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| "St. Lawrence Distributing the Treasures of the Church" (Strozzi 16-17 Cent.) |
“So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet
before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that
they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their
reward. But when you give alms, do not
let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be
done in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:2-4)
So
it’s Lent already. It seems like we just celebrated Christmas, but already we’ve
come to this special forty-day period the Church has set aside over the centuries
for repentance and renewal. Each year on Ash Wednesday we’re reminded in our
gospel lesson (Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-21) of the spiritual disciplines of the
season which—I mean come on!—really ought to be the stuff we do all year
long. You know: pray, give alms, and practice self-denial. It’s that self-denial
thing which I think most people think about when they think about this season
(assuming, of course, they think about it at all), and that’s probably why
folks see this season as something of a bummer. You have to give up something.
Who wants to do that?
For
some folks, however, that alms giving thing is really attractive—especially if
they get something in return. I chuckle when I read the above passage from the
Ash Wednesday gospel. Can you imagine some guy in the ancient world actually blowing
a trumpet when he made a donation to his temple or synagogue? Just picture
a slave puffing out his cheeks into a ram’s horn and then hearing his master proclaim,
“I, Abrahm ben Jacob, am donating thirty thousand shekels to the temple’s
building fund! Glory be to me and my great generosity!” I have to believe that
if some rich slob really did such a thing, some other guy in the crowd would
turn to his neighbor and say, “What a vain, self-important jerk that guy is!”
And
yet, there are those who just love to blow their trumpet in one way or another.
They’ll donate a million dollars to a hospital so they get a wing named in
their honor, or a hundred thousand to a university to have a scholarship named
after them. When I was interning at Grace Lutheran in Yorktown Heights, New York,
the congregation started a massive million-dollar capital campaign to build a
new church. Everyone pledged to help construct an appropriate space for the
growing Christan community. Naturally, some people wanted to give special gifts
for the worship appointments in the sanctuary, but the pastor made the
stipulation that the gifts must be given out of love of the Lord alone. There
were to be no bronze plaques or engravings to honor the givers. This project
was to be completed for the glory of God and the spread of the Gospel. One couple,
however, just couldn’t resist a little trumpet blowing. They generously donated
the processional torches which flank the altar and escort the lectionary book
on high festival occasions. On the underside of the drip cup[i], where no one would ever
think to look and in very tiny letters, they had inscribed “Donated by Mr.
& Mrs. Smith[ii]
in honor of etc.” They didn’t exactly blow a trumpet. It was more like a kazoo,
but they made their gift known.
Giving
alms isn’t really giving alms if you get something in return. A gift is no gift
if something is expected. It’s actually a transaction. When we are obedient to
God, that obedience should be its own reward. Otherwise, we’re just making it
about ourselves. Martin Luther[iii] always described sin as
the soul curved in upon itself. It’s this selfishness we’re called to acknowledge
on Ash Wednesday. We are only what Shakespeare called “this quintessence of
dust.” Dust we are and to dust we will one day return. Glory belongs to God who
formed us out of the dust of the earth. When we uncurl ourselves and stop
blowing our trumpets, we’ll see clearly to appreciate the glory and
graciousness of God.
I’m
delighted that the congregation of Faith Lutheran has not had much of a brass
section in terms of generosity. The most gracious gifts given by members of
this church have usually been given very much on the q.t. Nevertheless, I’m
feeling called to make a rather daring Lenten suggestion about our almsgiving.
What if we designated every Lenten offering—not our Sunday or weekly offerings
but the ones marked for Lent—as alms for the poor of our neighborhood? You see,
in the past, Lenten offerings always were additional gifts which went into the
church’s General Fund and were used for our operating expenses. This year, I
would like to challenge us to give these offerings to the needy.
Yes.
I know. We have a budget which is dangerously unbalanced and we need thousands
of dollars to replace a superannuated boiler. But as Lent is a season of
repentance, I would like to call the members of this congregation to repent
from fear for our survival and believe that God will bless us and further our
mission if we uncurl ourselves and look outward. We have an opportunity to make
a material difference in the lives of individuals on our own doorstep. Admittedly,
this is a risk, but the disciplines of Lent are intended to draw us into a
deeper place of faith. Where our treasure is, there our hearts will be.
Do
you know the legend of Saint Lawrence? He was a deacon in Rome back in the 3rd
century when the Emperor Valerian was persecuting Christians. Valerian liked to
crucify and behead Christians. It was kind of his thing. Nevertheless, he’d heard
of Lawrence’s charity to the poor, so he told the deacon he’s spare his life if
he forked over the wealth of the church into his personal bank account.
Lawrence agreed. He assembled before the emperor all the sick, the lame, the
blind, and the destitute, and told Valerian, “These are the treasure of the
church.”
May
our hearts be with these treasures during this holy season.
I
hope you got your ashes today. May God guide you through these forty days, and
may they be a real blessing to your life!
[i]
The drip cup on a candle holder or processional torch is technically called a bobech.
Bet you didn’t know that!
[ii] Obviously,
Smith is not their real name.
[iii]
BTW Luther’s Feast Day is today, Ash Wednesday, February 18th. The
great reformer and founder of our tradition passed away on this date in 1546 following
a stroke. I’m just full of cool facts today, aren’t I?
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