In 1885, France was working on a gift to the United States. It was to represent the Roman Goddess of Freedom to help the US celebrate their centennial.

But there was a problem:

The Statue of Liberty had no pedestal. It had no base to be delivered on top of.

So… Joseph Pulitzer, publisher of the The New York World, launched a Kickstarter of sorts (over 100 years before Kickstarter) to fund the construction of the pedestal.

Pulitzer advertised in his newspaper asking for support.

For $1, each donation would get a 6” replica of the Statue of Liberty

For $5, each donor would get a 12” replica.

Through this project, more than 120,000 people from around the world ended up pledging a total of $102,006 for the project.

Each of these donors Believed in the mission and put their money behind it.

Each of the 120,000 donors believed in the mission with their heart and their treasure to co-create the base of the Statue of Liberty.

One part of my job is to look at stewardship in the eyes of rising generations – Millennials and Gen Z.

The Barna research group recently released data on this sort of info. It was entitled Generosity By Generations. They found that:

Elders are most likely to give financially.

Gen Z, Millennials, Boomers are most likely to volunteer or give acts of service.

This isn’t particularly surprising if you think about it. The youngest generations have more time than money. Many Boomers are recently retired with lots of time on their hands. And the Eldest Generation sometimes has mobility issues.

However, what was surprising was what motivated each generation to give of their time, talent, and treasure.

Half of Gen Z, Millennials and Gen X say that true generosity is always driven by compassion. Or in other words, Generosity is connected to the heart for younger generations.

Interestingly, only ~1/3 of Boomers and Elders agree.

This is a distinct generational shift.

Rising generations give around their values and want to see the impact of their giving

This is why the crowdfunding or Kickstarter model works for rising generations. If you’re not familiar with it, Kickstarter is a website and platform where creators can connect with donors. Creators describe their projects and can crowdfund their  creative ideas. Generous donors give where they believe in the projects described, like with the Statue of Liberty. This works for younger generations because their generosity is connected to compassion. To hearts. To values.

Now let’s look at today’s parable from Luke where we have two different examples of generosity.

Luke begins by explaining who the audience of this parable is: “some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt.”

Right away we know what this parable is all about. It’s about having right attitudes. Jesus is going to put the ones with wrong attitudes in their place.

But let’s look a little deeper at what each man in the parable was doing.

First we see the Pharisee. He’s the one the original audience would have thought was righteous. Paul was a Pharisee.

So let’s look at what the Pharisee is actually saying: 

He’s saying Look at me! 

I’m doing all the right things! 

I give 1/10th of my income. 

I fast twice week. 

Or in my sanctified imagination, I might imagine this Pharisee saying,

Look at me! I’m here every time the church is open. I serve on the Vestry. I tithe AND I turn in my pledge card on time. It’s MY name on the side of the building. I’m not like those OTHER people who aren’t doing their fair share.

But notice that the Pharisee, even with his grumbling attitude, is still doing the right things. He’s still giving to God what is God’s. His treasure is still going in the right place.

He may not have the humility of the tax collector. The sinner. The thief or rogue or adulterer. The other. The one who gets rich off of the poor. But the Pharisee is still giving of his time and treasure. 

Then we contrast this with the tax collector. As I’m sure you know, the tax collectors in Jesus’ day were hated. They were often Jewish and made money by collecting as much taxes as humanly possible from their kin folks for the Romans because they got to skim off the top.

Zacchaeus, described in the next chapter in Luke, was one tax collector in the Bible – and he offered to pay back what he defrauded 4x.

This tax collector, I imagine, is racked with guilt and shame. He cannot even look up at heaven or get close to the Temple. He knows he isn’t worthy, and begs for God’s mercy. We don’t know if he has given up what he’s taken from others unjustly like Zacchaeus did. But he gives to God his contrite heart and his whole life as a sinner.

Jesus is making the point that the tax collector has the better attitude. He wasn’t saying that tithing was wrong. Jesus was showing us how the Kingdom of Heaven operates: “For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.” Or how Jesus said elsewhere, “The first will be last and the last will be first.”

However, can we really blame the Pharisee for how he acts? He’s doing all the things he ever knew to do. He’s tithing, he’s fasting. He’s a bit like the older son in the Prodigal Son parable. The one who did all the things right in his life. He’s doing the best he knows how to do.

BOTH MEN are doing the best they can as they understand it. 

Both the Pharisee and the tax collector are trying to be like today’s Timothy passage – where Timothy says, “as for me, I am already being poured out as a libation”

Or as Romans 12 says to “present your bodies as a living sacrifice”

The Pharisee is attempting to do so through his actions. The tax collector through his humility.

Being poured out as a libation or being a living sacrifice – it’s giving time, talent, treasure – but it’s so much more. It’s giving our whole lives to God.

Just like the offertory sentences that begin our Sacrament of Holy Eucharist each week.

“Walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, an offering and sacrifice to God.”

Book of Common Prayer, p.376

A living sacrifice is giving one’s whole life to God.

Time, talent, and treasure. And one’s heart.

It’s the tithing of the Pharisee with the heart of the tax collector.

This is also the model of Kickstarter. This is the way to generosity for rising generations. This is why 120,000 people gave a dollar for the Statue of Liberty base.

Because in all of these places – treasure and heart align.

Or as Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, “for where your treasure is, there your heart will be too.”

The reason kickstarter works is that you can connect the people who believe in the mission of something, with the ability to put money behind it. Out of their hearts and their compassion, they offer their treasure. Their finances.

They give out of their compassion and belief in the mission of what is doing.

Stewardship in churches is like this too.

Stewardship is telling the story of the mission of St. Catherine’s and aligning one’s heart to that mission. And then out of that place, giving one’s treasure.

Stewardship is asking those who are part of the church and asking them to join in the mission – both with their heart and their finances.

People want to live lives where their hearts and their treasure align.

And we do that by asking them to join in our mission with God.

We do that by asking them to join the mission here at St. Catherine’s.

When this happens, it looks like the Body of Christ. Where the heart and the head and the hand are all working together. Like a symphony. 

What is the mission here at St. Catherine’s?

Do you believe in that mission? 

If you do believe in the mission of St. Catherine’s, how will you live that out?

How will you connect your heart and your treasure to the mission of St. Catherine’s?

Amen.

A sermon given at St. Catherine of Sienna Episcopal Church, Missouri City, TX on October 27, 2019