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From the Pastor
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Investing in Christ and the Kingdom of God “Do not lay up for yourselves treasure on earth, where moth and worm consume and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor worm consume and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matt. 6: 19–21
The Stewardship Chairman in my first Parish was one who tithed (giving back to God the Biblical 10 percent of our gross), not only from his salary but also from his business’ income. He would tell how God always provided for him and his family. But whenever he did not give God what was “owed” (the Lord sees “not tithing” as stealing from Him – Malachi 3: 7-10), that money was lost—“eaten somewhere else.” This is even more poignant in light of the recent downturn in the economy. How much “eaten” in taxes and losses was from what should have been given to the Lord? For what we waste in time, talent and treasure, we will give an account to God.
In the 1951 “Christmas Carol” movie, Jacob Marley shows Scrooge the weeping and grieving ghosts, who now realizing how and where they did not help others while alive, were throwing money from their world at a poor beggar woman and her infant still in this world. The coins never reach the woman. Scrooge asks why the ghosts lament so. Marley replies, “Because they seek to interfere for good in human matters and have lost their power forever.” When we wait those opportunities to do good for Christ are lost and most often may never return. Self-focused, fearful individuals and fragile egos can affect a larger group (even a church) structure, even when some people in it are not of the same mindset, and make the institution become myopic, self-centered and self-absorbed, exhibiting “communal egoism” as Archbishop Anastasios of Albania observes. Here even contributing to the genuinely noble cause of foreign missions may be a way of totally ignoring the people in need and any real domestic outreach or a struggling mission parish fighting to share and live the Gospel.
At the recent National Clergy-Laity Congress, Archbishop Demetrios, in his opening address, admonished the participants about the “survival mentality” that affects our parishes so: “We cannot be a self-centered, self-enclosed Greek Orthodox ecclesiastical body, limited to itself and directing its energy exclusively within itself. We cannot be a Ghetto Church. God calls us to gather His people. In order to gather God’s people, we have to go out, to look for them, to search places and find them and lead them to God’s home. The theme of the Congress calls us in no uncertain terms to reach out, to move out and start gathering the souls who look for a spiritual home, for a living community and ultimately for a communion with God.”
His Eminence directly challenges the “exclusivity” sadly existing in many Parishes (making them more “Country Club” than Church) where certain kinds of people, with certain incomes, ethnic groups, etc., are the most welcome. Membership in a parish should not have little or nothing to do with personal commitment to Jesus Christ and growing in intimate union with Him as the center and goal of life and the intentional going out to bring and corporately integrate others into Christ. Ironically, communities where this kind of membership is acceptable (as long as one is in “financial good standing”) often complain of running a financial deficit (regardless of how many BMW, Mercedes and Lexus 4x4s fill the parking lot on Sundays). Here budgets more often reflect the primary focus on maintenance and aesthetics of “physical plant” and little (if any) faith for reaching other peoples and communities, giving mostly “verbal encouragement.” (“If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.” James 2: 16, 17)
How much and where we invest is a reflection of our faith. Of course, faith is the mark of the Christian and is something that needs to grow or it dies. Faith is exhibited in our giving; giving enhances our faith. This is true not only in terms of our monetary giving but also in how we reprioritize our schedules to serve Christ in the Church. But we give in proportion to how much we believe that God invested in us through His Son.
This year St. Matthew’s completes its 40th year as a parish with our Dinner-Dance. With all of the challenges surrounding us, we experience a sense of both moving ahead and starting over. There has been repentance over the years. We now know we exist, not because “we dislike some other parish,” but because the culture of our parish is distinct in membership for everyone must be in commitment to Christ and His Kingdom as the center of their lives. Seriously reaching out to and integrating all “outsiders” into Jesus and His Church, supporting other mission parishes—regardless of Orthodox jurisdiction (and without waiting for others to support us), liturgical/sacramental renewal (fully inclusive and understandable participation in worship), expanding lay ministries, workshops building healthier marriages and communication, etc., and commitment to birthing other parishes with the same focus (doing all of this out of our need rather than our abundance), is the natural result of the Holy Spirit’s activity among us. We look to connect more with other Orthodox Mission parishes already in existence for the purpose of fellowship, support and encouragement. St. Matthew’s success does encourage other Orthodox people and parishes (established as well as mission) to take more the risk of faith and succeed in becoming and sharing the Word of God here and now. We look to recommitting ourselves to Christ Himself and the vision and mission He has given us.
Inside this Newsletter is our Stewardship form for the coming year. Stewardship means investing the time, talent and tithe to be responsible for Christ’s Parish. Stretching our giving (and therefore our ego boundaries) in this economy shows and strengthens our faith. Shifting some more of our time and finances from things that are not “absolutely necessary” to things of God’s Kingdom reflects our priorities and growth. Making sure we also set aside funds and other accounts for after we pass into the next life is a way of investing in the Kingdom to come. We need help in music ministry, religious education, youth ministry, evangelism, college ministry, halfway church, homeless shelter as well as Parish Council and Philoptochos. We invite all of you who live within the region to come and participate and be a supporter, not only in terms of financial contributions, but by participating on a regular basis, even if monthly, or bi-weekly. Verbal encouragement is wonderful when it is fleshed out. It would not only encourage St. Matthew’s by showing the actual love of other Orthodox Christians but also bring the encouraging challenge to other parishes.
Having received much encouragement over the years, we know that the intent is not to be as the quote from St. James left to verbal to say, “‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed…” We are called to be faithful to the vision of Christ shared in the Orthodox faith of the Apostles in this place and time, regardless of external circumstances, how others relate and may support us or not. Christ Himself has been (and is) loving, sustaining, healing and changing us, regardless of how we may have related to or been supportive of Him and His work in the world. Our faith, seen in what we invest in “time, talent and treasure” (putting our money where our mouth is), is a response to God’s giving of His own Child whose appearance we will celebrate this season. We now worship in a Fire Hall but would also do so in a stable if it meant encountering the incarnate Son of God (it was good enough for the wise men) and proclaim and invite the whole world to that Reality. We humbly ask that, as you prayerfully receive this word, trusting in Christ Jesus, you consider how you may journey with us as a steward or a supporter and real partner with Him in building His Church. Fr Demetrius -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Abbott, Where in Scripture Does God Command Us to Return to Him 10% of Our Gross Income? “Tithe” (literally “one tenth”) initially referred to the ten percent of one’s income set aside for the purpose of maintaining the place of worship—the Tabernacle (later Temple)—and supporting its staff. Scripture presupposes that everything, physical as well as spiritual, belongs to God to begin with and that He shares it with us. The Hebrew Scriptures affirm that God “owns all of it”—people, children, land, animals, homes, our own life, talents, treasure, etc., because He created it (e.g., Orthodox Vespers reading of Psalm 104). Everything is a gift from the Lord that, in partnership with Him, which we are to properly “cultivate” in this life with the goal of returning/offering it back to the “Owner” (the real meaning of Stewardship). This is a foreign concept in our consumer culture where people are intent on owning as many goods as possible (home, car, appliances, etc.), where we feel entitled to “right” of ownership. Scripture sees “personal rights, property, etc.” framed in the context of serving God and His “interests.” The Lord shapes and informs our lives and all they contain; He expects our deliberate cooperation. God directs taking a “tithe” of our gross income (“first fruits” of the earth, etc.) in Leviticus 27: 30–33 and Deuteronomy 14: 22–27, returning one tenth to Him. The tithe (separate from service/helping, charities, etc.) was a minimum offered to maintain the Temple and support the priesthood, freeing them and their immediate families from any financial stress that would hinder fulfilling their vocations. Priests were exempt from the tithe as they served the Temple to sanctify the people, bringing them to holiness in the Lord through leading worship, offering sacrifices, and guiding Israel (e.g., Deuteronomy 14: 28, 29). This is found implicitly in earlier Biblical history (Genesis 14) when Abram (Abraham), after being given victory by God, meets Melchizedek, the Priest-King of Salem (later named Jerusalem). Melchizedek, a figure of the priesthood of Christ (Hebrews 7: 1–7), brings “out bread and wine; (as) he was a priest of the God Most High” (v. 18). Being blessed, Abram “gave him (Melchizedek) a tenth of everything” (v. 20). Tithing reflects obedience and thankfulness to God and results in receiving His blessings. It was (is) an investment in God Himself who would multiply the offerings and further bless those who offered themselves to Him. God bluntly sees negligence in tithing as “stealing” and needing serious repentance. “From the days of your ancestors you have turned aside from My ways and have not kept them. Return (repent) to Me,” says the LORD of hosts. “‘But,’ you say, ‘How will we return?’ Will human beings rob God? Yet you are robbing Me. ‘But,’ you say, ‘how are robbing You?’ In your tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me; the whole nation of you all. Bring the full tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house; and thereby put me to the test,” says the LORD of hosts, “if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing.” (Malachi 3: 7–10 Emphasis mine) While there are “consequences” in the long term (at least) for those who ignore the Lord (Malachi 4: 1), there are blessings for those faithful and obedient to Him: “I will rebuke the devouring locust for you (those committed to God), so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil; and your vine will not fail to bear (fruit),” says the LORD of hosts. “Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight,” says the LORD of hosts. (Mal. 3: 11, 12) … Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another; the LORD listened and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before Him of those who feared the LORD and thought on His Name. “They will be mine,” says the LORD of hosts, “My special possession on the Day when I act, and I will save them as a man who saves his son who serves him.” (vv. 16, 17) Tithes put “our money where our mouths are” and express the authenticity of one’s faith in the God who is faithful in providing for us and our homes “every spiritual and material good that leads us to salvation.” How and where time and money are spent clearly show people’s priorities and where their security and trust lie. Much of this is dependent on how we see God giving of Himself to us through Jesus and the Holy Spirit and that, “through the Cross andResurrection,” we admit our dependence on Him and confess that we and all we have belong to Him. Everything (time, health, relationships, material goods, etc.—even our own breath) is a gift to us, but that gift is to be used as an offering to bring about and cultivate communion with God. Imagine the Lord giving us $100,000 and asking us to manage it for Him. He would allow us to use up to $90,000 of it for personal use, necessities, etc., as long as we saved $10,000 for Him. That would be quite a deal. Families with genuine financial stressors (which doesn’t mean missing a trip to Aruba or Disney World or delaying buying the Escalade or Lexus, etc.) should discuss this with their pastors. This way, if the giving needs to drop or go on hold, they avoid somehow deluding themselves and are still seen, provided their lifestyle as Christians and participation in the worship and life of the Church remains intact, as full members in “good standing.”
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