FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ATLANTA, GEORGIA

Sermon by Dr. George Bryant Wirth

 

First Sunday of Annual Giving Campaign

October 20, 2002

 

OPEN HEARTS, OPEN HANDS

 

Scripture:  Deuteronomy 6:4-12; Luke 12:32-34

 

          Text:  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

 

                                                                             Luke 12:34

 

INTRODUCTION

 

Two men were shipwrecked on a deserted island.  In desperation, one of them cried out, “We have no food, no water!  We’re going to die!  Somebody please help us!”  But the other man was calm, cool and collected, leaning comfortably, confidently against a palm tree.

 

The first man was upset and said, “Don’t you understand?  We’re shipwrecked, lost and may never get back to land.”  Undaunted, the second man replied, “Don’t worry, I make more than $200,000 a year.”  “What good is that going to do?” asked the first man.  “We’re stranded on this island with no food, no water, and we’re going to die!”

 

“Don’t worry,” answered the second man.  “I make more than $200,000 a year and I tithe 10% to the church.  Sooner or later, my pastor will find me!”

 

As we launch our Annual Giving Campaign this morning, I want to make one thing perfectly clear.  My role is to preach the sermons, increase our family pledge, which Barbara and I have already done, and then get down on my knees in prayer…while Madison Pratt, Eddie Newsom and their faithful committee have the responsibility to reach out and find each and every one of us and ask for our support.

 

Some people in this church are wealthy, others are struggling to make ends meet and the rest of us are somewhere in between.  But all of us in this great congregation are called to open our hearts and our hands to give generously and sacrificially to the mission and ministry which God has entrusted to us.

 

I.

 

That is our theme for this campaign: “Open Hearts, Open Hands,” which embraces our overall theme for the entire church year:  “Christ at the Center: In the Heart of the City, in the Hands of God.”

 

And the text we have chosen today to help guide us along the way and to keep us focused on the goal of raising $3.16 million for our worship, work and witness in the name of Jesus, comes from something He said a long time ago:  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (Luke 12:34).

 

Now some of us might wonder why Jesus didn’t put it just the opposite way, saying that if we get our hearts in the right place, then the money will follow.  Oftentimes, that is true.  But understanding human nature as He did, Jesus also knew that we become downright practical in deciding how much and to whom we will give.

 

Halford Luccock, who taught at the Yale Divinity School a generation ago, described it this way in a chapter he wrote entitled “The Stubs of an Old Checkbook”:

 

         “An eminent biographer, Philip Guedalla, once noted that the hardest problem he had was to discover just what kind of person his subject really was…It was relatively easy to find out what he did, what he said and where he went.  But what kind of a person he really was…well that was a different matter…In writing the biography of the Duke of Wellington, he asked, ‘What would be trustworthy evidence of his character?’…Guedella says that he found the unimpeachable evidence when he came across the stubs of Wellington’s old checkbooks.  And Luccock concludes, ‘What could be more trustworthy evidence about us than the stubs of our…checkbooks?’  For there is the evidence of what we really care about.  And if we were to look at those stubs…what sort of person would they show us to be?’  (Would they reveal that) this is the checkbook of a Christian?”  (From “Unfinished Business,” by Dr. Halford E. Luccock, Harper and Brothers, New York, 1956, Page 127)

 

And while we’re talking about our checkbooks, Ann Landers received a letter from Bismarck, North Dakota about “Aunt Emma, who was married to a tightfisted man named Ollie.  He made a good salary, but they lived frugally because he insisted on putting 20 percent of his paycheck under the mattress.  The man didn’t trust banks, and he said that the money was going to come in handy in their old age.

 

When ‘Uncle Ollie’ was 60, he was stricken with a terminal illness.  Toward the end, he made Aunt Emma promise in the presence of his brothers that she would put the money he had stashed under the mattress in his coffin so he could buy his way into heaven if he had to.  They all knew he was odd, but that was his request.  So Aunt Em promised and assured Uncle Ollie’s brothers that she was a woman of her word.

 

The morning after Ollie died, Aunt Emma took the money (about $26,000) to the bank and deposited it.  Then she wrote a check and put it in the casket several days later.  This is a true story, and our family has remembered it ever since.”  (Ann Landers, March 20, 1989)

 

Well, those stories about the stubs of our checkbooks give us pause to ponder.  But the truth is that there are no pockets in a shroud, there are no u-haul trucks in a funeral procession and what the Bible says about our so-called possessions is absolutely true:  We brought nothing into this world and we cannot take anything out of this world (I Timothy 6:7).

 

So as we live in this world here and now and look someday toward heaven, let us open our hearts with an attitude of gratitude for everything that we have been given – life and love, faith and hope, family and friends, and the abundance of resources with which we have been blessed.

 

That is what Moses wanted the people of Israel to remember as he stood before them and said: When the Lord you God brings you into the Promised Land, with great cities and houses full of good things and water and vineyards and olive trees…And when you eat and are full, then take heed, lest you forget that God brought you out of Egypt and has given you everything (Deuteronomy 6:10-12, paraphrase).

 

So it was long ago, and so it still is today.  All that we are and all that we have has come from a good and gracious God who wants us to enjoy His gifts for all that they’re worth.  But none of it ultimately belongs to us, and while we’re here on this earth, instead of keeping those gifts to ourselves, we must learn to let them go.  Which is exactly what Jesus meant when He said, Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

 

II.

 

And when we open our hearts with gratitude for all that we have received, then in the name of Jesus, we can and we will open our hands with generosity to reach out and touch those who are in need.

 

During the past two weeks, I have become aware, more than ever before, how our Annual Giving Campaign can make a major difference in the lives of all kinds of people.

 

I attended the meeting of the Board of Trustees at Princeton Seminary and heard many of my colleagues talking about violence in the Middle East, starvation in Africa and political instability in the Caribbean and South America…and I realized that our church supports mission outreach in all of those troubled places to offer the hope of peace and reconciliation and a better way of life in those struggling nations.

 

Soon after, I met with a group of Presbyterian pastors in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania and found a sermon in the narthex by Dr. Gene Bay, pastor of the church where I was ordained.  I put the sermon in my briefcase, and this is what I read on the airplane flight coming home:  “I hope our children will grow up in a church that is generous with its own resources…where at budget time, the main item of discussion is not how much money we need to keep for ourselves, but how much we can give away…I hope our children will experience the church as a community with an open heart, open hands and open pocketbooks…that dares to conceive of ways that we can really make a difference…a church marked by the spirit of generosity…”  (Sermon entitled “A Church for Children to Grow Up In,” by Dr. Eugene C. Bay, Pastor, Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church, preached on May 5, 2002)

 

And I realized that our church is like that, our church is doing that, raising up our children and youth with faith for today and a vision for tomorrow, all of which is supported by your giving.

 

Coming back home last Sunday, as I joined with you in worship here in this sanctuary and at Hillside Presbyterian Church on Sunday evening as Connie Lee was ordained and our partnership with Hillside was officially launched.  And I realized, more than ever before, just how much our worship and music means to our members and to people across this city, and how excited I am about this inter-racial ministry which will create a model for congregations across our country – and all of that is supported by your giving.

 

On a Monday evening, I spent some time with our Young Adult Pastor Search Committee and we talked and prayed together about the person God will help us find and call here to minister to young women and men in their 20’s and 30’s who are joining us from all over the city – and I realized that your generosity is making that possible.

 

And just this past weekend I was privileged to celebrate the 87th birthday of a member of this congregation with her family.  I sat down with another family as we began to plan the memorial service for their husband and father whom they have loved and lost awhile.  I visited with yet another family facing a tough medical diagnosis - they are hoping for the best, and that is exactly what we prayed for.  Just yesterday morning, I met with the director of our Samaritan Counseling Center and twelve young couples who are going to be married in this church soon – and I realized that for older people and younger people, for those who are joyful in their journey and those who are struggling just to make it through the day, this church has developed a ministry of care and concern and counseling that touches the lives of our members in every possible way – and all of that is happening because of your support.

 

CONCLUSION

 

You have heard this morning from Madison Pratt and the Committee about the plans and priorities for this Annual Giving Campaign.  Every member of the congregation has received a brochure in the mail, and there are additional pledge cards and envelopes in the pews.  Which means that there is only one thing left to do.

 

So I am going to ask you again, just as I did on Rally Day when we began this new church year, to lift up your hands and close them into fists.  Can you feel it?  Nothing coming in and nothing going out.  Now, open your hands and recognize with me that God is asking us today to share the gifts we have received with all of His children who are in need.

 

Jesus said, Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.  So please open your hearts and hands, Christians, and give freely, give generously as God has given to you!

 

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.