow immediately…But before all this
occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to
synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors
because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify...By your
endurance you will gain your souls."
Today in many churches around the US will specifically
remember the persecuted church worldwide.
There are brothers and sisters who are facing arrest, beatings, and
death, they are losing their jobs, being torn from their families, or in some
cases, having their children taken away from them all because they believe
in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
I am grateful that we do not face that level of persecution
here at Church of Our Savior; I am grateful that we do not need to fear that
the army, the police, or just some thugs could at any moment break in and
disrupt our worship of God. We are safe
and I thank God for His protection of us.
The last six weeks however have been difficult—I did not
realize how much so until Thursday afternoon.
Early in October, the church offices were broken into on a Saturday
night. Then, several unlocked cars were
broken into during both the 8 and 10:30 services on a Sunday morning. Two weeks ago, on Halloween, the church
offices were broken into again—my office, the finance office, and the offices
of Blessed Redeemer. Last Sunday night
they tried again. And then on Thursday
afternoon, while I was out of the office to bless a house, just after two
volunteers left, and before the gardener started to cut the grass, the would-be
thieves tried yet again. It is not
persecution, but it has been tiresome.
Satan has tried to frustrate God’s work here.
Let me say the obvious:
lock your cars, and when leaving the Church properties please lock the
doors behind you.
Let me also ask your patience: we have changed all of the locks on the
property and are increasing security all the way around. If you have church keys, you will need to
turn them in to Susan in the office, before you can get new keys. Even when you have new keys, you may find
some doors do not open, until the inside dead bolts have been unlocked.
I am personally grateful for the efforts that the Palm Bay
police have given to this series of events—as well as the attention of the
Vestry in general, and Harold Clarke, Bob Leonard and Jerome McKenzie in particular,
to fixing things and caring for the staff and volunteers in the offices.
The latest attempt took place on Thursday afternoon shortly
before the Vestry meeting—which was just the wrong day for the would-be thief to
choose: the Vestry discussed these
events in quite some detail. They are ready
and very willing to increase security around the property. Several parishioners have already stepped
forward to help pay for those improvements.
I am grateful to those of you who have volunteered to do so. As I said, we have already made a few
significant improvements, and the Vestry is looking at additional options
including increased lighting, cameras and an alarm system. Once we have priced out the options and made
a prayerful decision, we will inform the congregation and ask your help.
But even before then, I want to share with you another
concern. We are currently looking at a
$8000 deficit for the end of the year; and after a lot of work, still projecting
a significant deficit in next year’s budget.
Let me try to be very clear about this:
our giving is up this year compared to last. We have much to be thankful for. But our expenses are also up—the Vestry took
a step of faith last year to expand our budget to address long-term needs. It was a bold step of faith which the Annual
Meeting approved. Here we are at the end
of the year—giving is up, but not up enough to cover the full amount.
Now here’s the dilemma I face. If what I have been told is correct (and we
are getting quotes to double-check this), a full alarm system will cost more
than the deficit. So I rejoice that God
is prompting individuals to express their concern for their Church. This is good.
Yet, I am left wondering why it is that we are not covering the cost of
our ministries here, ministries that we believe God has called us to undertake—which
in turn makes it hard to plan ahead. Our
attendance this year is up more than 6% over last year, we can rejoice that God
is sending new people here, and that God has helped us to welcome those people
more effectively. Prayers are being answered, sometimes miraculously so. People are enjoying the Word of God: our Wednesday morning Bible Study has grown from
9 or 10 persons, to 30 this year. The
Vestry sees that growth and thanks God for each new person here—and for the
increased ministry we have among all of our members. I have challenged the Vestry to think five to
seven years ahead, to be praying and preparing for the long-term. They did that this past January and they want
to do so again for 2011.
But I need to ask your help.
I know that times are difficult for most of us, and extremely difficult
for many of us. Two weeks ago, I issued
a Zacchaeus challenge to let God give you a spirit of generosity. Last week, Ron Davis inspired all of us as he
reminded each of us that we are all sent ones.
This morning, I am calling on you again to prayerfully consider whether
God has sent you here to Our Savior and whether God has called you to give
generously to His work in this place.
Note I am asking you to ask God: this issue of giving is between you and Him,
not between you and me. I do not know
what your income is, your other expenses, or even where else you may be giving
to God’s work. It is my responsibility
to go to God to ask Him for the resources to do His ministry. It is your responsibility to go to God to ask
Him how you should share your resources for His work. The pattern is the same for both of us: you and I go to God who provides for all of
our needs.
Last Saturday, during one of the workshops with Ron, he told
us how his congregation is committed to personal tithing and to giving away 50%
of their parish offerings. By way of
comparison, we give away 12%, 10% to the Diocese and 2% to outreach and
missions. Ron’s church has not
accomplished their goal of 50%, but they do give away 46% of their parish
monies each year to missions and outreach!
Each person in the congregation aims to give 10% of their income so that
the Church can give away more than four times that! Sounds like the loaves and fishes to me!
How does that work? Let me illustrate—when your daughter or
granddaughter gets married, how much are you willing to spend? I have been surprised during the last twenty
years of my ministry to see some families spend nearly as much as a year’s
salary for their daughter’s special day.
How do they do it? Why do they do
that? The answer is always the
same: “She’s my daughter, I love her,
and for her, nothing is too much.” Do
you hear that joy and pleasure in giving?
When we tithe, we are doing the same thing towards God—the
only reason to give God so much is because we love Him and we are filled with
the joy and pleasure of giving to Him! When
Satan tempted the would-be thief, he wanted to discourage God’s people and
undermine God’s work here: but Satan
should have known better. This is a
great opportunity for us to rely on God even more and to discover yet again,
that God is more powerful, more loving, more generous than Satan could ever
be. This week, ask yourself how much
would you like to give God and to God’s work in this place? How much would He like for you to give to
Him and His work here?
