A Sermon on Stewardship by the Rev. Melanie Morel-Ensminger First Unitarian Universalist Church in New OrleansSunday, October 21, 2007
As my colleague Tim Kutzmark points out in this morning’s Reading, we Americans live in a culture that constantly preaches the bad news of scarcity, that every day tell us that there isn’t enough of almost everything. Advertising informs us we’re defective, not good enough, that we’re all lacking in something that it just so happens we could buy to get a little better. Taking all this in, you could end up believing that we’re falling behind and that everything everywhere is getting worse. You just might be justified in concluding that there’s no hope to be found.
The immediate aftermath of the storms 2 years ago reinforced this way of thinking for people in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, and, at the time, it was the right way to think. No one could be or should be blamed for feeling like things kept getting worse, that we truly were falling behind, and hope was indeed a scarce commodity.
But there is a tide in New Orleans tradition that is older and stronger than the American culture’s myth of scarcity, and stronger still than the pessimism engendered by the hurricanes’ destruction and our leaders’ malfeasance. The Crescent City preaches a different gospel, good news for those of us sick of the message of “not enough.” That message is, “Mo’ better” or “Have some mo’” – as when your waitress urges you to have a second dessert, or when the band plays yet another “last set,” or when you walk into a neighborhood bar, and there’s free red beans and rice, just help yourself, or when you go to hear Kermit Ruffins play, and he serves you barbeque from the back of his Escalade. The culture of New Orleans says that more is better, and that there is always more to be had.
As most of you know, over the past week New Orleans non-profit radio station WWOZ has been conducting its fall membership drive. What impressed me was how upbeat all the DJs were in their appeals to the audience. They said things like, “If you like what we do, and want us to keep on doin’ it, pledge now,” and “This is what we do, and nothing is gonna stop us from doin’ it, but it sure would help if all you listeners made a pledge.” Another DJ said, “We’re all volunteers here, doin’ this out of love, and we’re asking y’all to show some love.” Yet another said, “Not everyone can pledge a thousand or 5 thousand or 10 thousand dollars, we know that – but we want you to know that we appreciate every single $40 pledge we get, and we don’t love you any less than we love our big donors.”
They did not say, “Pledge or the station will have to close.” They did not say, “We know everyone’s hurt from dealing with the storm, so we know you really can’t pledge.” They did not poor-mouth or guilt-trip or harangue. They played the best music they could, featured live interviews with some of New Orleans’ finest musicians, and reminded all of us listeners that all of this was possible because of love for ‘OZ. They put their trust in the abundant good feelings that the listeners have for what ‘OZ does, and took for granted that those positive emotions would translate into monetary support.
We embark today on our 2 nd stewardship campaign since the storm, and this year, we will be taking a page out of the WWOZ playbook. We will not poor-mouth or guilt-trip or harangue. We will not tell you that we will close if you don’t pledge. We will not whinge and cry, “Poor us!” We have put our trust in the abundant good feelings that our church’s members and friends have for what this church does and what this church means, and we are taking for granted that these positive emotions will translate not only into monetary support, but also into willing hands for the work that lies ahead. And like ‘OZ, we promise that we receive every pledge, from the lowest to the highest, with the same love.
The storm is past, both literally and figuratively, and it is time to move ahead with both faith and hope. In the immediate aftermath of the storm, we needed courage just hang in there. But now different virtues are called for. It is time for us to recognize and utilize the overflowing blessings we already have. We are blessed with an abundance of commitment, an abundance of talent, an abundance of dedication. We are blessed with an abundance of volunteers from around the country, witnesses to the relationship and connection we have with churches across the country, not just our fellow UUs but people of every faith and no faith. We are blessed with an abundance of visitors, people apparently not put off by our unfinished building and our lack of luxurious amenities, but perhaps drawn by our very challenges, as well as by the spirit with which we face those challenges. We are even blessed with an abundance of money. You don’t believe me? Try this:
Raise your hand right now if you have at least $2.00 with you (not counting whatever you are planning to generously give in the Offering later in the service)? Keep your hand up, and those of you who don’t have it with you, but who have at least $2.00 at home or in a checking or savings account, or under your mattress, raise your hand. Look around you. Do you realize how incredibly wealthy we are? Three billion people in the world live on less than $2.00 a day, while another 1.3 billion get by on less than $1.00 per day. (adapted from a sermon by Rev. Nicholas Brie, pastor of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Maryland, found on the Internet)
We may not live on Audubon Place, but we’re all rich, richer than over 4 billion people in the world! (However, if you do live on Audubon Place, please talk to me after the service about your pledge.)
Many churches operate from a scarcity mentality, and not just those in Louisiana and the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of the storms. But all over our denomination, congregations are discovering something wonderful – that the spirit of abundance is self-replicating, that giving away money attracts money, that being generous generates generosity. UU churches have found that if they regularly dedicate their offertory to an outside cause, the overall offering goes up. In other words, the more they give away, the more they get.
Some things are automatically self-fulfilling. If you tell a child she is a liar, the child will lie. If you tell a teenager he’s nobody, he will be hate-filled. If you tell a congregation they can’t do something, then they can’t. But self-fulfillment works in the other direction just as well. An average person constantly told they’re beautiful will blossom. Underachieving students told they can, will. A congregation assured of abundance will have abundance, and have it abundantly.
In the intertwined history of this church and this city, we have an example of abundance begetting abundance. In the generation before the Civil War, there were 2 businessmen who had grown wealthy through their industry and intelligence. One was Judah Touro, a Jewish man from Rhode Island, the other was John McDonough, from Baltimore. They had several things in common. Both were unmarried – Touro due to an unhappy youthful love affair with a first cousin; McDonough is thought to have been gay. Both started out penniless; both were later among the city’s business elite.
But there the similarities ended. During their lifetime, Touro was renowned for his philanthropy (including notable donations to this church), while McDonough was thought a little tight with a dollar. Touro’s example might have been a spur to McDonough, for on the latter’s death in 1850, to the surprise of his contemporaries, McDonough’s vast estate was left to the poor of both New Orleans and Baltimore, from whence we get the McDonough schools. After years of generosity, when Touro died 4 years later, his will also left a fortune, endowing both Touro Infirmary and Touro Synagogue here, as well as Touro Cemetery and Touro Synagogue in his native Newport, Rhode Island, and libraries and parks in other cities. Generosity inspires generosity – it always does.
I have every faith that we will have a great stewardship campaign this year, partly because I already know we had a great campaign last year, even in the wake of the storm. But I also have faith in this congregation and in its future, and I know one thing: Living and giving abundantly can transform your thinking and your life – and our church. So might this be! AMEN – ASHE – SHALOM – SALAAM – NAMASTE – BLESSED BE!
