Year A, Proper 29
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
North Andover, Massachusetts
The Rev. Stephanie Chase Wilson



    Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be always acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer.  Amen.

It’s that time of year again when we prepare our Thanksgiving feasts.  Some of us need a little help and happily use that source of turkey wisdom, the Butterball Turkey hotline.  There’s a story that a few years back someone called the Turkey 800 number and asked: ‘I was just cleaning out my freezer, and I discovered that I’ve had a turkey in there for 5 years.  Is it still OK to eat?’ And the Butterball Turkey person said: ‘Well, if the turkey has been frozen the whole time, and never defrosted, then it should be safe.  But if it’s been in the freezer that long, the quality of the meat probably won’t be too good.’  So the person calling said: ‘That’s what I thought. So maybe I’ll just give it to the church.’"

On this Gratitude Sunday we might ask ourselves, do we give our best to God, or our leftovers?
The concept of “first fruits” is found throughout scripture.  In the Old Testament there are passages in which the offering of the first fruits to God are described. All Israelites were expected three times a year to make an offering of the first and best from their fields.  In the book of Exodus [23:16, 19] God says 16 “You shall observe the festival of harvest, of the first fruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field.  19The choicest of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God.”  And in 2 Chronicles [31:5] it says, “5 The people of Israel gave in abundance the first fruits of grain, wine, oil, honey, and of all the produce of the field; and they brought in abundantly the tithe of everything.”

“The first sheaf of the barley harvest was to be offered to God. For Israel this symbolized an important truth that all of the harvest belonged to God. But God did not demand that all the harvest be given to him. When the first fruits were offered symbolizing [God’s] rights to all the harvest, the Lord then promised that [God’s] people could enjoy the benefits of all the rest of the harvest.


    Our psalm says, “Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name” [Ps. 100:4]. It goes on to point out that God made us. All the readings point to the Lord as the great shepherd, who watches over us, feeds us, cares for us, and at the last brings us to eternal life. The psalm merely points out that the proper response to such great love for us is gratitude. Thankfulness for the harvest: both literal and metaphorical harvests. That is the purpose of this Gratitude Sunday. It is a day set aside where we can give thanks to God for all our blessings, including St. Paul’s.

“First Fruits” and “tithing” are closely related in scripture.  The people gave to the Lord the best, the finest, the choicest 10% of their harvest, and then they lived on the remaining 90%.  Unlike the person calling the Butterball hotline, we are not meant to give our leftovers, but the first and best of ourselves to God. It’s easy to pay our health club bills, and cable bills, and cell phone bills and go out to eat first, and then if there is any left over to pay our church pledge.  It’s easy to give our time to other organizations, or spend time watching TV or surfing the web, and then if there is time left over to offer our talents to the church. But the concept of first fruits calls on us to pay God first, not last. It calls on us to pay a tithe, 10% of our income to God.

Every year when I talk about tithing at least one person asks me, “Is the 10% before or after taxes?” and “Am I to tithe my benefits like health insurance, or just my cash income?”  Well, scripture doesn’t get into the finer points of finance; you need to let your conscience answer those questions. But what we do learn is that God owns us and all our possessions, including our time, talent, and treasure. And we know that God asks for 10% as a sign of trust, that we are grateful, that we acknowledge God’s sovereignty. The added bonus for us is that our tithe is used then to fund the ministries of St. Paul’s church.

Given the economy right now, I know a lot of people are concerned about expenses, and I don’t blame you. It’s hard when you don’t know what the New Year will bring to promise something you aren’t sure you can maintain, or whether you can afford it at all in the first place! But pledging is meant to be a joy, not a burden. Pledge what you are able, and if things change over the course of the year, you can change your pledge, either up or down. And even with a good economy a tithe may be more than your budget can handle all at once. One option is to consider proportional giving. Perhaps give 3% of your income this year, and 3.5% next, and so on until you reach the tithe.  And as always, for some folks on a fixed income or suffering a job loss or other challenges, tithing to the church would mean not being able to afford necessities.
Our stewardship drive is not meant to cause suffering. You do not need to pledge to be welcome at St. Paul’s. [repeat] We are delighted with the presence of all who worship with us. But if you consider yourself a member of this congregation, it is appropriate to consider some sort of contribution to further the upkeep and ministries of the church.

Because of your commitment to St. Paul’s, and the commitment of those who have gone before you, we have these beautiful church buildings.  Despite their age these buildings continues to be vibrant and relevant in the 21st century.  They have some deferred maintenance issues, but they are being addressed. This year we upgraded the sexton’s apartment, and renovated the church offices. We have a new fire alarm system in the church and French Memorial which brings us up to code. We have maintained grounds and lawn, leaves are raked and snow removed. The buildings are cleaned. We have a new keyboard in the church, new pyx and cruets on the altar, and all this because of the generosity of parishioners. We celebrate two worship services a week, we provide prayer space for countless people, we offer worship for baptisms, weddings and funerals. We celebrate Christmas and Easter. We fellowship and sing praises to God throughout Lent with Faith Lutheran Church. Throughout the year we delight in music from organ, recorder, keyboard, trumpet and more.
We sing ancient chants and contemporary music.  We come together week after week, year after year, as a community of faith because God is present in this place.  

At the same time the parish hall is lively. On many evenings during the week the parking lot is packed because there are so many people meeting. What a wonderful problem to have! Because of your pledges in the past year the St. Paul’s parish hall has been able to host the Senior Center and two AA groups. We provide space for the children of North Andover through the Community Cooperative Pre-school. We have rooms to rent for community events such as musical productions, fun raisers, and cultural events. For the parish we have space for the English Christmas Faire, Christmas supper, chili cook-off, yard sale, wine tasting, Easter egg hunts, crafty ladies, girl’s knitting, men’s breakfasts, bishop’s lunch, and women’s book group, to name a few. We have rooms for ECW suppers, acolyte training, finance committee meetings, music and worship meetings, warden’s meetings, choir rehearsals, and Vestry meetings. We have space to prepare coffee hour, to host wedding receptions, and offer our compassion through funeral luncheons. We have rooms in which to teach our kids, our youth, and our adults about God. We have a safe space for our smallest Christians in the nursery.
We have offices in which to coordinate the church’s countless activities. We have a copy machine and paper and a secretary and phones and computers to create bulletins and newsletters, to write sermons and send emails, to keep track of church records and to keep the lines of communication open between our 350 members.

Please consider your relationship to the Almighty and what you would like to pledge in gratitude for our many blessings, and to continue the outstanding ministries of St. Paul’s.  In a few moments we will come forward to offer to God our first fruits, our pledge that God is above all things. We have much for which to be thankful.  Amen.