This is the third and last week of the stewardship campaign at Cornerstone UMC. Next week is consecration Sunday, when we lay before God and everyone present what we have pledged to give. Lisa preached today on Acts 4. I wish I could type a transcript of the entire sermon, or perhaps post a recording of it. Quite simply put, this was one of the best sermons, one of the best worship experiences, I have ever been a part of. I say that even though she is my wife.
It is difficult enough in our day and time, particularly in tough economic times, to ask people to give. It is difficult to either explain, or perhaps explain away, the explicit description of early Christian communism, or the way that sharing of worldly goods created a bounty for all so that, as the passage says, there were none who were in need. Yet, Lisa cut through all the awkwardness, all the ways we want to wrestle these texts to the ground, and insisted they offer a vision of hope and possibility for living as God intended. The title of this post was a line that underscored her entire point - we are, even now, living in the Year of Jubilee, that time when all debts are forgiven, when all slaves are freed, when the slate is wiped clean. We must embody this reality as the people gathered together as part of our witness to the power of the Gospel, the Good News that Christ was raised from the dead.
If we aren't living as if this changes everything, then we don't get it. We have to dare to live this reality. It isn't about giving. It's about living. Surprise, surprise, the testimony time and again is that living this way creates a bounty that leaves none in need.
There is no way to convey the power, the possibility, the Spirit within the congregation this morning. The Year of Jubilee has, indeed, come, and friends, we need not just remember that. We need to live that out together.
Virtual Tin Cup
