11/11/56

Scripture: Read Psalm 24.

Text: Psalm 24: 1; “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof; the world and they that dwell therein.”

Every well ordered household and home requires what is usually called “housekeeping.” And housekeeping includes not only making beds and washing dishes, cleaning floors and dusting furniture; but also it includes earnest consideration of the family finances and the household budget. There may be some simple souls who believe for a time that a home runs exclusively on love. But they usually discover that most homes must have a house, and that a house involves the kind of management which definitely includes finances.

There are people who appear to think that churches are a kind of “air plant” that just puts out feelers into the atmosphere to draw their sustenance therefrom. Such people are almost always those who seek an excuse to evade their own rightful share of financial responsibility. The church is an altogether voluntary association, with no possible or desired power to tax its people. Our church does not even have what are sometimes called dues. The work of this congregation is made possible entirely by voluntary contributions. If its witness is to be effective it will be because the work, and the spirit of willingness, are tangibly supported by generous and vision-inspired giving on the part of all able members and friends.

We of this church are at this “housekeeping” time of year. We seldom mention money, nor do we make many references to the need of a host of causes for financial support, except at this one time of the year. It is a question whether we have a right to be thus shielded from numerous appeals in a world that is, in many quarters, so desperate. For we are a privileged church in some ways. And extra privilege involves extra responsibility. So our annual consideration of “household finances” ought to be extraordinarily thorough, and our sights should be high.

We must be concerned for the adequate and forward-looking growth of our own household. And we must be concerned for our Christian world mission. We live in a world where there are others who do believe in foreign missions whether we do or not. There are men in Moscow who think of little else but foreign missions for their way of living.

I have no hesitation whatever in asking you to underwrite that part of our church budget which provides for the support of our Christian work outside our local parish, bringing help to eager human beings all over the globe. Either that need is to be met by adequate, tangible Christian concern and encouragement, or the field will be left, abandoned and wide open, to the godless lies of another and seriously enslaving way of life. Can freedom survive in any area that is not penetrated by the Kingdom of God?

When we give to the Christian enterprise, we are not just peddling our own denominational wares. Nor are we indulging in any sense of superiority to the so-called “heathen.” If we know what we are doing, we are doing the greatest thing we can do to create a happy future for mankind. And we are doing it, not so much in competition against, as in cooperation with all other churches of every denomination, though we do work through our own.

Never was there a time when the command of Christ to “go into all the world and preach the gospel to every living creature” [Mark 16: 15] was so completely at one with man’s rightful concern for a free and better world. Unless we keep our thinking up at this level, our giving will be picayune and unworthy.

I beg you to think, in no small sense, of the religious advance that our giving supports. We ought to have a large vision of our own possibility for training and development in this church and a broad view of religion in world affairs. It is not the extension and welfare of one, lone church congregation that is at stake; it is the welfare of all mankind, ourselves included.

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It was Martin Luther who said: “Every man needs two conversions; the first of the heart and the second of the pocketbook.” There are a lot of Christian folk who have long since resolved to give up pagan sins, and who try to live fairly decent lives, who still think of their money as their own. Let us think for a moment about the word possessions and its meaning to us.

There is a white pine tree growing beside the little cabin where our family goes in vacation time. We say it is ours, or I can say it is mine. But is it? If so, in what sense? I did not plant it; nor did anyone else in my family. None of us made it grow. We could not possibly transplant it. If it fell to the ground, it is a question whether I could even cut it into firewood. Mine? For a time, I happen to be a custodian of the land on which it grows.

We people say that we “made our money.” Did we make the industry that makes fruitful our private endeavors? Did we ourselves create the energy, the health, the talents that have enabled us to make money? Did we bring into being the fertile soil, the rich resources, which enable us and others to live? Let us remind ourselves that we are stewards of that over which we have custody, rather than absolute possessors. We are here but a short time in history. Others will take over after us, for we will carry no material possession beyond the mortal stage of our lives. And we can be bad custodians or good stewards while we are here. Are we being good custodians, as a people? Here is a “quote” from a book called Faith Takes a Name:

“Organized religion and private social welfare represent a relatively small share of our economic life. It appears that consumers have devoted to the support of the church and welfare institutions little more than $1.50 out of every $100.00 of their expenditures in recent years.” Then the author goes on to observe that “This is considerably less than our per capita expenditure for either tobacco or alcoholic beverages.”

Isn’t it appalling that we Christian people have not changed the proportion of what we spend, especially for the winning of the world for Christ? How many of us are small in our concern for our own indulgences, our own self-centered plans! How many of us would even have the grace to admire a certain Christian couple in another land. The wife, once a rich woman, has now sold all her jewels to support her school. The husband, an architect well-known in Japan, employing 400 men, does not even own his own house, but puts all available earnings into his Christian work.

I’m not out on a crusade against personal pleasure; and certainly I understand, and approve, the benefits of home ownership. But I plead with all of you in this church that we keep our sights high so that we can see Christian service, and Christian giving at a level where we can take great joy in it!

Many of us want to grow up spiritually. We are not satisfied with being spiritual babies --- and some of us are spiritual infants in knowledge and experience; babes in idleness when the church needs workers; babes in responsibility for spending nearly everything we have on ourselves and giving God a slim tip out of what may be lest over. Few things will stimulate our growth more than to let our Christian conversion reach to our check book! [And our time].

Doesn’t it bowl you over to compare the cheapness in giving by people with adequate worldly goods, with the sacrifice of some who have so little? Now there are folk whose gifts make up a small proportion of the total, simply because they have so little out of which to give. One of the greatest gifts in history was that of a woman whose name is not now known, and probably was not known at the time, to others who saw her put two tiny coins into a collection box in Palestine more than 1900 years ago. Perhaps you remember that there was an Observer named Jesus at the time, who said to those nearby: “This poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For they all contributed out of their abundance; but she, out of her poverty, has put in everything she had, her whole living.” [Mark 12: 42-44].

There are people of small incomes today, whose proportionate giving is above the usually-considered capacity to pay, who are joyful in their gifts and do not even talk or think “poor.” There are some who are content to let others carry the load. And of course there are a few who really have little or nothing out of which to make any except the smallest of gifts.

There are people of large income who give joyfully and generously. And there are others, of better-than-average income, who “talk poor” when it comes to their contribution to church and to welfare work and who deprive themselves of the real joy of giving in adequate measure to the Christian cause.

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There are people who like to set up a standard for systematic giving. Some are attracted to the Biblical suggestion that to give a tithe of their income is a worthy standard. Not all of them are agreed as to what a tithe is. An Episcopal bishop says it is one tenth of income after government income taxes -- five percent to the church and five percent to social demands such as Red Cross, community chest, private colleges, and so on.

A layman in another city takes it as his view that his tithe is one tenth of his gross income in the practice of law. He told Sam Shoemaker that out of every hundred dollars that comes across his desk, ten of it goes into his tithe fund -- and his taxes come out of the other ninety! Our federal government says that even 20% giving is a fair and allowable proportion for purposes of income tax deductions for contributions.

I do not propose to be your conscience. I am pointing out that there are people who set their sights high on what they propose to give. And they do so with vision of what their giving can accomplish. I urge each of you in this congregation not to let yourself off as lightly as you can, but to consider what you really can do as good stewards of the possessions that come to your custody.

Last week, this year’s committees on finance and the every member canvass, headed by Mr. Wefel, sent out to the homes of our parish the information which we need in order to understand the financing of our church. The figures proposed are not the arbitrary decision of one person or one committee. They are the studied proposal of representatives of most of the groups and boards in the church. They were approved as the proposed budget for 1957 by a regularly called business meeting of the church. The meeting was attended by a comparative handful, whereas it should summon the enthusiastic interest of all church members. But our church boards, and those present at the general meeting, have considered it carefully.

Our church offices have felt that several operating items should be advanced in line, at least, with rising costs of living and maintenance. Our denomination has proposed a significant advance for this year in support of our Christian world mission at home and abroad. The proposed budget does not meet the proposal. But it does represent some advance. And this church is one of those that has done better than many in our conference in recent years. We are among the top one sixth in this state, as we should be, considering our ability.

We make a modest contribution, each year, to our seminary in Chicago (approximately 1% of our home expenses for this purpose.) We propose to begin contributing directly to our state summer conference camp at Green Lake. And there is a scholarship item included this year. Every church ought to “raise up” as many ministers as it “uses up.” Now one of our members is enrolled at the Chicago Theological Seminary. Like nearly all seminary students, his educational expense is met partly by a seminary scholarship and partly by his own work and saving. Each church that is able to do so, considers seriously the replenishing of the seminary’s scholarship funds, at least during the time it has a member in training. This is not a direct contribution to the student himself, but to the seminary which seeks to make possible his education for the ministry.

Our Board of Trustees wishes to develop next spring and summer the property next door to the church as more church parking space. Further, it wishes to acquire other property adjacent to the church to make possible future expansion.

All of the budget proposed this year suggests an increase of only $1,000 in pledges sought from us this year. We ought to raise it with ease. In fact we have the capacity to do much more, as soon as we confront ourselves with some real challenge!

Many of you noted, in the last issue of Church Life magazine, the brief article by Serge Hummon entitled “A Clue to Our Devotion.” Rev. Mr. Hummon has done some research on the giving of Congregational Christians in Wisconsin. And he finds that the base line in giving for all our churches is $33.09 per member for home expenses and $4.55 per member for our Christian world mission, or a total per member of $37.64. Do you know that if we of this church even met that average, our budget would sum to nearly $25,000 instead of the 19 or 20 thousand our committee proposes? Strongest average giving among our churches in this state appears to be $58 per member in the little north woods church at Phelps, and $53 per member in Grand Avenue Congregational Church of Milwaukee.

It is true that our church has done well in some respects. But we are considerably below the State average in our home expense giving. And further we rely on the income from our endowment, the George McMillan fund, to keep us in overall balance.

This year, our committee enclosed in the mailing a leaflet on the Christian Standard of Giving and a card called a “pledge calculator.” That card was not meant in any sense to be a “thou shalt.” But it is hoped that it will stimulate us, along with some understanding of the need for Christian service, to the raising of our sights.

I heard a lay member of another Protestant church in our city say, several seasons ago, that they believed each family in this parish would have to give an average of $5.00 a week to their building fund, over and beyond regular budget pledging, if they were to have the new building they needed. Evidently they decided to give in that fashion, for they went ahead with the building. And it was not a one year exemption either, for the job is not done, and that kind of giving must go on through at least a half dozen years.

Our work should continue to expand with the increasing responsibility of the years. I urge every member of this church and each one who though not a member, worships and works with us, to consider the whole matter of Christian giving more thoroughly than ever before. The success of the Christian enterprise in the world is the welfare of all mankind. Our private comforts and indulgences are of consequence only to us.

Ask God what He expects you to do! Then let your actions acknowledge the answer you receive.

And, for the sake of a world not yet fully decided whether to go the godless way or the Christian way; for the sake of the Christ who became poor that we might become rich in Him; for the sake of a little more of peace and joy and dedication in our own souls, let us give adequately. For if we do so, everybody --- ourselves, our neighbors, and even God --- will be happier.

God bless you and guide your decision.

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[Dedication -- read one stanza hymn 314, and one prayer in manual].

Delivered in Wisconsin Rapids, November 11, 1956.

Also in Wisconsin Rapids, November 15, 1959 (Pages 1 through 8 were included in this sermon.)