A Canvass Sermon by the Rev. Melanie Morel-Ensminger
Canvass Sunday, September 14, 2008
I have to tell you, I love the theme chosen for this year’s Stewardship Campaign: “Hitting the High Notes & All That Jazz!” – you just can’t get much more New Orleans than that! I’m grateful to the Canvass Team for such a wonderful, high energy, kick-off topic.
Members of the team have already spoken to let you know what areas of the budget will be most affected, and Kathy Hubbell has just given eloquent testimony about what the church means to her and why she supports the work of the church through her generous pledge. So I will not repeat what has already been said. I urge you to read the carefully prepared canvass materials, so you can be ready to make your own decision. When the service ends, we’ll all second line behind Eric to Fellowship Hall, where there will be coffee and refreshments and a Canvass table.
But in order for you to make your decision, I want to first talk to you about attitudes and preconceptions and mindsets. In other words, like this morning’s Responsive Reading, I want us to look at the “mental image” a person needs in order to pledge. What we tell ourselves about something has a lot to do with how we feel about it and what we do about it. As vocal coach Donna Flynn writes about hitting high notes, when we’ve convinced ourselves that high notes are hard, that we don’t have the ability to easily sing high notes, and that we have to push and strain to reach them, then it becomes virtually impossible for us to sing high notes. Eric tells me that this is the same advice he gives to his young horn students at Sophie Wright School: if you focus on a note being “high,” then you’ll stress and strain to reach it, and you won’t be able to do it. Our mental images about high notes actually prevent us from doing something that both vocal coaches and horn teachers assert can actually be easily done.
Some congregations do something similar in reference to canvass. They start off with a mental image that raising large amounts is impossible, that asking people to raise their pledges is unreasonable, and lo and behold, they are secretly gratified when their preconceptions come true. “See? I was right – we can’t do it!” So many churches regularly run their stewardship campaigns in such an atmosphere of fear and negativity, that it’s no wonder that so many end up with seriously deficient attitudes about money.
According to an article in the Boston Globe that was quoted recently by my colleague Tamara Lebak in Tulsa, there are deep differences in attitudes between the poor and the well-off:
…Poverty and wealth don’t just fall along a continuum the way hot and cold or short and tall do. They are instead fundamentally different experiences, each working on the human psyche in its own way. At some point between the two, people stop thinking in terms of goods and start thinking in terms of problems, and that shift has enormous consequences.
In other words, there comes a moment when individuals (and organizations) begin to focus on NOT having money. Poverty then becomes not just a financial state, but a spiritual state . And when an organization’s spiritual state centers mainly around financial challenges and drawbacks and problems, that mindset makes raising money difficult if not impossible.
Going back to vocal coach Donna Flynn, what is necessary for hitting high notes when singing is analogous to what is required when shifting financial perspectives in our congregation:
1. We need to forego bad habits, and teach ourselves good habits, both of mind and of practice.
2. We need to get a strong mental image of the goals and ministries of the church, to foster a positive attitude about raising money.
3. We need to let go of the fear that chokes us and holds us back.
4. We need to focus our energies on developing our skills and facilities about finances.
5. We need to get creative, nurture our gifts, and have fun.
Flynn says that if you do all of that with your voice, you’ll be able to easily hit any high note you want. Eric says the same thing to his young horn players. I say that if we follow that advice in our finances, we’ll be able to easily raise any amount of money we want.
Of course, it’s easy to talk about making a fundamental change. Talk is always the easiest part. Changing attitudes and long-time habits is hard work; practicing new behaviors and new language is also challenging. It takes time and dedication, and of course there will be the occasional slip-backs, as we learn this new way of thinking and being about money. But then, nobody hits high-C the first time they try.
So let’s make today and this stewardship campaign the first day of the rest of our congregation’s financial life. Let’s start today to let go of fear and negativity around money. Let us focus our minds and hearts on what our church has accomplished already and could accomplish in the future. Let’s get excited about all the possibilities that lie before us. Let’s get creative and have fun in our ways of reaching for higher amounts of money. Let us banish from our minds and from our lips such expressions as, “We know you can’t raise your pledge very much” or “Most people are already pledging all they can” or “We’re not a well-off congregation” or “We’re not very good at raising money.” These are all self-defeating.
Instead, let’s relax and give ourselves permission to reach for the high notes. Let’s get creative and encourage each other to heights of generosity. Let’s say right off the bat that we think each and every person who is committed to the church and its goals in the community can contribute some-thing financially. If times are really tough for you, how about a dollar a week? How about organizing a bake sale, or a car wash? How about start-ing a change jar that you empty your pockets into every day, and then once a month bring it to the church? How about selling some books on eBay and giving the proceeds to the church? How about donating a valuable object (such as an antique or an artwork) for the church to sell on Craig’s List?
There’s lots and lots of ways to contribute financially to the church’s mission – use your imagination. As Pops Armstrong once said, “We all do ‘do, re, mi’ but you’ve got to find the other notes yourself.” Find every way you can to say YES to the church in this stewardship campaign before you allow yourself to say no. Find new ways to be generous, and you’ll love the sensation of feeling more generous.
Without high notes, jazz would not be such an exciting musical genre. We all thrill when great musicians let their instruments soar into the stratosphere, or when the great singers let a high note hang in the air like a shimmering star. Donna Flynn tells us any singer, with a little coaching and practice, can hit any note they want. Eric tells his students that with training and dedication any horn player can rattle the windows with high notes. I assure you that our congregation can hit high notes in this stewardship campaign, to make beautiful music together in the future. So might this be! AMEN – ASHE – SHALOM – SALAAM – NAMASTE – BLESSED BE!
