Twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost

November 18, 2007

Sermon by Pastor John Marboe

and Christine and Loren Danielson

The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke. (Luke 21:5-11)

When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, Jesus said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”

They asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” And he said, “Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is near!’ Do not go after them.

“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.” Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

PASTOR MARBOE:

It’s quite a scene. Jesus and his disciples have finally made it to Jerusalem in the Gospel of Luke, as Luke tells it, and they’re sitting, staring up at this magnificent building, the temple, Herod’s Temple, and it really was magnificent. Now, keep in mind that these are just poor country folk from the north, and they have never seen anything quite so grand. But this temple was really something. It was one of the seven great wonders of the ancient world, Herod’s Temple. When Jesus talks about the stones not one being left upon another, I want to give you an idea of the size of the stones he’s talking about. Josephus, the historian, tells us that these stones were about this big, and I’m going to give you a picture. They were about as wide as this pew across, and they were as long as this pew to the very end pew, and they were as high as the bottom of the balcony. So that gives you a picture of just how magnificent, how enormous the base stones were. And they were stacked one on top of another.

What Jesus predicted in this story did come to pass 40 years later. When the Romans attacked Jerusalem, they threw down the temple; and, indeed, they left one not standing on top of another.

What this reminds me of, when I was a boy, was when I first saw the Foshay Tower. From Alexandria, Minnesota, we didn’t have anything like it. I had never seen anything so enormous, so big, in all my life. Well, now, of course, you can’t even see it anymore; it’s just one of the smaller buildings in Minneapolis. I remember the same feeling of awe when I stood at the base of the World Trade Center for the first time.

What Jesus is emphasizing is that even the most powerful, the most grand, the things that we make or that we have, those things that are human-made, that we invest so much in, are ultimately temporary. They are all passing away.

Just before this part in the Gospel, we have the story of the widow’s mite, that lowly, unnoticed widow, who puts one penny into the temple treasury. Now, picture those two things side by side—this enormous stone, all these enormous stones, this magnificent edifice, and this humble widow, who puts one penny into it. And Jesus says, “Which of these is greater?” And, of course, it’s the act of the widow that endures, while the temple does not.

Today is Stewardship Sunday. And what is stewardship all about? Stewardship is about taking stock of our lives; it is about the practice of care and generosity. When we practice care and generosity, no matter how small an act of care or generosity it is, it abides because it’s done in love. It abides longer than the greatest edifice that human beings can make.

It is Stewardship Sunday, and I have invited Loren and Christine Danielson to share their story of stewardship with us all. We were talking a few months ago, and they were sharing their story about their own journey in stewardship, and I thought it would be good for all of us to hear this. Christine has been serving as secretary of our Church Council, and Loren has been supporting her and taking care of the family when she is at council meetings, and so forth. But they have been very generous in their lives, and I would like them to share their story with us.

CHRISTINE DANIELSON:

Good morning. My name is Christine Danielson, and this is my wonderful husband, Loren. And I am very nervous to talk to you today. I’m nervous for two reasons: one is, public speaking always makes me at least a little sick to my stomach— today is no exception—two, I’m talking to you today about our own personal-giving story. It’s hard enough to talk about money, in a general sense, to friends, acquaintances, or even strangers. But it is harder to talk about money when it gets personal. I don’t think I’m alone in this place of discomfort. If I was, I would hear conversations about it, but I never do. Even growing up, I never heard about giving or talked about giving with my parents, because you just don’t do that; it’s private. So, that said, welcome to our private life.

I will begin with the fact that Loren and I choose to tithe. A least ten percent of our income is donated to charitable organizations. Most of our benevolence goes to the church, but a small portion is split between other organizations, like Drake University, where we met and fell in love; my cousin, who is a missionary; an environmental organization; and others. But, like I said, most of our giving goes to our church home because this is where our hearts lie.

The part of the story that I think is important is how we got to tithing. I give full credit to Loren. This was not my idea. One year early in our marriage, he said to me, “I would like to increase our giving over time so we can tithe.” I was shocked! We were giving around two percent of our income at the time, and when I looked at our giving statement, it looked like a lot of money to me. I did not balk at the idea of tithing because I didn’t love our church community. But giving generously was not how I was raised, or, more importantly, it was not my perception of how I was raised.

Like all children, I learned by watching. My parents dropped my brothers and me off at Sunday school and picked us up after church. My parents had a hobby farm, in addition to their full-time jobs, so Sunday morning was an opportunity for more hours in the hog house, or maybe some much needed quiet time in their house without the kids. When my mom came to church, I remember she always wrote a check for $20. I don’t know if she ever wrote a check and mailed it on the weeks she missed church, or if they pledged and made up any shortfalls at the end of the year. Like I said, we didn’t talk about it. It seemed to me my parents’ giving was tied to my mom’s sporadic Sunday attendance, not based on supporting the programs my brothers and I enjoyed. So, in my mind, if Loren and I attended church weekly and gave two percent of our income, it was pretty good. But a move to ten percent seemed extreme to me. That‘s a lot of money. But I trusted Loren’s generous heart and savvy business mind, and decided that if he thought we could get there, then we should do it.

I’m happy to report that it’s been a gratifying journey. As we ratcheted up to ten percent, I won’t deny a slight discomfort each year Loren suggested our increase for the year. But it got easier each year, and it felt more rewarding each time. We both felt a strong sense of satisfaction, knowing that we were important contributors to the valuable programming we enjoyed each week. My parents have a great saying that was often used as I was growing up, which was, “That’s not necessary.” It was applied in many situations, including requests for stuff and adventures.

Although my parents didn’t lay a strong foundation of benevolence for me, they taught me well how to live a simple yet happy life. A lesson in simplicity was a wonderful gift for them to give me. We are a middle-class family that camped instead of staying in hotels; had sandwiches from the cooler instead of eating out at restaurants; had to shut off the lights when we weren’t in a room. My dad worked for the electrical company, so that was a very important rule.

Luckily, Loren was blessed with a similar upbringing, so it was easy for us to adopt a simple lifestyle together. For us, this means owning one car and biking, walking, or taking a bus as much as we possibly can. It means owning a house in the city, with less square footage than we could find elsewhere in the metro area. It means living without a second income, so I can stay home with our little boys. It means shopping at resale shops instead of the department stores. These choices give us the opportunity to channel our money to the things that we value most: our children, our marriage, and our church.

So here we are today at Immanuel, our church home of two years. Our entire family enjoys quality programming that is offered here several days a week. Sunday is church day; Tuesday is council; Wednesday is music night, and so on. Last year, we even got a babysitter every Saturday night for almost two months so that we could come to the Lutheran course. My point is, the programming offered at Immanuel enriches our lives. Immanuel is not just where we go to church, but it is our church home, shared with our church family. And that is something the Danielson family chooses to generously support.

LOREN DANIELSON:

First of all, I want to point out that Christine isn’t making all this up. I really am a wonderful husband.

We love the variety of activities available to all of us here at Immanuel. Each month, we continue to be amazed at the variety of programming that exists at Immanuel. You only need to take the time to read the newsletter, look at the bulletin board, or just talk to members about what they are involved in to find out about all these events. This is a very involved congregation, and we continue to be inspired by all the people that put in effort and imagination to create opportunities to grow our relationship with Jesus Christ and each other.

Our congregation has young and old, social butterflies and social activists, pick-up drivers and bike riders, leaders and supporters. It is important to Christine and I that our boys, Zachary and Micah, have the opportunity to be exposed to a community that includes individuals with various backgrounds and interests, from the high-schoolers all the way through the greatest generation. They are already getting an understanding of what it means to be part of a community by participating. They enjoy activities organized specifically for them, like Sunday school and the choir. But they are also able to help with service events, like the Rake-a-Thon, church cleaning, and the flea market. I have heard others describe Immanuel as a full-service church, and that is one of the things that has drawn our family to become more and more involved.

In order to have all these programs within the congregation, it takes a lot of planning. And we have some great organizers in this church. Look at the events that have taken place throughout the year: the intergenerational Advent event, Capital Campaign events, the bold Women’s Retreat, and the lutefisk dinner held Friday night. None of these would be possible without thoughtful planning and effort expended to reach the goal of a successful event.

But planning is not just for events. As Christine and I described, planning is an important part of our ability to tithe. Make no mistake, we live very comfortably, and we don’t feel deprived in any way. We are blessed to be in the situation we find ourselves in, allowing us to make lifestyle choices. We know there are those in the congregation who are not able to change their level of giving. But the majority of the congregation has some ability to make choices, which can affect their planned giving in 2008.

Once a year, Christine and I sit down and thoughtfully consider our total giving. First, we make sure we have followed through on what we intended to do during the current year, and then we discuss the coming year and what new opportunities we might consider. It’s always fun to think about giving additional funds during the year to specific programs, so we include that as part of our plan.

But that spur-of-the-moment giving only makes up a small part of our overall contributions. The majority of our giving is specifically planned for. As we review the past year’s giving and plan for the future, we always enjoy talking about what good has come out of our contributions in all the organizations that we give to. We celebrate the fact that we have followed through on what we planned. Our planning process may not be right for everyone, but, as Christine stated, it isn’t something that is typically discussed. And we wanted to describe our journey to you. We are sharing it in the hope that it may stimulate ideas leading to a plan that is right for you to reach your own giving goals.

Pastor Marboe, the council, and the stewardship committee have been very forthright and thoughtful about the financial condition of the church for the current year and the outlook into 2008. We would like to reiterate the challenges that have been put forth. First, giving an additional one percent of your income in 2007, which will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to $25,000. I noted in the bulletin this morning that we have already received over $14,000 towards that goal. Two, to continue your one-percent increase as part of your 2008 pledge. Christine and I support and commit to this challenge and are increasing our giving by one percent of our income. We further hope you will be inspired and, if your situation allows, that you will commit to this challenge as a step towards tithing.

Our family gets a large personal benefit from the programs Immanuel has. But our financial contribution happens out of our love for Christ, and we are blessed to be able to contribute at the level we do. There is great personal satisfaction that comes out of our gifts, but, more importantly, it helps us to give back to the community in which we are engaged and growing. We are also aware that others in the church give a larger percentage of their income than we do, and there are also those who give more of their time than we do. We will continue to look for inspiration from our Immanuel community so that we can grow in our faith and continue to leverage our family’s time, talents, and assets.

Think about what you would like to give and then work on a plan to get there. Make sure you enjoy the process of planning your giving and talk about what the substantial gifts can mean to the organizations that receive them. We encourage you to meet the financial challenge of increasing your giving by one percent of your income and to engage us, and others, in conversations about the joy of giving.

PASTOR MARBOE:

Christine and Loren, I would like, on behalf of us all, to thank you for sharing your story with us.

I would like to just take a moment now and have a moment of quiet prayer. And I would like to invite us back to that image of the widow, the small, unnoticed widow and her one penny, because what we’re talking about here is not necessarily giving a lot. It’s about giving proportionally and about showing our love and our care by intentionally giving of ourselves, our time, our talent, and our finances. To give to what we love takes planning, it takes purpose, and it takes the help of the Spirit.

Shall we invoke the Lord now and invite God to enlighten our hearts about how we each can respond.

Gracious and loving God, all that we have and all that we are comes from your generous hands. Make us generous people, as well, for the sake of the world that you so love.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.