Stewardship: The Simple (Biblical) Tithe

”The Biblical Tithe”

(Tithes from the Heart)

October 21, 2012

Sermon by Rev. Tom Cundiff

Deuteronomy 14: 1-2, 22-23

 II Corinthians 9: 6-10

 

Deuteronomy 14: 1-2, 22-23

¹You are children of the LORD your God. You must not lacerate yourselves or shave your forelocks for the dead. ²For you are a people holy to the LORD your God; it is you the LORD has chosen out of all the peoples on earth to be his people, his treasured possession.

²²Set apart a tithe of all the yield of your seed that is brought in yearly from the field. ²³In the presence of the LORD your God, in the place that he will choose as a dwelling for his name, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, your wine, and your oil, as well as the firstlings of your herd and flock, so that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always.

 

II Corinthians 9:  6-10

⁶The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. ⁷Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. ⁹As it is written,

          “He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor;

          his righteousness endures forever.”

¹⁰He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.

I.  Anything But Simple!

“Simple Gifts”.  This is our stewardship theme in thinking about the undemanding, uncomplicated blessings--gifts God has entrusted our care.  In the church, stewardship is the time each year we contemplate the ways we can respond to God with the use time, talents and funds.  While we should be thinking about what it means to be stewards of God’s gifts 24/7 and 365 days out of the year, this is the season in asking for pledges so we can do the specific work of building a meaningful budget in order to run this church for another year.  What I am learning again in preparing these sermons:  Stewardship and deciding what to preach is anything but simple!  Preparing a meaningful budget as stewards of your gifts is also, anything but simple!  But simply, every year, we learn several things:

(1)            God is always generous enriching our lives with an abundance of blessings.

(2)            This church is always generous in sharing with God your time, talents and financial support.

(3)            We continue to be a “Christ Driven church” church with many challenges, but also the resources we need to do God’s work in this community in this place in this period of time in our history.

In the end our stewardship is between you and God.  All we can do as church leaders is ask you to simply do what you can do in faithfully supporting the church.  What we can do is church leaders is the best we can in discerning what God would have us do with the resources God has given us. 

Today, in giving you more to think about in considering your pledge, I am responding to a couple of requests to preach a sermon on the meaning of tithing.  My sermon today:  “The Biblical Tithe”.  And I wonder, why do pastors preach on a concept, tithing, that comes out of ancient, Old Testament Scripure that seems to archaic and even irrelevant to the work we do as a modern church?  I sometimes think this concept of tithing, giving 1/10^th of your income, is a ‘no win’ formula that contributes to our feeling guilty when we either don’t tithe or because we cannot or do not do more as stewards of what God has given us.  Even for those who give a full biblical tithe, there is a sense of guilt in not being able to contribute more!   I abhor preachers who attempt to solicit gifts through the use of guilt….particularly when it comes those who say in their preaching the only path to heaven is through the checkbook.  And yes, I am repulsed by those who would place heavy spiritual burdens in judging those who cannot afford to do more.  We are all ONE in this place and God values/accepts each of us for who we are and where we are in this time and place.

A reality check:  Rules have changed in the modern society and the modern church.  While the Old Testament talks clearly of a full one tenth tithe of income given to God, we now see this as to mean:  God or any charitable organization that is doing God-type work.  Or perhaps any gift we give to a non-profit organization should be considered part of our tithe?  I have always been taught that a good way to promote giving is through “Proportional Giving”….giving a portion of what we have with the goal of making increases as we are able….   And this approach of giving proportionately can be “insulting” to those who actually choose to tithe!  

THE BOTTOM LINE FOR ME:  IS GOD REALLY UP IN THE HEAVENS CHECKING A COSMIC LEDGER IN MAKING SURE ALL OF YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS ADD UP TO TEN PERCENT?  I DON’T THINK SO!

Something else to learn in reading scripture:  Tithing is mostly an ancient, Old Testament concept.  But in the New Testament, while Jesus is always talking about money or wealth, tithing is only mentioned three times.  While in Old Testament law tithing is a requirement, never in the New Testament is the Christian REQUIRED to give a certain amount – in fact, as I have tried to share with you on several occasions;  New Testament theology tells me God really wants everything, 100%, and our goal should always be in asking:  What is God asking from me?   How can I be more faithful?  How can I better use all in life God has entrusted my care?  

This being said, what is God calling us to give?

II.   GIFTS FROM THE HEART

I begin with this point:  God calls us to give from the heart.  I really believe this.  More important that calculations and tithes and formulas for giving: God mostly wants us to give from what is deep within our souls – within the depths of our hearts!  

The major text for this series of stewardship sermons is from Matthew 6: 21,  “where your treasure is there your heart will be also.”   Two key words:  TREASURE and HEART. 

The Greek word: thesauros*** (treasure) points toward those things in life we value.  Both texts today talk of the highest of all values:  LIFE.  From Deuteronomy:

“……YOU are a people holy to the LORD your God; it is YOU the LORD has chosen out of all the peoples on earth to be (God’s) his people, (God’s) his treasured possession.”   (Deut 14: 2)

We – YOU & ME -- are God’s most prized and  valued treasure.   And Paul tells us what God expects from us as God’s treasure:  EVERYTHING! 

“……..God provides us with every blessing in abundance.  We will always have enough of everything so that we may share abundantly in every good work.”  (paraphrase, II Cor. 9:8)

While we may wish to debate whether all God’s children are provided an abundance of all they need, the point emerging from this scripture is the need for us to share a portion of our abundance with those who aren’t as richly blessed.  This is basic stewardship 101.  We are called to share.  

There is a second meaning to this word -- Thesauros (treasure).  This word also refers to the living ‘receptacle where things we value are kept’.   Where do we keep our most valuable treasures in life – our hearts. 

What a wonderful piece of scripture when looking at the meaning of this word from the Greek: ‘treasure’.  Scripture tells us clearly of God’s treasures that reside in a special vessel – within our lives and in our hearts. 

Kardia is the Greek word for heart -- that receptacle or vessel where we place all that we cherish and value—our hearts/souls that contain all of our treasures including the love God has for each of us known to us through God’s only Son Jesus.   If God is Love, then Love is the greatest and simplest and most precious of all gifts God has given us to place in our hearts. Love also becomes the most valuable of all gifts we can give somebody else.  Everything else falls in place behind love….our tithes and offerings; our time and talents; those things we value in life.

While scholars and teachers and preachers can share dozens of reasons why we should give a tithe – referencing ancient scripture and the law of Moses – it is from what we have in our hearts, grounded in the love of God, that dictate ultimately what God calls us to give. 

III.  THE MOST VALUABLE OF GIFTS FROM THE HEART:  WORSHIP

Second point:

….emerging from all that God places in our hearts

….the gift we offer God each week in the name of FATHER and SON and HOLY SPIRIT?    

….the gift that makes us Christ’s church?

 

WORSHIP!

FOR ME, THE MOST VALUABLE OF GIFTS FROM

THE HEART IS OUR WORSHIP!

 

There are lots of ways to give to the church, but worship is time we invest each week to be with God and to give glory to God and to enjoy what God has given us – entrusted us as Christ’s church.

 

We gather in worship to be challenged with God’s Word that feeds our minds and souls. 

 

We gather to place our lives in God’s hands through liturgy and prayer. 

 

We praise God through song. 

 

We dedicate our lives to God with our offerings.

 

We commit our lives in service to those who are poor and heavy laden?   

 

Truly, I have come to believe worship is the most precious of all gifts, in the name of Jesus, we can give God.    

 

This makes a lot of sense to me!  In thinking about tithes and offerings, the pledges we receive:  We get a number of pledges from people through the mail who never come to worship.  There are those who are physically unable to be with us in worship.  While we never want to turn these gifts away, there is something missing when we aren’t all together, to pass the peace, to hug and share stories and hear God’s Word – to be enriched together in what it means to be a “community of faith” – the “body of Christ” – the church!  I think most would agree, there’s something missing when we’re not together…..that bond God creates and nurtures in and between us…...

 

So while we never want to judge the person who doesn’t join us for worship – we also want to affirm:  Worship really is the most important thing we do as Christ’s church!  Those who cannot be with us still need to hear from us.  They need to know we care.  They need to know they are part of our community.  As stewards of God’s many gifts, we still need to share God’s love with those who cannot be with us.  Our mission and great commission:  is to share what God has given us with others …. whether they are here or not!

IV.  Wisdom from Paul

 

I leave you with one more piece of scripture from Paul –

 

“…the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully”.

As God has been generous with us, I invite you to be generous in what you return to God!  Whether it is the use of your time and talents or financial resources, consider prayerfully what you can “reap (what you can give) bountifully”. 

Remember these two points:

 

1.    God calls us to give form our hearts….the vessels within us that contain all we value!  What we give doesn’t have much value unless they come from the heart.

 

2.    Remember WORSHIP is the most valuable of all the gifts God has given us as Christ’s church – the most valuable of all treasures that emerge from our hearts..

 

Simple Gifts -- from God and returned back to God.  Tithes and offerings that emerge from what God has placed in our hearts.  Worship offered God in the name of Jesus our Lord…..

Simple:    

This congregation is our spiritual home!

May God continue to bless us in the name of Jesus our Lord.

 

***  Alban Institute, Simplicity Itself, article by Bob Sitze, excellent discussion on theauros and kardia....  

AMEN

 

 

 

 

Stewardship Sermon: Simple Gifts

“Simple Gifts”

2012 Stewardship – October 14, 2012

©Thomas B. Cundiff

 

Isaiah 58: 6-9

Matthew 6: 19-21

 

Isaiah 58: 6-9a

⁶ Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
⁷ Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,
and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
⁸ Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up quickly;
your vindicator^* shall go before you,
the glory of the Lord shall be your rearguard.
⁹ Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.

Matthew 6: 19-21   ---   Concerning Treasures

19 ‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust^* consume and where thieves break in and steal; ²⁰but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust^* consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

 

I.                   Tommy’s and Susan’s Titan Court Play House

I was when I was in around the fourth grade my dad built a small 10’x10’ log cabin play house  in the back yard of our house on Titan Ct. in Aurora, Colorado.  It was a combination some manufactured logs from a play house a neighbor gave us and a platform and roof my dad installed.  My younger sister Susan said to me this past week, “I was so excited to decorate it but YOU, Tom turned it into an office”! 

 

For Susan this would have been a “dream house” where she could take her dolls for imaginary tea parties. She would hang frilly drapes.  I couldn’t have frilly drapes in my office!  I remember installing several locks on the plywood front door so my sister couldn’t get in…..of course leading to some parental lectures about sharing!  Whenever my mother called me “Tommy” I knew I was in trouble!”

 

In this play house I had a small door that was used as a desk.  There was a place for my files, my pencils and paper and markers and stapler.   I also liked to play teacher--mom was a teacher.  I always had to have red pencil so I could grade papers….I recall my sister had to suffer through being my student.

 

I recall making a desk-set with my Legos….little drawers where I could keep my paper clips and rubber bands!  I don’t remember where my sister put her stuff – if I let her -- but always had to live with the pink curtains on the windows.  I guess for those of you who know me, I still like to play office. 

 

While my sister doesn’t remember a lot about that play house she does remember the large tree outside the door of that log house and the garden she planted with mom in that 10x10 plot of land, years later, when that playhouse was taken down.   

 

One of my specific memories of this little back yard log house:  I found a way to cut a hole in the floor….so I could dig under this play-house to bury some of my treasures.   As I grew I forgot about that metal box that held an an old stapler, a broken watch, and some Monopoly money--secured  with a small lock …..things I vaguely remember. 

 

This story in mind, the challenge I/we face as adults:  What have we selfishly held onto without sharing with our brothers and sisters?  What treasures have we buried?  With Christ or the world around us?   What simple gifts has God entrusted our care are we called to share with others for the common good of building up the Kingdom of God here on earth? 

 

The scriptural foundation for the stewardship theme this year, “SIMPLE GIFTS”,  and this text:

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth …. ²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

 

 

II.  Everything Belongs to God!

 

Preachers from near and far are launching annual stewardship campaigns.  I for one am a preacher who is grateful you show up regardless what I am preaching!  More important, during the stewardship season, you continue to show how much you love this church through your contributions of time and talent and gifts of some of your financial treasures—money.  Stewardship is part of life in this church.   I join with Craig and all the officers of the church my genuine gratitude for your generosity in the many ways you love and support this church.    

 

The simple truth we’ve been learning/living through the years: Stewardship is about more than money.  God truly wants us to see EVERYTHING we have been given throughout life as a vital resource in building God’s Kingdom here on earth.  This simple and first point this morning: 

    

Everything Belongs to God!

 Truly God wants everything from us!

                                                        

God wants more than money.  God wants more than time and talent.  God wants our passions!  God wants our hearts!

 

God wants every breath we breathe. God wants every waking hour – & even our dreams in our sleep.  God wants everything we can see and eat or taste and touch and smell.   God wants all we have and can give physically, emotionally and spiritually.  God wants our passions.  God wants our joys and your struggles.  Simply, God wants everything we inhale and exhale from birth until we draw our last breath.  

 

Consider this:  God wants, more than anything else, our worship!    

II.  Priorities

 

Now that I have made this first point that God wants everything, we need to be realistic.   We do a lot of different things with all the treasures God has entrusted our care.   Because there are so many complex things we do in living our lives, there is a need to prioritize the use of our treasures. 

 

This second point:  In what ways does God call us to prioritize our treasures?  Like the decision my parents made in getting my sister and me a wonderful play house – words can’t describe the value placed not only in this play house but all the child-hood memories!  Where did this gift fit into their priorities for us as their  children…..knowing there wasn’t a lot of extra money sitting around!  

 

Now in my adult life, I will be the first to admit I am not always thinking about God when it comes to using my time and talents.  When it comes to money, I am not by any means a model “steward” in thinking about God when it comes to the things I feel I want to have.     

 

When driving through a fast food, I guarantee I am not contemplating any higher purpose God may have for me – unless I am ordering the oatmeal and orange juice.  Simply, we are not perfect.  We don’t spend every waking hour thinking about God.        

 

God calls us to prioritize our treasures in light of those things we feel passionate about – those things we truly value.   

 

So if my first point is that everything belongs to God, then this second point is the challenge to try and prioritize placing our treasures next to those things we value?  For my son-in-law it is the season tickets he purchased with Emily for the 49ers games…..his love (his passion) for this sport and his team.  For someone it may be boating of fishing?   Spending time with a spouse or good friend or a neighbor?  For many the meaningful work we do to provide for our families is the highest of values.  How do you prioritize what God has entrusted your care?

 

Something I learned this past week:  Deciding what we value and giving priority to what we value is a matter of personal conscience between you and God.  I think this is a fair statement to make—how I invest what God has given me is ultimately between me and God.  

I cringed this past week at a doctor’s office when I saw a young woman having a major fit (actually a small temper tantrum) with a receptionist because she couldn’t  afford to pay her $25.00 co-pay for the office visit.  She argued that she was unemployed and didn’t think she should have to pay anything for the visit.  When things settled down she turned away and pulled out one of the new IPHONES 5, and started texting….saying to the receptionist loudly, “Just a moment while I text my boyfriend to see if he will loan me the $25.00.”  My first reaction ….in judgment – she can afford one of those new IPHONES?  I HAVE TO CATCH MYSELF!    I DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THIS WOMAN OR WHAT SHE VALUES…..

I need to be true to what I preach.  I cannot judge a person by what they have or how they spend their time or money.   Maybe that expensive phone was a gift?  I don’t know and should not be judging her.    What I want to (need to) preach:  Don’t worry about what others have or give……we need to take time to worry about what we are doing with what God has place in our hands….in our lives!  Truly, we have enough work to do with our own personal priorities than to pass judgment on how others organize their lives.

 

I remember seeing someplace this past week this simple mantra to help in setting priorities: 

What you want and what you need?

What you save and what you share?

 

And add to this in order to keep our focus more on God:

 

What is mine is also God’s…..

 

In what ways does God call us to prioritize what we have been given with what we need and with what we share with others?    

III.  The Church

 

So if the first point, God wants from us everything because everything, ultimately, comes from God. 

 

And the second point is God calling us to prioritize the use of all the treasures God has entrusted our care….

Then this third point, what are we going to give the church?   On the long list of things we value and prioritize in our lives:  WHERE IS THE CHURCH?  

 

Is the church on the top of the list of priorities?   Do you decide, first, what you will give the church when looking at your time and talents and financial resources?

 

Or is the church on the bottom of the list – if I have time I will give?   I will decide what I will pledge after I pay all my other bills?

 

What do you plan on giving to the church this coming year?  Let me get specific with what we need:

 

As the expenses and budget of the church goes up, investment funds are going down.  Almost 2/3 of our budget comes from investments.   I will be perfectly honest, and this is humbling:  I know I am expensive part of the church budget.  Having a pastor and staff is expensive. 

 

This building is expensive.

 

We are a smaller church and our hair grows thinner and grayer! 

 

I stand before you as your pastor asking:  Knowing we are facing some very real challenges with our budget,  is there any possibility we can give more to the church this coming year?  Knowing we are facing some very real challenges with our budget and the fact that some of you are facing real challenges with your personal finances:  can you give a little bit more? 

 

A little math and something to think about: 

 

If one pledge is increased by $5.00 a week times 52 weeks, that adds up to an increase pledge of $260.00.   If each of our 42 pledging units were to give this same $5.00 per week, that would add up to a total increase in pledges of $10,920.  That’s one half of our UTILITIES budget.  If you were all to give $10.00 per week more, that would pay for all of our UTILITIES.  And if some of you could find enough value in what you receive from God in this church to increase your pledge by $10 or $20 – well you get my point.  

 

So a couple of questions:   Are you giving?   Is the church on the top or bottom of your list of priorities?   And can you give a little bit more?

 

I also want to underscore that I fully understand how difficult it is for those of you on fixed incomes.  Perhaps the rest of us can consider this fact in making our our pledge this year. 

 

Now a personal request:  Don’t feel rushed into filling out the pledge card.   I know it’s easy just to say – my giving will be the same…..last year half of the pledges remained the same.  Please take some time before making a final decision on what you will give.   Pray and contemplate where the church fits into your priorities before making a decision.

 

III.  Simple Gifts .

 

Finally, to review what I have shared with you this morning.  The stewardship theme is “Simple Gifts”. 

 

The first point:  Everything we have ultimately belongs to God. While this is a simple truth, the ways in which we chose to live our lives is quite complex.  But in the end, God wants everything from us.  Which leads to the second point:  How are we going to prioritize where we give our treasures?   Are we going to bury them….or use what God has given us placing what we have next to those things in life we value?   Third, what portion of what God has given us will we give the church in 2013? 

 

I selected as a final hymn today, HERE I AM?   The lord is saying to the people in our scripture this morning, HERE I AM!   Scripture speaks well of itself, God is always with us.  In what ways do we return to God a response:  HERE I AM?

As disciples of Jesus Christ,  everything God have given us, can we find tangible ways to return to god in saying:  HERE I AM LORD!  HERE I AM!

 

Amen                                                             

Two Pairs of Shoes

“Two Pairs of Shoes”[1]

Rev. Thomas B. Cundiff

October 7, 2012

World Communion Sunday

 

⁶ Micah 6: 6-8

WHAT GOD REQUIRES?        

“With what shall I come before the Lord,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings,
with calves a year old?

⁷ Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with tens of thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?’

⁸ He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?

 

John 14: 27

 

Peace I leave with you….my peace I give to you…..not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid….

 

 

MEDITATION

We talk about peace.  We pray for peace.  We strategize ways to bring peace into our lives and this community.  I commend M.T. Thompson Jr. and the “Anti-Violence Summit” yesterday that starts a community-wide process, particularly in our schools, of fighting a war against violence on our streets.  I believe M.T. Thompson is an avid supporter of the play “Speak Up, Speak Out”.  

What can I give you in just a few minutes?  In light of all that Tiffanny Goodman and her cast and team are doing to promote peace, what can we do – specifically?

I close my eyes and imagine children dancing and singing and playing throughout the streets of Saginaw….children waking up in the morning with smiles, laughter – looking forward to what each day will bring.

I close my eyes and imagine care-free youngsters walking too and from school and play yards without the fear of gangs or a stranger.

I close my eyes and imagine a community that is free from drugs and guns and bullying and intimidation that rule how our youth will behave on the streets.

I close my eyes and imagine opening doors and windows of our homes to listen for the sounds of birds singing and dogs barking ....without the shouting of fighting neighbors ….sirens blaring …. where children from north and south and east and west can dance, and smile and laugh and play – without fear.

For not everyone has the opportunity to escape the violence in our community.   This is our home…..and we want (we need) our children to be safe!

II.

 

In using your imaginations, one simple thing I would like to suggest today:  Keep this image in your mind: 

 

Putting on and wearing:  “Two Pairs of Shoes”  Yes!

Two Pairs of Shoes!

 

Try this idea out:  When you get up in the morning and put on your shoes, contemplate in your mind and in your heart putting on a second, specific, imaginary pair of shoes!  Put on this imaginary second pair of shoes every day.  Imagine walking not only in your shoes but the shoes of someone else.    

 

When you put on your shoes, imagine putting on the shoes of the mother whose son has been murdered – the shoes of Tiffanny Goodman.  Imagine walking through the day as she has to walk through each day sense the murder of her son.  Imagine putting on the shoes of Stèvon Martel Goodman, the shoes of a young man whose life was taken from the world prematurely.  Imagine where he would be in his life had he not been shot.  Imagine the shoes of all the children who have been murdered on the streets of our city…..shoes that will never again walk and dance and plan – and grow into the young adults we hope all our children to become.

 

When you put on your shoes, something we all do each and every day, imagine putting on the shoes of a small child walking to and from school….always looking for the stranger, the danger that lurks around almost every corner.  What is the day going to be like for this child in his or her shoes?  And what can we be doing to make things safer for this child?  The parents of this child?  The community around this child? 

 

Imagine different types of shoes.  The shoes of the grandmother who grieves over the death of a grandchild or nephew or niece?  The shoes of a father struggling with his issues in handling anger.  Imagine the shoes of the parent who finds a gun in their son’s dresser drawer?  Drugs in their daughter’s backpack? 

 

More and more shoes.  Imagine the  shoes of a teacher?   What do they look like?  What does it feel like to be a teacher these days?

 

Anybody’s shoes.  Just put on in your mind a second pair of shoes…..each and every day.  Who is wearing the shoes.  What is he or she going through?  Be sensitized to where others are walking?  Pray for the people whose shoes you are wearing?  What can you do to support this person?  At the very least, how can we empathize with this person?   Put on in your mind….the shoes of somebody you will hold in your prayers throughout the day.

 

Why this first step?  Two pairs of shoes?  We often pray in generalities and for ourselves and those who are closest to us as family and friends.  As peacemakers and advocates for non-violence in our community – as a church -- the first step is for each of us in our lives, our hearts, our minds….to walk in the shoes of others as we try to find ways to feel and see and taste and touch all they experience throughout the day.

 

That’s my sermon for this morning.  Let me know how things are going.  Try this out….if only for a few days.

 

Perhaps with some practice in putting on the imaginary shoes of others we can then go further with our prayers in walking humbly with God…..Micah tells us what God requires of us…..

 

⁸He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?

 

My friends in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord:  We must find ways to walk, humbly in the shoes of our neighbors—and in so doing we are also walking with God. 

 

In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord:  We must walk humbly with neighbors and with God in search for God’s peace….not only the peace of this world as the world gives … but the peace that surpasses understanding…the peace of almighty God – known through Jesus our Lord….Jesus who walks with us in our shoes each and every day.

 

Amen.

---

[1]   “O Church, What Does the Lord Require of you?”  Sermon by Rev. Randy Bush, July 1, 2012 at the East Liberty Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh, PA, during the meeting of the General assembly of the PCUSA.