Energizing Imagination

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

October 13, 2013

Energizing Imagination

1 Timothy 6:17-19

The men and women were stunned by what they had just heard.

There they were, the Board of Directors

of a large, successful corporation,

and they sat there silent,

no one quite sure what to say,

how to respond to what their Chief Executive

had just told them.

There wasn’t a person around the table

who didn’t have the greatest respect for the Chief Executive.

He was a man of intelligence, integrity

a bold leader, but never brash,

always thoughtful, careful, methodical;

a leader who always did his homework well

before proposing new ideas.

But, oh - what they’d just heard!

The Chief Executive could tell by their silence

that he had not just surprised the Board,

he’d shocked them.

He smiled and carried on with his presentation,

“Yes, you heard me correctly:

our next corporate acquisition will be a church;

in fact, a chain of churches.

We plan on acquiring an entire denomination.”

“We’ve been studying this for well over a year

and we see this as an incredible business opportunity.

Churches of every denomination are struggling.

Attendance sliding,

revenues shrinking,

expenses escalating.

This is the perfect time to strike;

We can buy them up for pennies on the dollar.”

“The real estate alone is worth more than twice

what we’ll pay.

We plan to tear down about

half the churches we’ll acquire

and develop the properties:

condos, apartments, retail – that sort of thing.”

“But that’s just business as usual.

Here’s the really exciting part of the plan:

We’ll keep roughly half the churches we acquire,

about 3,000;

We’ll keep them… as churches,

only we’ll run them our way,

run them as they should be run,

run them as businesses.”

“We’ll downsize the old staff and

install our own team at each location.

Our people will know that their job is to maximize profit,

maximize profit by increasing revenues

and cutting expenses.

With 3,000 churches in our organization,

we’ll have tremendous economies of scale.

We’ll standardize worship,

we’ll make everything uniform,

the same across the board.”

“We’ll get rid of live music and musicians

and provide recorded music

our market experts have tested,

music we know will draw people in.

We’ll have preachers who will still provide

a message each week,

but every message will be market-tested first;

nothing controversial,

something to make people feel good,

‘I’m okay; you’re okay’ type of thing.”

“And, yes, we’ll install food courts,

book kiosks,

and other merchandising centers.”

“What we’re most excited about, though,

and what our people believe will drive revenue

right through the steeple,

will be the membership structure.

Church folks are comfortable with the idea of membership,

but we’ll re-imagine it,

repackage it,

rebrand it,

and add value to it.”

“We’ll have separate classes of membership,

something along the lines of bronze, silver,

gold and platinum;

only of course we’ll use more appropriate terms,

like apostles, saints,

 heavenly choir, and angels.”

“Each group will have benefits exclusive to that group.

The more a person pays,

the more benefits he or she gets.

We see the top group as having valet parking,

a private lounge with gourmet coffee and snacks,

skybox seating in the Sanctuary set apart from everyone else,

and you’ll love this:

their own personal faith concierge,

someone dedicated to handling all their concerns

to make things as easy as can be.

We want every experience in our churches to be positive,

and the top group will have their own

Carson the butler to see to it.”

“Lower levels of membership will still have benefits,

but our goal will be to work on the aspirational values

that are part of human nature –

when you see what someone else has, but you don’t,

you’ll want to trade up to the next level.

Envy drives the marketplace.”

“Ladies and gentlemen of the Board,

the acquisition and privatization

of our target denomination is the exciting first step,

our point of entry into a market of two billion people.

The church has been around for 2,000 years,

and is long overdue to monetize its brand.

It amazes me to think that they’ve lasted this long

relying on donations and offerings

to keep themselves going!”

Everyone around the Board laughed

as the Chief Executive closed his presentation book

and sat down, triumphant.

It was an English playwright who suggested this scenario,

(Alan Bennett in his play, People)

this privatization of churches,

this idea of monetizing faith.

Was he just exercising literary license,

his imagination run wild,

or did he offer us a glimpse into the future?

For the past twenty years,

the world seems to have been eager to monetize,

privatize everything,

including many things we once thought

were community responsibilities,

shared responsibilities for services

that benefit all in the community:

roads, schools, parks,

fire and police,

prisons

and, health care.

Is the church next?

Will we see the infiltration of corporate logos

here in the Sanctuary –

on the pulpit,

perhaps even a few patches sewn onto my robe

like a tennis player or golfer?

It may sound wonderfully tempting,

but remember:

we pray that God will deliver us from temptation.

The success and strength of this church lies, of course,

with you and me,

not as paid, privileged members,

but all of us working together as the body of Christ,

all of us called by Christ to faith;

all of us called by the Holy Spirit to live out our faith,

grow in faith,

and share our faith through this particular church,

this body, as we follow the one who came

not to be served, but to serve.

It is up to you and to me to provide the resources

of time, of talent, and of treasure

to do the ministry God calls us to do.

God made it so simple back in Moses’ time:

“Bring the tithe”, God commanded,

the 10% offering,

“The best of the first fruits of your ground

you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God.”

(Exodus 34:26)

We’ve made it complicated since

as we’ve pushed back against God’s simple command.

Even Paul seemed to feel a need

to speak delicately to the new Christians about money,

writing,

“Each of you must give as you have made up your mind,

not reluctantly, or under compulsion,

for God loves a cheerful giver.”

(2 Corinthians 9:7)

No talk here of tithing, of 10%,

no reference to God’s angry words

spoken through the prophet Malachi,

“Will anyone rob God?

Yet you are robbing me…

in your tithes and your offerings!...

Bring the full tithe!”

(Malachi 3:8)

Just Paul treading lightly, adding,

“I do not say this as a command.”

But God does say it as a command,

that we are to return a portion of

what has come from God in the first place.

We bring our offerings and our tithes

to do all the wonderful work we do,

the wonderful ministries of this church:

Worship, music,

Christian Education, youth groups,

our preschool,

feeding the hungry,

supporting mission work here and around globe.

This year our Stewardship Ministry Team is inviting us

not just to respond with our pledges;

they are also providing us with the opportunity

to respond with our imaginations

to think about what we might do,

new ministry,

new ways of serving,

of nurturing faith.

Ideas have already started to bubble up;

now it is your turn.

Elders, Deacons and ministers are called

in ordination vows to serve the people

not only with “energy, intelligence and love”

but also with “imagination.”

Our Stewardship Ministry Team is encouraging everyone

to energize their imagination in the same way.

So respond.

Respond first with your pledge card.

I’ve already turned in mine –

something I do every year eagerly and joyfully,

and with a sense of profound gratitude to God.

And then respond with your imagination,

listening for where the Spirit might be calling you,

might be calling us to new service.

Let us not set our hopes on the uncertainty of riches,

but rather on God

who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.

Let us every one of us, do good,

be rich in good works,

generous, ready to share

that we all might take hold of the life that really is life.

To God be the glory.

AMEN