“A Conspiracy of Dreamers”
Gospel:  Matthew 5:1-12
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

A few weeks ago, Father Bill asked me if I would preach a stewardship sermon on November 1^st.  No problem, I said.  I love to talk about stewardship.  And one of the reasons I like to talk about stewardship is because my day job is as a fundraiser, so I’m always pleased to have people part with their money.  But there is such a difference between fundraising and stewardship – that’s the bigger reason I was happy to take my turn at the pulpit on this particular Sunday.

          Ah, but I must begin with the confession of exactly who provided the inspiration for my remarks today.  It was a Presbyterian minister from Colorado , Cindy C who was in Cedar Rapids last weekend for a class reunion at Coe College .  Cindy and I hadn’t seen each other in almost 30 years and we had a lot of catching up to do.  And on the afternoon of the greatest game in the history of college football rivalries – that would be the Coe/Cornell game, of course – Cindy and I left the game at halftime to drive around Cedar Rapids , look at the leaves and to talk.  And that’s when the topic of stewardship came up.  And that’s when Cindy explained that the whole thing is a big conspiracy.

          Maybe you haven’t heard, but this country is on shaky ground – marred by corporate scandals and an ever-growing deficit.  There are millions of people who are unemployed.  And how ironic that some of you here today with envelopes poised for the offering plate are, yourselves, unemployed.  And others of you are underemployed, forced to take jobs that don’t match your skill level or your income expectations. 

And all of this is amid a disorderly world that few of us could have imagined just three ago.  Terrorism is now a household word, and we will spend more than 87 billion dollars to rebuild a country that I would be hard-pressed locate on a map.  Heck, there is even a body builder about to take the helm of one of the largest economies in our union -- but even his super muscles aren’t enough to stop the fires burning out of control in his state.  Things are clearly not going well.

And in the face of this mess, I get the job of convincing you to give a percentage of your hard earned dollars to this church.   Yeah, thanks a lot, Father Bill.  You’ve been here just four months, and already you’ve handed off a big job to one of the rookies.  I guess this is the price I pay for being on Vestry. 

But you know what?  Father Bill gave me no parameters for my stewardship sermon.  So here goes…..

Of all places to give your money to, a church has to be the absolute worst.  Because you know we are just going to give it away to people you will never even meet.  Oh sure, some of it will stay here.  You’ll know you are helping to take care of this beautiful building -- ensuring that there’s a sacred space for weddings, funerals, worship, friendship, and quiet encounters with God.  In addition, we’ll have a place for programs which support and nurture the lives in this congregation. 

I don’t know, though…..I think it’s kind of a black hole…..YOUR money could go to things you will never even know about.  Tutoring programs for kids you will never meet.  Low-income housing on streets you’ve never driven down.  Spiritual guidance and support for prisoners who’ve committed crimes you DON’T want to know about.  English classes for people from countries you can’t pronounce.  Meals for kids whose names you don’t know.  Meetings for alcoholics who choose to be anonymous.  Emergency shelter for families dislocated by natural disasters which haven’t even happened yet.  Concert space for special needs folks who can’t carry a tune in a bucket.  If you give your money to this church, we are just going to turn around and buy medical supplies for people in Liberia , support orphanages in Mexico , help build schools in Afghanistan , or other such nonsense.

No, in these uncertain times, the last thing you want to do is give your money to a church.  So when you are invited to sign a pledge card for the coming year, I want to encourage you to be strong – put down that pen, file that pledge card in your “to-do” file, and concentrate on how tough things are in the world.

Unless…that is, unless you know something that the rest of the world doesn’t.  That is unless you know a secret and are plotting together to carry it out. 

Do you know the definition of a “conspiracy”?  Most of the time it has a negative association – like a conspiracy to assassinate a president, or overthrow a government.  But a conspiracy is simply a group of people who gather together and plot something that is a secret to the rest of the world.  And I wonder if that wouldn’t help explain what goes on in a place like this.  There is certainly a group of us gathered here.  And you certainly look like you are up to something. 

The interesting thing about the word conspiracy is its root:

con – spiracy, means simply: “With Spirit.”  And when I think of what we do as a church, I wonder if perhaps everything that is truly done With the Spirit is seen by the rest of the world as a conspiracy. 

For in these difficult economic and political times, surely the conventional wisdom would say: Batten down the hatches!  Circle the wagons!   Look out for Number One.  Thankfully, we co-conspirators gathered in this place, don’t look to conventional wisdom as our guide.  We look to our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.  We strive to live our lives in accordance to the directive made popular on the cloth bracelet several years ago.  What Would Jesus Do?  And as it relates to stewardship, the question is pretty basic: How Would Jesus Spend?

In today’s Gospel, He tells us who is truly blessed:
the poor in spirit;
those who mourn;
the meek;
those who hunger and thirst for righteousness;
the merciful;
the pure in heart;
the peacemakers;
those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake.

Are these the people we should spend our money on?  These people whom Jesus has already deemed blessed?

There is a story Cindy told me about a man who wanted desperately to help find a way to make the world a better place.  But as he looked around, the world seemed to be falling apart and he grew so disappointed he didn’t know what to do.  Was there something he could buy that could help make things better?  He decided to go to the mall.  And as he wandered around the mall, he entered a store at random.  And as he walked in, who did he see behind the counter, but Jesus.

He knew it was Jesus, because he looked just like all the pictures he had seen in the Bible.  He looked at him again, and finally got the courage to say, “Excuse me…are you Jesus?”  “Yes, I am,” Jesus replied.  “Do you work here?”  “No.”  Jesus said.  “I own the store.”  “Oh.  What do you sell here?”  “Oh, just about anything!”  “Anything?”  “Yes, anything you want.  What do you want?”  “I don’t know,” said the man.  “Well, feel free to walk up and down the aisles, see what it is you want and make a list.  Then come back and we’ll see what we can do for you.”

So the man did just that.  He walked up and down the aisles.  There was peace on earth, no more war, an end to hunger and poverty, clean air, and lots of other things.  He wrote furiously and by the time he got back to the counter he had a long list. 

Jesus took the list, skimmed through it, looked up and smiled.  “No problem.” he said.  And then he bent down behind the counter and picked out some packets.  “What are these?” the man asked.  “Seed packets.” Jesus said.  “This is a catalogue store.”  “You mean I don’t get the finished product?”  “No. You see this is a place of dreams.  You come and see what it looks like, and I give you the seeds. 

You plant the seeds, nurture them and help them grow, and someday someone else will enjoy the fruits of your gift.”  “Oh,” said the man.  And he gave the seeds back to Jesus and he left the store. 

The man’s heart was in the right place, but he wanted the results now or not at all.  He didn’t understand that anything important in the world doesn’t work that way.  You first have to dream.  And then you have to plant your dreams, like seeds, and trust that they will bear fruit. 

Christ Church is like that store that Jesus owned.  It is a place of dreams.  It is where we come to imagine what the world could look like.  And those envelopes you put in the offering plate every Sunday – those are packet of seeds – dream seeds.  The world would say planting those seeds is foolish.  You don’t know when they are going to bear fruit, or for whom they will bear fruit.  You don’t even know for sure that they are going to bear fruit at all.  

But you know something the world doesn’t.  You know that it doesn’t matter how or where or even if they will bear fruit.  For the question that God asks us never was and never will be how effective are we.  The question is always how faithful are we. 

This is a place of dreams, and this is our conspiracy. 

·       We conspire that we will not retreat from the dangers of this world.

·       We conspire that we will not ignore a chance to help, just because there is a chance to fail.  

·       We conspire to invest in a better world, even if we don’t live to see it. 

·       And we conspire not to judge our actions by the immediacy of their results, but by their integrity to our calling. 

For this is a place of dreams, and this is our conspiracy.

AMEN.