Sermon 11 April 2010 – Giving and Thanksgiving Sunday
Acts 5: 25-32, Revelation 1: 4-8, John 20: 19-31

May my words offer inspiration, challenge and response. Amen.

What do you give?; a rather imposing question, that we are very reluctant to ask....especially after the recent media coverage over the last couple of months with regard to some institutions that under the name of church have, in my opinion, not been responsible for the practical needs as well as the spiritual nourishment that we might all desire in ‘being’ church. Through pressure to give more and more and more and more, especially financially, people are desperately struggling to pay bills and even to eat. And rest assured - that is certainly not how I think God wants it to be.

Rather when we talk about giving and gifting to the church and to the wider community we are responding to offering some of our gifts back that we have been given; gifts in terms of money, yes, but also in terms of talents and time and love. It is actually about spirituality.

Bishop Richard Randerson promotes in his book ‘a Word for the Season’ that spirituality is to do with using our gifts well. Spirituality is to do with life, what we believe, what we value, how we relate to others, how we see ourselves, and to what in life we devote our energies. Spirituality is to do with sharing with others. And we all have ideals about this.

A journalist once interviewed a farmer and asked him what he would do if he had two farms. The farmer replied he would keep one and give the other to someone who needed it. (The farmer was indeed an idealist). The journalist next asked what the farmer would do if he had two houses, and received the same reply. “And what”, said the journalist, “would you do if you owned two horses?” “I’d keep them both for myself”, said the farmer. “Why?” said the journalist, “what makes the difference?” “You see,” said the farmer, “I own two horses.”

It is indeed much harder to put into practice our ideals when we face the reality. But facing the reality is what we are challenged with today. In real terms it may not be appropriate, or wise, to give away half of everything – probably not. But in real terms there is a place in each of our circumstances where we can be generous; where we can give back. And that is up to each one of us. But it is about sharing.

As Bishop Richard suggests, spirituality is sharing whatever we have, be it in terms of possessions, time or human compassion, with others. Spirituality is to do with using the gifts we have to serve others. To illustrate Bishop Richard talks about a woman who used to lecture in Law at a University, and she would try to talk to the students in class about justice. “Look, Miss,” they said, “we’re not really interested in justice; we’re here to get a qualification to enter a prestigious and highly paid career.” Now I am sure that this is not the case with everyone who goes to Law School. But the same attitudes can arise in any work or profession. The point is how we ‘share’ what we value in all components of our life is part of our spiritual walk.
By contrast I think of the famous New Zealander, the late Sir Edmund Hillary, a humble bee keeper who was the first to conquer Mt Everest (with Sherpa Tensing Norgay in 1953) was so grateful for the support of the people of Nepal that he devoted much of the rest of his life to building schools and hospitals for them.
Spirituality is using the gifts we have received from God not only for our own enrichment, but in the service and enrichment of others.

And this morning, our Giving and Thanksgiving Sunday is about reflecting and giving God thanks for all the amazing gifts we are given throughout our lives; in our relationships, in our positions of responsibility, in our workplaces, in our families, in our homes, in our communities, and in our churches. Such gifts are God-given, and such gifts are to be shared.
But what does our Biblical readings set down for today say about giving? The readings for the Sundays after Easter are meant to provide religious instruction, primarily for the newly baptized, but we all can benefit from this teaching. There are several points for consideration. The first concerns our responsibility for handing on the religious tradition that has been handed down to us. In other words, handing down our gifts of tradition to the next generation. As Christians, we are all called to this responsibility, regardless of our age, our occupation or our state in life. How is this to be done? Actually, the ways are quite straight forward. We hand it on through our modelling of the gospel, through loving, through sharing, through giving, whether it is done formally or informally; we proclaim the message of resurrection, new life and love as we live out its ethical values. What we say and how we act proclaims, “We have seen the Risen Christ.” How we share the gospel is often how others experience the gospel. A challenge for us all today - Can people honestly say through what we do and say, ‘I have seen the Risen Christ’?
A second point, in our readings today, concerns the role the Christian community plays in our lives. Community-based societies, like those described in the Bible, are well aware of the importance of belonging to a group. Membership gives identity, meaning and support. Today’s readings confirm this. There is a communal dimension to every post-Resurrection appearance of Jesus. In fact, Thomas’s predicament (his doubting) was a consequence of his absence from the community of disciples a week earlier. God’s embraces community. We live in a society that values individualism and so often it is harder for us to work as members of the body of Christ. But what we give as individuals is limited - it does not go as far as we would like - in terms of proclaiming the gospel of love, but if we put our resources together we can indeed function more effectively as a community and make a bigger positive difference to the world around us. So people can indeed say, ‘I have seen the Risen Christ’. So we are to give to the church so that we can collectively proclaim and share the gospel to the wider world. And we are to give to the church (financially, practically, spirituality and emotionally) so that we can ‘be’ community.
But our readings today also highlight that we are not perfect and often we do not always get it right and sometimes we need to be inspired. Sometimes life is so hard just to simply survive and meet our own needs that doing and giving anything more just feels too hard. Sometimes we have been hurt by the church or society and feel resentful, quite rightly so in many cases. Sometimes we doubt what we are doing? Sometimes we doubt what we believe. So how can we even try to give when we do not want to even receive?
It is important for us to remember that Jesus does not come to the disciples in a blaze of glory, surrounded by angels or accompanied by sounds of trumpets. Rather he comes quietly; he seems to surprise the disciples in our Gospel reading this morning. And he comes with his wounds. He is not all neat and tidy, but still bears the marks of his suffering, the marks of his humanity. As humans, we struggle to hide our woundedness as a sign of weakness, yet the risen Christ still bears his woundedness and comes to meet us and bring us peace. Christ’s resurrection gives us hope that we will be healed and made whole – we can indeed share and gift to others, even if we do not feel worthy to do so, and even if we do not feel ready.
When the risen Christ came to the disciples in the upper room, he brought them peace, he breathed his spirit on them and commissioned them to live and share the message of love, forgiveness, and peace. Jesus’ appearance to Thomas reminds us that doubts do not disqualify us from discipleship. Jesus says to Thomas and to us, “Do not doubt, but believe.” The theologian Paul Tillich said that doubt isn’t the opposite of faith; rather it is an element of faith.
On this April morning, when the world outside our doors has put away, or more likely eaten, the Easter eggs and chocolate bunnies and moved on, we continue to be challenged to live the resurrection story. We are challenged to reach out and embrace the future in faith, believing that Christ’s resurrection will enable us to make a difference to the world in the gifts we give. We are challenged to seek peace and reconciliation, knowing it is the work of Christ and the Church. And most of all, we are challenged to remember that while we may look at ourselves and see elements of doubting Thomases, God looks at us and sees the best: God sees beloved people, faithful friends, spirit-filled partners in the ongoing work of creation. Resurrection is a gift God brings to us. Resurrection is what brings us new life and new opportunities. Resurrection is not simply a one off event but the Risen Christ brings us opportunities every day to experience new beginnings, new life in all it fullness. And so it is up to us as to how we respond to such a gift. And it is up to ‘us’ as a community. Does what we give, bear witness to the resurrection? Can we indeed give something of what we have received, so that people can say ‘Christ is risen! Alleluia!’?