“Renewed in the Spirit: A Call to Joy”
Deuteronomy14:22-29; 16: 9-15
Andries Coetzee
Oak Grove Presbyterian Church
October 4, 2009
“Rejoice before the LORD your God” instructs the Book of Deuteronomy today. It is as if we can hear the echoes of these words in the letter of Paul to the Philippians, while he was in jail, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” (Philippians 4:4). For those of you who follow the lectionary I apologize as I chose this text from Deuteronomy, because of its call for us to rejoice … and as a congregation we have reason to rejoice!
Today is the first of three sermons of our Stewardship Campaign entitled “Renewed in the Spirit”, because as a congregation we indeed feel renewed as we begin a new chapter in our history. This is a journey that started with the Rev. Gideon Pond who was called by God to work among the Dakota people and chartered this congregation in September 1855. This is a journey that is continuing as we installed the Rev. Bill Chadwick last Sunday on September 25th, 2009 to continue to lead a congregation that is in the core of its heart a church in mission.
The call to rejoice comes to us, as we join in communion with Christians from around the world today, who gather in worship to partake of the elements of bread and wine as we remember and celebrate the death and resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ. But, even more so … today we are gathered to bear witness to the unity of Christians, all Christians, everywhere as we seek to live out Christ’s command to work for justice and peace … therefore the call to rejoice!
Realistically speaking it seems absurd to start a stewardship campaign with a call to rejoice when we as individuals and as a congregation are struggling to make ends meet with the decline in the economy.
“Rejoice before the LORD your God” instructs the Book of Deuteronomy!
This call “to rejoice” originated in a not so “prosperous” time in the history of Israel, most probably during the reign of King Jehu who came to power after a very bloody coupe. Political and economical circumstances deteriorated which resulted in food shortage. At the end of a sixty year reign by Jehu and his successors "God saw how bitterly everyone in Israel, whether slave or free, was suffering; there was no one to help them."
How absurd then the call to rejoice! See, the Book of Deuteronomy is very concerned for the poor and people who were at risk of being exploited by others. Deuteronomy 15: 7-8 reads: "If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard headed or tight fisted toward your poor brother. Rather be open handed and freely lend whatever he needs". Deuteronomy 24:19 – 21 continues: "When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be left for the alien, the
orphan, and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all your undertakings. 20When you beat your olive trees, do not strip what is left; it shall be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow. 21When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, do not glean what is left; it shall be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow."
It is then within the context of “care for others” that the book of Deuteronomy instructs us to “rejoice” amidst declining circumstances. Therefore, the instruction in Deuteronomy 14 not to see the tithe they took to the temple as a heavy tax or a heavy burden, but as a way to take part in God’s recreation of the earth. You can spend that tithe on yourself,… you can eat and drink it yourself, as long as you are sharing it: “And you shall eat there in the presence of the LORD your God, you and your household rejoicing together, but do not forget the Levites, as well as the resident aliens, the orphans, and the widows in your towns, they may come and eat their fill so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work that you undertake.”
It is then within this context that joy comes from seeing God’s dream for humanity becoming a reality, where all will be free and be able to live life fully, because “remember”, the Book of Deuteronomy states, "that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I am commanding you to do this." The giving of the tithe then comes as a response from being saved by God and wanting to help God to do the same for others.
As we then talk about Stewardship today, I believe the same is true for us. Stewardship is not just the giving of our money, … although it is that as well. The reality is that most of the money members pledge to Oak Grove is spent on taking care of ourselves, like the upkeep of our building and grounds, programming and the staff salaries to enable us to visit you in the hospital or be available during life’s transitions.
But, like the instructions in Deuteronomy, a portion of the money you pledge does go to the support of the poor and people who are at risk within our community and in the world. We so often don’t realize it, but even a portion of our staff time is committed to the care of the poor, the vulnerable and the at-risk. This past week I spent about 4 hours of my time at meetings with the City of Bloomington and the School District to enable several projects that Oak Grove initiated, but can only bring to fruition with the help of other institutions.
One such program is the Summer Gap program that took place at Smith Park in East Bloomington for two and a half weeks when all other programming for kids in Bloomington came to an end August 17th, till just before school started on September 2nd. Here an investment of $5200 enabled 91 children, mostly at risk youth, to be engaged in healthy activities, by trained counselors, from 9:00am in the morning till 4:00pm.
Oak Grove made this program possible. It was the summer of 2007 just after we adopted Alazar and Endalkachew that Beth and I had quite a time keeping them busy while both of us were at work, especially the first week after the schools closed, over the week of July 4th, and then the two weeks before schools opened when no programming in Bloomington was available. I realized then that if we had a problem, there must be other residents in Bloomington who were struggling even more, to occupy their children over the summer in healthy, yet low-cost, activities.
My initial conversations with people fell on deaf ears as they argued that there was no need for programming as all people in Bloomington go to their lake homes during those times. I was wondering to myself what they meant by that as my family is part of “all people” in Bloomington and we do not have a lake home.
My quest continued with the blessings of Oak Grove’s Mission Committee. In the summer of 2008 Karen Arazi put me in touch with the School Superintendent, Les Fujitake who immediately met with me and brought with him Tom Holten, the director of Community Education of Bloomington Public Schools. That was the beginning of a yearlong planning session with Greg Johnson and myself, meeting with the City of Bloomington’s Parks and Recreation and Human Services divisions as well as Bloomington Public School’s Community Education.
This dream, born from need, became a reality this past summer with $5200 from Oak Grove. This program was considered a huge success; therefore, we received a grant of $10,000 from the Bloomington Crime Prevention Association (who receives funding from BOOK’EM which Oak Grove supports), to continue the Summer Gap program in 2010. In fact this program was so successful that we want to expand this initiative to have a City Park with trained counselors open throughout the summer for West Bloomington as well, with Westwood Elementary as a possible site.
The reality is that most of the money you will pledge to Oak Grove this coming year will be spent on us ourselves. But for us to continue to be Open and Growing, it is important to spend part of that money on the under-served. For us to continue to do innovative ministries and build on the history of Oak Grove who played a role in the founding of initiatives like Cornerstone, a now nationally known organization serving battered people; and VEAP, a now social service agency helping people in need. Four years ago we became one of the first churches in our area to partner with the School
District in expanding the reach of Homework Connection, an after-school volunteer program to help children with their homework. This partnership will continue this year serving three schools and an average of 90 kids.
To see our Mission dollars at work within our community is something to be joyful about, as we make it possible for others to live life more fully. It is in these difficult times we live and face that we have an amazing opportunity to make Christ visible through our everlasting "joy" a joy that comes from serving others. AMEN. |
