York Minster

Cheerful Giving

Date: 26th August 2007
Preacher: The Revd Canon Jeremy Fletcher

Sometimes church noticesheets have the capacity to amuse. There are lists of real and apocryphal notices, like the one which said:

Next Sunday’s service theme will be “What is Hell Like”. Come early and listen to our choir practice.

And

The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind.  They may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon.

I quite like:

The next hymn is Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus. The congregation will remain seated.

And there’s a good one in ours today.

The hymn after the sermon is:  “O Praise ye the Lord …The collection is taken during this hymn”.

Actually, it should be a matter of praise that there is a collection, and I hope that you are able to use it as a means of praise. Most often it takes people by surprise, and for those who are expecting there to be one it’s a bit of a chore. Of course, if you are in the know you can look superior by already having placed your money in the little envelope and getting the Gift Aid as well. And the envelopes serve another purpose. If you have no cash you can pretend you’ve put some in and just put the envelope on the plate. When churches have bags the other thing to do is put your empty hand in the opening and flick the bottom with your other hand – it sounds like you’ve put some change in, though it does hurt your thumb…

Chapters 8 and 9 of Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians are all about the collection. When I look at them again – and they contain some of my favourite writing in the Bible – I am amazed that Christians have made the giving of money, of material possessions, such a piece of drudgery and such a chore. Those of you who have sat on your church committee, or board, or PCC, will bear the scars of endless discussions about giving. In the Church of England just thinking about the parish share, or quota, can make grown men and women turn into weeping wrecks or steely eyed assassins. The last word you associate with money and giving in the Church of England, is ‘cheerful’.  According to Paul it is not just a giver whom God loves. It is a ‘cheerful’ giver. I said last week that the Greek word for cheerful is one we get ‘hilarious’ from. There is little hilarity about out collections, unless you count that of the people who, week by week, count up the foreign coinage, silver paper, sweet wrappers, and buttons which people have placed in the collection.

There are more amazing words about giving in this Chapter. The specific occasion is that the Christians in Jerusalem are in the middle of a famine, and Paul is trying to get the other churches, not all of them rich by any means, to assist them. But he doesn’t start with the problem, as if to compel them or make them feel guilty. He starts with the theology, and the opportunity. The theology is that giving our money helps us to participate in God’s generosity, shown in the gift, the grace, of Jesus Christ to us. We are rich in faith and belief and salvation and hope; we have the riches of heaven because God has first given to us. So in giving ourselves first to the Lord we demonstrate God’s lavishness and generosity. Next time your PCC talks about money, listen out to see if the words ‘gift’, ‘grace’, ‘lavishness’ and ‘generosity’ are used. They are in 2 Corinthians.

The opportunity is to help others, and to find in doing so that God ‘s generosity is multiplied on us and them. We don’t give so we can get more ourselves, but Paul is clear that if we sow lots of seed, much will come back. The opportunity is then to meet the needs of the church, of the saints, of the mission of God in the world, and in so doing to multiply praise and thanksgiving back to God. In this church we have just been promised a grant of £10m from the Heritage Lottery Fund. We are thankful for that gift! Receiving it caused an outbreak of praise. We give away too: and the letters we receive are their own outpouring of praise. This is good to do!

Enriching, bountiful, generosity, grace, gift, cheerful, eager, blessing, abundance, thanksgiving, sharing. That’s what giving is about. It’s not mindless: Paul says specifically that “you must give as you have made up your mind”, and so it must not be uninformed either. But the point is that what we have is not ours: it has been given to us. And what we have cannot save us: it is there to do good for others as well as bless us. Can you Praise the Lord that the collection is taken during the next hymn? I trust you can, for the sake of the saints, and so that thanksgivings can be made to God, who is worthy of all our praise, now and for ever. Amen.