HOW WILL YOU BE REMEMBERED?

(Preached on Sunday, April 29, 2007)

Now in Joppa there was a disciple whose name was Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas.  She was devoted to good works and acts of charity. -Acts 9:36

 

The scene repeats itself thousands of times a day all over the world.  Loved ones grieve over a body.  Fondly recalling the person in life, they look at mementos and handle things that foster precious memories.

In the case of Tabitha there was much to recall.  She had made clothes for poor widows.  When Peter arrived at the house, the widows showed him all the garments Tabitha made for them.  She had made a real difference in their lives.  She was well thought of and so deeply loved.

This scene gave me pause to stop and wonder how I will be remembered.  What about you?  When mourners stand over your body, will they recall the good you have done?  Will they speak of your deeds for the destitute and the difference you made in the lives of others? 

How will you be remembered?

 

The two quotes in the worship folder raise similar thoughts.  The first I found in a journal, AGrazie!  The Art of Giving@.  It is from the famous author of the AWinnie the Pooh@ stories, A. A. Milne.

AIn the quiet hours where we are alone and there is nobody to tell us what fine fellows we are, we come sometimes upon a moment in which we wonder, not how much money we are earning, nor how famous we have become, but what good are we doing.@

The other quote, in an obvious movement of God=s Spirit, was sent to me by email, out of the blue this week.

It is an anonymous quote someone I know well shared.

ALife is a journey C In the end each of us will be judged by our standard of life, not our standard of living; by our measure of giving, not by our measure of wealth; by our simple goodness, not our seeming greatness.@

I don=t view that as suggesting standards for God=s judgement, but more the standards by which the world, our loved ones, friends, and acquaintances, and as Milne suggests, our own thoughts, will judge us.

 

This is a Stewardship Sermon.  We are in the season of Stewardship, when we think about how we use the resources God has poured into our lives.  Yes, those resources include many things: our time, the talents and skills we have, and our money.  So, while this is a Stewardship Sermon and I am going to talk about money, it will not be about the Church=s need for our money.  Not because the Church does not need our money, nor because that is a bad thing to talk about.

Rather, too often we limit our conversations about money in the church to that topic.  By doing that we end up holding stewardship hostage to Apaying the bills.@

 

There are two interesting truths about Jesus and money.

First, Jesus talked about money more than any other single topic.  It wasn=t the only thing he talked about, but in most churches you would think he never mentioned it.

The second interesting truth is that he never talks about the need of the church to receive.  No, Jesus always talks about the need of the giver to give.  That is Jesus= message about money.  When you analyze what he says about money it falls into two categories.  Jesus understood that money is a threat to the health of one=s soul.  It too often gets in the way of a healthy relationship with God.  Second, he understood that money carries a responsibility.  Those who have money are obliged to use it in the care of those who don=t have enough.

 

What I encourage you to think about today and in the coming days is this.  Is money getting in the way of your relationship with God?

Is the way you think about, approach, and use money a threat to the health of your soul?

And how are you fulfilling the responsibility of caring for others who have less money than you?

These questions will help you begin to answer the question about your legacy C the question of how you will be remembered.

And that is why I think this is important to examine.  Not for the sake of the church, but for the sake of all our souls and our spiritual health.

 

I found this amazing website this week.  It is called modestneeds.org.  It is a charitable, not-for-profit site with the mission of connecting ordinary people with other ordinary people in a pinch.  It was founded by Keith Taylor in 2002.  At the time he was earning a modest salary as a medieval British literature, drama and film professor in Nashville, Tennessee.  He started the site by committing to donate 10 percent of his paycheck each month to the project.  His motivation was a kindness shown him when he was a college student eking out a living as a movie theater projectionist.  One month he found he was short on rent.  He mentioned to his crusty old boss that he was on the verge of eviction C just by way of telling him what was going on.  He didn=t ask him for anything, but two hours later his boss handed him a check for the cost of the rent.  Taylor paid his boss back, but never forgot that act of kindness.  Now he replicates it for thousands of people through his website.

 

At modestneeds.org people in need can login with small or big requests.  They don=t deal with enormous projects, but with individual lives in crisis, individual people who need a compassionate hand up.  Most of their grants help people stay out of the cycle of poverty.  People who wish to help can also login with donations.  The average donation is about $30.  Even though they are small, since 2002 they have helped over 3,000 people to the tune of one million dollars.

 

Taylor also shares stories of courageous generosity on his weblog.  I want to share two of these stories that speak directly to the legacy left by individual generosity.

 

The first story is about James.  In mid-August 2006 Modest Needs received an unusual personal letter asking for help in making a donation of a 1994 Honda Civic Sedan in Portland, Oregon in September.  The owner was driving the car there from her home in Chicago and wanted to donate it at the end of the trip to someone whose life could really be helped by the donation.  Modest Needs was able to connect her with a family of four who had relocated to Oregon from Alabama after Hurricane Katrina.  Their old van had broken down and they desperately needed a car. 

 

In doing a little further inquiry Keith Taylor learned the rest of the story.  The woman was driving the ashes of her husband, James, who was killed two years earlier while riding his motorcycle to work.  She was doing this because he had fallen in love with Portland in 1992 after a visit and had tried to convince her for a decade to move there.  Besides making it his final resting place, she also wanted to leave something else behind in Portland and the Honda had been her car for more than two-thirds of their 14 years together.  It had taken her to visit him while away at school, to their wedding, and to the hospital that awful morning.

 

What a legacy James inspired.  Despite a senseless death under circumstances that would make it so easy to feel nothing but hate, this man inspired such love, compassion, and generosity in those who knew him that his wife=s only wish was to carry on his legacy by changing the life of a stranger.  By honoring her husband as she did, and by sharing her husband=s story, she extended his legacy and touched countless lives with the testimony of the life-changing power of compassion.