Sermon, Twenty-First Sunday after Trinity: Generous Giving

Encountering the beginning of another academic year takes me back to my own student days. I sometimes wonder how much I remember from them. But I do have one vivid memory of sitting in a New Testament seminar, and of the tutor asking, ‘But what’s the Bible for?’ The particular gobbets we were supposed to be dissecting that morning were cast aside for a discussion on the purpose of Scripture. Various ideas were proposed but what struck me was the tutor asking: ‘What if the Bible’s purpose is to reveal the character of God?’

This has stayed with me, and 35 years later, when I encounter a passage of Scripture, I ask ‘what does this reveal about the character of God?’

As we grow in faith and in knowledge of God throughout our lives, we learn more of who God is, and how God is. We believe that God’s Spirit lives within us, and that part of the Spirit’s work is to form us by degrees into the people God calls us to be: people who live lives centred on God, and who reflect the character of God. In the letter to the Galatians, St Paul teases out what this looks like by referring to the fruit of the Spirit. He lists:

'love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control' (Galatians 5.22-23)

as characteristics of those who live by God’s Spirit – all of which are characteristics of God. We find in that list—as we would expect—love and faithfulness, but also generosity. One mark of living a godly life is to be generous as God is generous.

The generosity of God is a theme which can be traced throughout Scripture; we can read the Bible as a narrative of generosity. The abundant provision of the Garden of Eden in the creation stories sets the ball rolling, and many more examples follow, from God providing manna and quail for his people, to Elijah discovering a cake in the middle of wilderness, to the hope of a new heaven and a new earth.

The Psalms resound with the praise of a generous God:

'Thou openest thine hand : and fillest all things living with plenteousness.' (145.16)

And in the New Testament, we see the full extent of God’s generosity as we come face to face with God in Jesus. God does not only give us things but, as John Henry Newman puts it:

'God’s presence and his very self,
and essence all-divine.'

The New Testament writers speak of this self-giving nature of God. In the letter to the Philippians, we read of God’s Son who

'emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.' (Philippians 2.7)

And in today’s Gospel, after having had to deal with his apostles’ bickering about status, Jesus reminds them that 

'the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and [significantly] 
to give his life a ransom for many.' (Mark 10.45)

But perhaps the simplest, and most profound, summary of this ultimate generosity of God is found in the third chapter of St John’s Gospel:

'God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.' (John 3.16)

Here is the heart of the matter: that the God who loves is revealed through the action of the God who gives. A God who gives of himself – of part of the community of God in Trinity: God sharing our humanity, that we might share his divinity.

Our call to be disciples of Christ is to discover and bring to fruition the image of God in each of us, and through this to reflect God’s character. And if God is by nature a generous giver, then so should we be too.

But the Bible also points us towards the attitude we should adopt in relation to all that God gives us. This is set out at the beginning, when the created order is entrusted to humanity as its stewards. King David recognised this when, as an immensely wealthy man, he had given building materials, precious metals and stones for the house of God. He said this: 

'All things come from you, O God, and of your own do we give you.' (1 Chronicles 29.15)

David understood that he himself was only a steward of these good things. In the first case, they came from God. David had been entrusted with them and, in giving them for the building of the Temple, he was in fact giving back to God what was God’s in the first place.

Putting this into practice as we try and reflect God’s generosity is difficult. As human beings who value our autonomy, we like to hang on to what we think of as ours. But as baptised Christians, our identity lies not in ourselves but in God through Christ. Every part of us belongs to God: our work, our leisure, our gifts, our time, and our money.

Most of us, I suspect, are quite generous people—or at least pray daily that we might be—generous with our time and our gifts, generous in our judgements, generous with our material resources, however great or small they might be. But, as Christ’s disciples, we are called to exercise that generosity not simply in isolation but within the community of Christ’s body, the Church. As we are sometimes reminded at the Peace, 

‘We are the body of Christ. In the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.’ 

As a part of that body, we exist not for ourselves but we belong one to another, and together we are God’s people for the world. 

It’s sometimes hard to get our heads around this in a cathedral because we don’t have ‘a congregation.’ Instead, we have multiple congregations and many visitors. There are people not here this morning who were with us at Morning Prayer, Eucharist and Evensong through the week. There are those who were here at 8.00 this morning. But we are all the body of Christ in this place. Last Sunday we held a congregational meeting at which members of the clergy team gave updates about various areas of cathedral life. And within that, Sarah and Zack spoke about a new congregational giving scheme.

Giving can be an unpopular subject to talk about from the pulpit. ‘It’s a private issue,’ say some – ‘it’s between God me,’ say others. But I make no apology for mentioning it this morning. Of course, the whole area of generous giving—of responsible stewardship—is about far more than money. Cathedrals thrive, and depend, on the generosity of our many volunteers, all of whom give of their skills and their time, some at considerable personal cost. This is a contribution which simply cannot be quantified. When we give to God, and to God’s work, we are clearly giving of who we are as well as from what we have. But the church does still need money to fund and extend its mission. 

Now the landscape of giving in a cathedral is quite different from giving in a parish church. We don’t pay parish share to the Diocese. The cost of our cathedral clergy is met either by the Foundation of Christ Church or by the Church Commissioners, and we’re very fortunate in that. Christ Church as a single Foundation takes care of our buildings. But there are costs which relate to the distinctiveness of cathedral ministry. And the congregational giving scheme relates to two of these.

Central to the mission of any cathedral is its daily offering of worship. This is there for anyone: not only ‘members’ nor even only those with faith. And fundamental to that offering of worship is the jewel of the Anglican choral tradition, through which we offer a window onto heaven, and enable worshippers to ‘lift up their hearts,’ to glimpse God’s glory, and be drawn deeper into God’s heart.

But cathedral music comes at a cost. Chapter is committed both to employing professional adult musicians and enabling children, as choristers, to be a part of this great offering. To sustain this ministry into the future, Christ Church has set up the Music Fund to build an endowment to generate income to meet our costs.

Alongside the daily offering of worship, our Cathedral is a place of pilgrimage. This is part of our history—the Shrine of Frideswide being a focal point for pilgrims in the past—but also of our current and future mission, as we engage with a society which, though less Christian is no less spiritual, and increasingly fascinated with pilgrimage. Again, Chapter is committed to developing this ministry. And so the congregational giving scheme will feed into both these areas.

But there is always a danger that we fall into the trap that besets us as individuals – that we think of resources as ours to be hung onto. Mindful of that, we are resolved that, from the money given by our congregations, a proportion will be given to designated charities. The leaflet setting out the scheme gives details of this.

St Paul wrote to the Corinthians that ‘we reap what we sow – and if we sow bountifully, giving generously and with a cheerful and grateful heart, then we shall also reap bountifully.’ May we listen for the promptings of the Holy Spirit as we approach this subject anew. And as we respond with generous hearts, may we reflect the character of our generous God.    

Gracious God,
the author and giver of all good things,
grant us generous hearts,
that we may reflect your generosity,
revealed in the gift of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.