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

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1 THEOLOGY OF ABUNDANCE November 12, 2017, The 23 rd Sunday after Pentecost, Pledge Dedication Sunday Colossians 3:12-15; Luke 17:11-19 Michael L. Lindvall, The Brick Presbyterian Church in the City of New York Theme: We really do have enough; be thankful. Lord of Life, sometimes your word s like a flash of lightning illuminating a dark corner. Sometimes it s like a fresh breeze wafting through a stuffy room. Sometimes your word s like a pebble in the shoe. Be in our hearing of Scripture, read and proclaimed, that it may shape us more into the human beings you call us to be. And now may the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen. One of the most widely read Bible scholars of our day is a guy named Walter Brueggemann. He s famous not only for his originality and strong opinions, but also for his ability to churn out book after book. One story to the point tells of a friend who telephoned Brueggemann s office at Columbia Seminary in Atlanta. The friend gets Brueggemann s secretary, who tells the caller that the professor s busy working on a new book. The caller says, No problem. I ll hold. His latest book is a slim volume of Advent devotions entitled Celebrating Abundance. (I ordered it last week and plan to read it in the weeks before Christmas. Without sermons to write and Bible studies to prepare, I ll need to find new ways into Scripture.) Walter Brueggemann has long been an advocate of what s called the theology of abundance. Brueggemann says that the Bible is all about abundance. The theology of abundance affirms, in his words, that appearances to the contrary, there is enough to go around, so long as each of us takes what we need If we are willing to have but not hoard, there will even be more than enough left - 1 -

2 over. Brueggemann points out that, oddly enough, the rich often hold what he calls a theology of scarcity which says the opposite: No, there s not enough, so hold onto what you have hoard it even if others have do without. 1 Some churches in this country are growing and some are not. A few years ago, I read about a study a pair of researchers had done to find out what made the difference. They discovered a lot of factors that encourage some churches to grow while others do not, but at the end of the day, there was only one factor, one single difference, that always separated growing churches from declining ones. You might have thought it was geographical location. It s a factor of course; it s easier to grow a church in a burgeoning Bible Belt suburb than in heathen Manhattan. But, the researchers said, there are congregations in the Bible Belt that are shrinking and there are congregations in places as secular as New York City that are growing. You might have guessed that conservative churches are the ones that are growing and that liberal churches are the ones declining. The media often leave us with that impression, but it s not so simple. Some liberal churches are growing, and a lot of conservative ones are shrinking. You might have guessed that the growing churches were always the ones with contemporary worship guitars and electric keyboards, praise songs on a screen, ministers in Hawaiian shirts. But again, not so simple. Contemporary-style worship has been popular for a few decades, but it s no free pass to church growth. In fact, like Brick, many churches with traditional worship styles are growing. At the end of the day, the researchers said there was only one factor that consistently distinguished growing and not-growing congregations. It wasn t location, or theological stripe, or worship style. What they discovered was this: every growing church they studied, rich or poor, large or small, conservative, moderate, liberal, was characterized by an attitude of abundance. These churches consistently trusted that there would somehow be enough enough volunteers, enough members, enough money, and enough Spirit for their needs. Conversely, - 2 -

3 congregations that were dwindling, the researchers noted, were invariably governed by what they called an attitude of scarcity. They were always lamenting that there was not enough not enough volunteers, not enough members, not enough young people, not enough children, not enough energy, and of course, not enough money. Attitude determines your experience. I ve been saying that to my children for a long time. So let me also say it to you, Brick Church. Attitude determines church experience. An attitude of scarcity that s always lamenting, We don t have enough not enough people, not enough money, not enough volunteers, not enough energy is deadly. Who d want to hear, Come join us in our scarcity so we ll have enough? But the truth is that we really do have enough. In fact, we have more than enough enough wonderful, committed people, enough resources, plenty, plenty of deep faith and high spirit, and an abundance of hope, all enabling us to do and be the church we re called to. So the invitation always ought to be this: Come join us and be a part of the abundance. Abundance is not only true; it s the attitude, it s the theology that attracts. Today is Pledge Dedication Sunday. You ve received information in the mail outlining next year s church budget, so I m supposed to be telling you that we don t have enough and you have to increase your pledge for Well, you do need to increase your pledge, you really do. But what I know for sure is this the rhetoric of scarcity and me standing up here laying on the guilt is not only a lousy motivator, it s bad theology. A theology of scarcity leads to fear and selfishness, hoarding and entitlement. A theology of abundance leads to fearlessness and generosity, sharing and thankfulness. That story that Deborah read from Luke s Gospel about the ten lepers who were healed is no Miss Manners tale about writing your Thank You notes. It s about how you see life. It s about two fundamentally distinct ways of being in the world: - 3 -

4 One assumes that my life and all that fills it is what I m more or less entitled to. You can only guess that those nine lepers who disappeared from view without so much as a Thank you, sir honestly felt that good health was their right not a gift; they simply got what was owed them. The one leper who returns and drops to his knees before Jesus is a living emblem of the other demeanor toward being. His thankfulness is a life stance. It s a fundamental attitude that says, "Here I am, alive. I might have never been. I did nothing to deserve life. For some unnoted reason, the tenth leper chooses an attitude toward life that says, "Here I am, alive and whole. I might never have even been, but here I am. I did nothing to deserve it. It s gift; it s grace. That lovely passage from Paul s Letter to the Colossian church that Deborah also read invited those ancient Christians to participate in a life of joy and fullness a life, in Paul s words of compassion and kindness, a life of humility and patience, a life of forgiveness and love. And then at the end of the list, granting primacy of place to last, the Apostle adds. And be thankful. One of the ironies about this old world is the odd fact that there s not much correlation between how thankful people are and how much they have to be thankful for. I ve known people who seemed to have it all, yet lived life as an insatiable grab for more of what they deemed their share. And we ve all known people who seemed to have so little, less than little, and still lived lives that glowed with peace, a peace deep-rooted in their thankfulness. Let me close with a story that I first told you some years ago, but it merits a second hearing. Doug Oldenburg, for many years pastor of Myers Park Presbyterian Church down in Charlotte, once told me about a personal diary he d been privileged to read. It was the diary of a young man in his congregation who d put his thoughts to paper one late night in a hospital room while sitting beside his young wife who was critically ill. Toward morning the young man wrote these words: She may die before morning. But I have been with her for four years. Four years. There is no way I could feel cheated if I did not have her for another day. I never deserved her for a single moment. God knows that. And I may die - 4 -

5 before morning... I ve lived a good life, longer that many, better than most. Tony died when he was twenty. I ve lived 32 years. I could not ask for another day. What did I do to deserve birth? I was purely a gift. And I am me, and that is a miracle. I have no right to a single moment, yet I have had 32 years But wait, the diary entry ends, I am being given another day. Another day to live and read and smell and walk in glory. I am alive for another day. And she is alive. It s a gift! Another gift. Thanks be to God! In a moment, we re all invited to come forward during the Offertory Anthem to give something. For many of you, it will be your financial pledge to the work of the church next year. For others, it will be your offering for the day. For some, perhaps it will be a personal commitment, maybe a prayer or a hope jotted down on that piece of paper. The point is, we all have something to give. When you walk down the aisle to give, don t do it out of simple duty. Certainly don t do it out of guilt. Walk down the aisle and give out of deep thankfulness, give out of thankfulness for life itself, give out of thankfulness for the abundance that really does fill our life. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 1 Enough is Enough, Walter Brueggemann, posted on The Other Side, November 2001, Vol. 37, No