<!-- Alternate content for non-supporting browsers --> <p align="left" class="style6">A Letter from the Rector </p> <p align="left" class="style8">Stewardship Sunday, September 30, 2007 Sermon</p> <p class="style19">Of all the Stewardship sermons I have given, and I have heard, there are only really three things I can really remember off the top of my head. </p> <p class="style19">The first is Bishop Burrill quoting Martin Luther who said something like, “To be a disciple of Christ, the head, the heart, and the pocket book must be converted. Of the three of these the pocket book is the hardest.” </p> <p class="style19">My second memory is of Father Dan Matthews, the former Rector of Trinity Church Wall Street, saying something like, “The annual stewardship sermon always makes the Rector feel like a car salesman because no matter what he or she says, you always know that the Rector wants your money.” </p> <p class="style19">My third memory took place when I was in fifth grade. Standing at the back of the church as the procession began, my best friend, Dave Feeney, said to me, “Oh, it’s Father Daly, I know the topic of today’s sermon, ‘Hail, Give Money!’” </p> <p class="style19">So this is my annual stewardship, car salesman, hail, give money to convert your pocket book to Christ sermon. To do so, I want to give you five good reasons for you to be stewards through All Saints’ Episcopal Church. </p> <p class="style19"><span class="style20"><strong>1. It Is Good For You To Give</strong></span><br> A friend of mine, Dr. Stephen Post, just wrote a book entitled, “Why Good Things Happen to Good People.” Stephen is the Director of the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love which is the brainchild of Sir John Templeton, philanthropist and founder of the Templeton Fund. The Institute has funded over 500 serious scientific studies that demonstrate the power of unselfish love to enhance our lives. The other night on the telephone, Stephen said that they had basically discovered the truth of Acts 20– where Jesus says that, “it is more blessed to give than to receive.” </p> <p class="style19">It was beautiful to hear Stephen say that giving is the most powerful force on the planet and that it is the one kind of love that we can count on because we can always choose it. To paraphrase him, “if you want to be happy, loved, safe, and secure . . . if you want to turn to others in tough times . . . if you want warmth and true connections . . . if you want to walk through the world each day knowing that it is a place of benevolence and hope . . .” he has one answer for us: give. If we give, we will be happier, healthier, and live longer. </p> <p class="style19">The research, some of which has been done at the leading institutions of the world, has made some astounding discoveries.</p> <p class="style19">• Giving in high school predicts good physical and mental health all the way into late adulthood, a time interval of over fifty years.<br> • Giving reduces mortality significantly in later life, even when you start late.<br> • Giving reduces adolescent depression and suicide risk.<br> • Giving is more powerful than receiving in its ability to reduce mortality.<br> • Giving to others helps us forgive ourselves for our own mistakes, which is key to a sense of well-being.<br> • Helping friends, relatives, and neighbors, along with providing emotional support to a spouse, reduces mortality, although receiving the same kind of help does not.<br> • Even the simple act of praying for others reduces the harmful impact of health difficulties in old age for those doing the praying.</p> <p class="style19">His basic conclusion is that Descartes did not get it right with, “cogito ergo sum”. At the deepest level, our being is not defined by, “I think therefore I am” but rather “I love therefore I am”.</p> <p class="style19"><span class="style17">2. It Is Good For All Of Us In The Church When You Give</span><br> You are the church. The walls and the air conditioner on the roof are merely the husk. If you give, we have life. If you stop giving, we will go away. We as the church have life to the degree that you give of your time, talent, and treasure. You received a letter from me with a pledge card and a list of ministries. Both the pledge card and the list are an invitation for you to give through this community in Christ. During the past few years the number of people involved in the ministry at All Saints’ has doubled. </p> <p class="style19">I want you also to know that it is good for the whole church community when you make a planned gift. One of my favorite New Yorker cartoons is a picture of a man ascending to heaven and coming along behind him are his car, television, and expensive shoes. The caption reads, “You really can bring it with you.” We all know that we cannot bring it with us. We trust that the only thing we are able to bring is the love we have given, and the love we have received. The church is beginning a Legacy Circle which invites you to extend your legacy of giving beyond your life so that through putting the church in your will, you can empower the ministry of grace at All Saints’ from generation to generation.</p> <p class="style19"><span class="style18" style="font-weight: bold">3. Giving Is Of The People, By The People, And For The People</span><br> The stewardship campaign is designed by Mike Killion, Sue and David Frome, Chris and Gary Weber, Kim Sterling-Heflin, and Shelley Dudley. They recruited 60 people who have tried to call every member of the congregation that we have a telephone number for. They did this out of the conviction that every member matters; every member should have a ministry; and every member should help to bear the financial weight of responsibility for their church. The participation goal is 100%. At first, I tried to strike this from the letter you received, but I was overruled by the committee who convinced me that, of course, our goal had to be 100% participation. It takes everyone to make All Saints’ Church and every pledge matters, regardless of its size, from the highest pledge of $40,000 to the $52 pledge. I hope you will all find a pledge home somewhere between the two.</p> <p class="style19"><span class="style18"><strong>4. Giving Is Godly </strong></span><br> The inner life of the Trinity works through self-giving love. The Father gives everything in love to the Son who gives everything in love to the Holy Spirit who gives everything in love to the Father. The Christian life is one in which we get caught up in the self-giving love of the Trinity and then are dispatched to be instruments of God’s grace. Most of us experience grace through another, and when we give of our time and our talent and our treasure, God works through us to care for those in need.</p> <p class="style19"><span style="color: #3366FF"><strong>5. Jesus Expects This Of Us</strong></span><br> One of the best sermons I ever heard was delivered by the Bishop of Missouri at the Installation of the Dean of the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale. I was afraid for the preacher because I could not fathom what he could say to all of the weighty professorial theologians who were seated up front, adorned in their academic regalia. I was so intimidated that I sat in the last row. The preacher delivered an amazing message that was this, “Jesus expects this of us.” That is what the parable of the talents is all about. Jesus uses harsh Hebraic argumentation to awaken us to the fact that God expects us to give back from the gifts we have received. It is that simple.</p> <p class="style19">The church, beginning with all the children in Church-in-the-Round all the way up through the seniors in our community, is really a school in which we learn to live to give for the love of Christ. When we live to give for the love of Christ, we change our life for the better, we improve the life of our church, and we serve the lives of those in the community around us. It is win, win, win. Amen.<br> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0;"> </p> <p align="left" class="style6" style="margin-top: 0;"><br> </p> <p align="left" class="style6" style="margin-bottom: 0;"> </p>
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