Not Too Proud to Whitewash Ezekiel 13: 8-16 A church Property chairman decided that it was time to repaint the wooden exterior of the church. He enlisted a crew of helpers first, then found some leftover cans of white paint in the church basement. There weren t many, but in order to save the church money, he decided to use what he had and just add a little water to each can to make the paint go further. All was going well on the day of the painting, but as the amount of paint in each can began to dwindle, he added a little more water to extend it. After several hours of hard work, the job was done. And when the congregation arrived for worship the next day, they were all pleased with how the church looked. But during the service, there was a heavy rainstorm, and when everyone left worship, well, the new paint job had been washed away. When the Property chairman asked the minister what he should do, the minister simply said: Don t you know what it says in the Bible? No, the Property chairman replied. Simple, the minister responded. Repaint and thin no more. And no, I didn t get that joke from Paul! But, as awful is it was, well, I think the prophet Ezekiel would have liked it. Ezekiel, you see, was a little different from most of the prophets. Oh, yes, he told it like it was - like God wanted him to tell it. But he used a lot of visual images, obvious illustrations, even becoming an illustration of God s message on several occasions. And in this passage from his thirteenth chapter, he is addressing the leaders of the people, the priests and prophets who are trying to tell everyone that everything is just fine and dandy. But instead of being fine and dandy, the leaders are building a shoddy wall and covering it with whitewash, passing that off as what God wants for and from His people. And like the watered down paint in that story, the whitewash will wash away. And the wall will come tumbling down.
We have our congregational meeting today. And while we are reviewing that Annual Report and focusing on what we did in 2016, this meeting is really more about what we are doing in 2017 - and beyond. Where we have been is important. But where we are going that defines who and what we are as a church. I m not sure just who said it, but I heard a comedian say that his greatest fear about Heaven is that when he arrived at the pearly gates, he would be in line right behind Mother Theresa, and that he would hear St. Peter say to that blessed nun: You know, you could have done more. The thing is she probably would have agreed with St. Peter. For no matter how much she did and she did more than most of us could do in two lifetimes, there is always something more to be done. Well, whether we get in line behind Mother Theresa at the pearly gates or not, we all know that we could do more. Can do more. Must do more. Not so we can work our way into Heaven. That s not why Mother Theresa did what she did. She simply did what she did because she was answering God s call. We talk a lot about the Cathedral Soup Kitchen. And a lot of our members go there to help out. But do you know how it started? Actually, with Mother Theresa sort of for she had visited the United States some years ago and a group of Roman Catholic young men and women were so impressed by her work, that they began a ministry to feed the hungry of Camden. These young people simply decided that they could do something more than they were already doing. And did it. So we may not start a soup kitchen here in Woodbury Heights. But there is something each one of us can do. Not just what we are doing. But something we haven t done before. Some effort we can put where we haven t put it before. Like John Pitchford taking food from Bonefish Grill to the Cathedral Soup Kitchen once a week or John Pedicone taking our food contributions to the Food Pantry every month or so. There is something every one of us can do. There was a woman in my previous congregation Margaret Davis who was confined to her bed after a debilitating stroke. But you know what? She prayed joyously and fervently, for that church and its members. She prayed for the driver of every car she heard go past her home. And I know she prayed for me. Because every time I hit a road block or a speedbump, I could always look up and meet the challenge, because I knew Margaret Davis was praying for me. We all can do something. If we don t, we are just whitewashed walls!
Which leads to probably the most famous story about whitewash in American literature (maybe the only story). It s in Mark Twain s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Maybe you remember it. Tom s Aunt Polly asks him to whitewash the fence around their house. Apparently, Aunt Polly was too poor to paint, but not too proud to whitewash. Well Tom went out to that fence as if he were a condemned man heading for the gallows. If there was anything he wanted to do less than whitewashing a fence, he didn t know what it was. Sheer drudgery. Until he hit on an idea. Somehow, he convinced some of his friends that whitewashing a fence was simply the most fun any kid could ever have. It was the greatest experience of his life! And some of his friends came, took brushes, and that fence was whitewashed in no time. Which was great. The more people you have working, the less time it takes to get the job done. Only, Tom Sawyer missed out on something. While his friends were doing all the whitewashing, he was sitting back, watching them. Now he was probably right. Whitewashing a fence is not a desirable task, I am sure. it. But the point is Tom had the opportunity to work side by side with his friends. And he missed OK, let s be honest there are some tasks in our church life we do that will not open up the portals of Heaven and let us hear the songs of angels. Preparing the church budget is probably one of those tasks. Among others. But when we do it together, somehow it gets done. And maybe just one angel does sing. When I was in my first church, Dottie and I lived in a townhouse apartment. One winter weekend, we had a heavy snowstorm. And our landlord wasn t able to hire a snowplow to get us dug out. So a group of us all got together and started shoveling. But one neighbor stood on his balcony and kept saying: You shouldn t have to do that! The landlord should take care of that! Under our breath, we all agreed if he spent more time shoveling and less time flapping his gums, we d get the job done more quickly. Many hands, as they say, make light work. (And yes, eventually, that neighbor did come out and help). We may not all like the task in front of us; we may not agree with a decision a committee or organization has made; we may not like the fact that this, that, or the other is not the way I would do it. But we are all in the same boat, and if we all don t take an oar and row, we aren t going to get anywhere. OK, maybe Tom Sawyer didn t want to whitewash that fence. But if he had, joining with his friends, the job just might have been done more efficiently. And maybe it would have even been enjoyable.
Aunt Polly, obviously, wasn t too proud to whitewash. But if we sit on the sidelines and watch the whitewashing done, well, how much really will get done? And who among us wants a church that is just whitewashed? Which leads to one more point. Hold on to your wallets, because I m going to talk about money. I once saw a cartoon that depicted a congregation during a worship service. The minister was up in his pulpit and in the message balloon above his head, the cartoonist had drawn a dollar sign. In the congregation, you could see people fainting, hiding under the pews, running for the exit, and, yes, holding on to their wallets. I suppose one of the members of that congregation was the man (and this is a true story) who told the minister who had just started in his first church: Son, you ll do just fine if you remember one thing: never preach about money. I wonder if he would have said that to Jesus. Jesus talked a lot about money. A lot. From the parable of the talents to the parable of the unforgiving servant to the Prodigal Son to the workers in the vineyard to you cannot serve both God and money, to well, page through the Gospels and you will find that Jesus spoke about money in some way more often than any other subject except for the Kingdom of God. Which, I suppose, means that that man giving advice to the new preacher didn t know the Bible very well. Didn t know Jesus very well. And all those people in the cartoon who were fainting or hiding under the pews or running for the exit had somehow missed something. And not just the offering plate. They missed the fact that how we give and why we give and who we give to is much more important than what we give. Because if we decide the how joyfully and gratefully, and the why because God has provided for our needs so much, that our cups are not only overflowing into the saucer, but as Dottie likes to say (and I do need to be reminded of this on occasion), it is overflowing into a swimming pool (and an Olympic sized one at that!), and the who who else but the one who said I have come that you may have life and have it abundantly, well the what will come along. If you look at the back of our bulletin and see our financial report, you will see where we are right now. I don t have to spell it out for any of us. And we will talk more about our finances at our congregational meeting in just a little while.
But I believe with all my heart (and I do need a refresher in my faith once in a while thank you, dear) that if we all trust God with our own finances first, we will be able to give so that God can use our finances to bless the mission and ministry we have as a church. We can trust that God will help with our church finances, and He will, but it starts in our wallets and pocketbooks. Two men were shipwrecked and marooned on a desert island. One was in a panic, convinced they were going to die. The other was completely calm, as he leaned up against a palm tree. How can you be so calm? the first man asked. Well, you see, I make $100,000 a week. So what? What good does that do on a desert island? You don t get it! I make $100,000 a week, and I tithe. My pastor will find me! You bet I would! In terms of our giving to the church, it is too easy to find ourselves on a desert island. And if we do, all we will able to afford is whitewash. 2017 will bring us many challenges as we look to what will be. May it never be said of us that we decided that whitewash was fine and dandy.
Worship February 12, 2017 Call: Litany Assurance: Litany Children s Message: The Box Prayer: Lord use us. When we see the things before us that have been left unfinished, give us the will to finish therm. When we see fences that separate people, give us the courage to tear them down and build bridges. When we see brokenness in the people around us, give us the desire to restore them and make them whole. When fears threaten to dominate life in our nation, give us the boldness to stand up to them and defeat them. When hungers, both physical and emotional, overwhelm those we know, give us the readiness to fill those empty places. When life tumbles in, give us the gifts to rebuild. And when you call us, help us to hear, to listen, and to follow, May we be, as Jesus was, the ones who humble ourselves and walk the path of obedience, wherever it takes us. Needs, etc. LORD S PRAYER