“‘Heapy, Heapy’”
A sermon by Sid Burgess for Edgewood PC, Birmingham, AL
Christ the King/Stewardship Sunday, November 22, 2009
Texts: 2d Chronicles 31:5-10, Revelation 1:4b-8
In our first reading today--the OT lesson from 2d Chronicles--King Hezekiah’s stewardship committee is making its report. And what a successful campaign they have conducted!
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,
including the tithe of cattle and sheep.
Apparently the communications committee had also done its work. All of this abundance comes because “word had spread.” When word spread that national unity had been achieved and faithful worship restored, “The people . . . gave in abundance.”
Your hard-working Session here at Edgewood Church has yet to bring unity to the deeply divided Presbyterian Church, or to put an end to the worship of football in the state of Alabama, but they are doing a good job of restoring integrity to our church accounting practices, all the while following the BOOK OF ORDER mandate to provide for divine worship. So I am optimistic that elder Kevin Henderson will soon be able to report “the people of Edgewood (have pledged) in abundance.”
Now, what caught my attention in this passage from the Older Testament . . . That is, beyond this report of success in stewardship--music to any pastor’s ears . . . . What first caught my attention is the unit of measure mentioned here. “They began to pile up the heaps” (v.7). “Hezekiah and the officials saw the heaps” (v.8). The king questioned the priests about “the heaps” (v. 9) How much, I want to know, is a heap? How big is a heap? None of my biblical sources could tell me, and surely we moderns are too sophisticated for such an imprecise accounting. We want to know in dollars and cents, in inches and feet, in pounds and tons.
But my Aunt Evelyn used the word ‘heap’ frequently. Actually, it was one of the very few words she could say. A severe childhood illness had robbed my Dad’s sister of her hearing. But I can remember her repeating, over and over, “Heapy, heapy.” Now my Aunt Evelyn was married to my Uncle Horace, a deaf mute. This sweet, sweet couple lived in rural Telfair County, GA, near the tiny town of McRae, about halfway between Macon and the coastal city of Brunswick.
Annual visits to their modest home were great adventures for me growing up. They had a real well – one of those with a bucket you dropped down to get the water and crank back up to drink from a ladle. The only heat in the house was a big fireplace. I remember sleeping on a quilted pallet on the floor, then running to the fireplace on cold winter mornings. My Aunt Evelyn was a terrific cook: fresh corn, peas, country ham, and, ah, those delicious homemade biscuits! Family lore has it that my Uncle Horace, at the age of 72, died of an “overdose” of biscuits. He ate seven in one sitting, each one soaked in butter and dripping with sorghum syrup. He then retired to his rocking chair and promptly died. Never was a more contented saint received at the Pearly Gates!
Amazingly enough, for one who had so little, my Aunt Evelyn found multiple opportunities every day to celebrate her good fortune: ‘heapy, heapy.’
Which brings me to our current situation here at Edgewood Church. For a congregation that has suffered a staggering financial loss we really do have an abundance to celebrate. In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (Jn 10.10b). Even here, even now, Edgewood Church is experiencing this abundant life.
You are being served by one of the most capable, creative, and cooperative Sessions in all of the PCUSA. Clerk of Session Julie Metheny’s lively minutes capture the energy and good-humor of your governing board. At the November meeting it was reported a squirrel had invaded the sacred confines of our sanctuary. The local critter control folks were summoned. They caught the little fellow with a trap right up here on the chancel, then mercifully released him into the wild. This led Julie to cite, in the November minutes, an excerpt from country singer Ray Stevens’ 1984 ballad, “Mississippi Squirrel Revival:”
The day the squirrel went berserk
In the First Self-Righteous Church
In that sleepy little town of Pascagoula (Pascagoula)!
It was a fight for survival
That broke out in revival
They were jumpin’ pews and shoutin’ Hallelujah!
Mike Wood’s photo gallery on our church website provides clear evidence of the vitality of this congregation. You can see a sampling of these pictures on a poster Dian Bailey has posted today in the narthex. Wonderful pictures of our vibrant youth group on Youth Sunday; pictures of ‘platoon’ of stalwart military veterans at a lively fellowship supper on Veterans’ Day; and, from last Sunday, photos of a faithful, eager confirmation class. Such energy, such enthusiasm, and commitment! Plus five newborn babies, with two more on the way. Aunt Evelyn would surely say, Heapy, heapy.
Even the Church coffers, stripped bare in recent years by betrayal and dishonesty, have begun to build up a modest reserve. Not a ‘heap’ yet, but we are solvent. With volunteers stepping forward on several fronts, we’ve been able to reduce personnel expense significantly, and still do the administrative work that needs to be done. We are current with the Presbyterian Church Board of Pensions. We’ve paid our annual per member fees to the Presbytery.
Now we are not out of the woods yet, not by a long shot! But God is sending in the reinforcements! Former member Lavon Chaney, a professional accountant, has come on staff, part-time and at a very modest rate of pay, to help straighten out our bookkeeping and handle other administrative tasks. Sandy Durham, an elder and an accountant from 1st Presbyterian in Tuscaloosa, is helping us, pro bono, with the IRS. Richard Brooks, pastor at the Oakmont Church in Hoover, has a professional group of managers examining our budget, comparing our expenses with other churches of similar size, to show us where we might economize.
And listen to this incredible news: just last week two extraordinary friends from our sister church, First Presbyterian, downtown, have contributed a total of $22K to help us recover and resume our faithful ministry. ’Heapy, heapy,’ Aunt Evelyn would say!
So, the challenge to us . . . . The challenge Session is issuing this stewardship season to all of us is simply this: keep on keeping on! Keep on faithfully contributing our tithes and offerings; keep on supporting one another in worship, study, and mission. Keep on keeping on and God will lead us, once again, through the wilderness and into the Promised Land.
A couple of weeks ago, during Kevin Patton’s Friday morning Bible study, our source told us that when we mortals compare ourselves financially, we are almost always looking up. Looking up at those who have more. I confess; I’m guilty; I do that. I drive up and down Oxmoor Road several times a day, and I look with envy at our neighboring churches. I see their landscape crews out meticulously manicuring their grounds. I see their fleets of buses and vans. I know they have magnificent pipe organs and orchestras, too; multiple choirs of a hundred voices each; huge youth groups; and mission funds that exceed our whole church budget. But repeatedly I hear you saying, ‘We don’t need all of that.’ I hear you saying that here, at Edgewood Church, small as we are, we have everything we need. We have people – a rich variety of people – to love – to be loved by. People of all ages, shapes and sizes, both genders, both races, both single and married, gay and straight. Wonderful men and women, boys and girls rallying around the
One who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood,
6 and made us to be a kingdom,
priests serving his God and Father,
to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Priests! How in the world could we all function as priests? Would everyone have to wear a collar? Maybe even a robe?
Not to worry. To serve as priests of our God and Father all we need do is follow Christ as God’s faithful witnesses, “making it our life’s goal to bring others into Christ’s reign of love and praise, which will last forever.”1
Now to the One
who by the power at work within us
is able to do far more abundantly
than all we ask or imagine,
to God be the glory in the church
and in Christ Jesus
to all generations, forever and ever. Ephesians 3:20, 21
1 Wallace, Peter, FEASTING ON THE WORD, B4, p. 331.