In the next few days you will receive your 2027 Pledge card, with some facts and figures that tell a good news story.
The best piece of news is simple: “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.” (Psalm 24:1) This is a poetic way of saying, “Don’t believe the falsehood that that bank account, that stock portfolio, that house, that car belong to you. They don’t. “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it” – and that includes your memecoins (whatever they are! I’ve heard they’re a thing, but I don’t understand.)
In my sermon on Sunday I talked about how liberating this truth is. No, really. It is. It is probably the best cure for worry and stress that we can grasp. Here’s why...
- If God truly owns the vineyard and we are just the tenants, then we need not worry about our material needs.
- If God owns everything and we own nothing, then it’s not our stuff to get anxious about.
- If God owns everything and we own nothing, then we need not fear a crash in the markets or an economic meltdown even if they happen.
- If God owns everything and we own nothing, then we need not get bent out of shape by how much tax we pay. It’s not our money, so why react like it is?
- If God owns everything and we own nothing, then we will become joyful givers. We will be like tables, on which God can place his stuff for a time, and remove it at others. We won’t grasp and grab and horde and lust and steal and cheat.
- If God owns everything and we own nothing, then we need not look at our pledge card like it is God’s 1040 – you know, church tax, seen through the lens of scarcity, with the pain of resentment.
- If God owns everything and we own nothing, then we are free from worry, greed, fear, envy, and all those other things that rob us of our peace, deprive us of our joy, steal from us our sleep, and defraud us of quiet contentment in the love of God.
I pray that this Stewardship season God will fill your heart with joy, and your mind with dreams of what we can do together.