An Everyday Prayer

SAM: (a bit startled, but continuing)... I...I I-yi-yi thank you that I'm not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, and especially not like that tax collector over there.

VG: Really?! So you think that you have a winning hand?

SAM: Yes, I do! The narrator already listed some of my attributes; perhaps he could read off that list again for you.

VG: That won't be necessary. I have the picture.

SAM: Then you know all of the upstanding things that I have done over the years.

VG: It is a list that impresses some, and you think it should get you lots of points with me?

SAM: Well, yes I do. I've worked very hard.

Of course you know that I am retirement age now, I've served my time in those capacities, and I won't be participating in any of them now.

VG: Oh?

SAM: Time for recreation, and sleeping in, and not worrying about anybody or anything else but me.

VG: And that is sufficient?

SAM: I think I have paid off all that I owe...

VG: Please don't tell me that you just used the term “paid off”.

SAM: Oh, but I did! and I am sure of it.

Look, I'm planning to continue to give a tithe, although I must admit that I was toying with the idea of reducing it from 10% tithe to maybe a 4% gift next year.

VG: In order to be on par with lots of other people who keep track of those sorts of things?

SAM: Yes, exactly so; not more, not less, just the same as that group.

Well, maybe just a sheckel more so that my name is at the top of the list of contributors.

VG: I'm still stuck on that word “pay-off”. Is that like a bribe?

SAM: Nooooo, just that you are sure to honor those who have made a “contribution of record” as our bookkeepers have termed it.

VG: And 10% or even the national average of 4% will accomplish that, in your opinion?

SAM: Yes.

VG: You have a losing hand.

SAM: .What!?

VG: No matter what the percentage, it is not enough, because you have missed the point.

SAM: But I'm following the letter of the law! I have consulted the step charts on pages 17 and 18 of the bulletin last week.

VG: So Tithing is not just a good thing, but an ultimately good thing?

SAM: Yes, I've always thought so.

VG: Sorry, it is just a tool, a tool to get you to think about the real point.

It is a means, not an end in itself.

So, you have been misusing a tool.

SAM: I still don't understand.

VG: Do you possess a bank account?

SAM: Yes. (he replies Yes to each in turn)

VG: ...shelter; house or apt.?

...food and clothing?

...education?

...employment or retirement income?

...personal relationships?

...family?

...life itself?

VG: No, you don't.

You may have the use of all of those things, but they are not yours.

They belong to me. Not just 4% or 10%, but 100%.

And I'm not just talking about money, but about your use of time and every resource that has been entrusted to you. 100% of it belongs to me.

SAM: I want to pay you off and get rid of any nagging residual guilt that might be attached.

VG: Impossible.

What you can do is called responsible management of all your time, abilities, and resources.

If you use the tool of the tithe, that answers the question about 10%; the question remains about how you are using the 90% of time, abilities, and other resources.

Are you honoring me and aiding your neighbor?

Or are you attempting to aid and honor only yourself?

NARR: What did Sam Pharisee do?

Did he ever see past the pile of what he thought he had accomplished on his own?

That is a question that the parable does not answer,

but it is the sort of question we must ask ourselves this day and always.

We know that here in this assembly, we see things differently from the attitude out there in the public.

The world's ordinary slogan is “Earn what you can, can what you earn, and sit on the lid.”

If the Lord God is the maker and the owner of all that is, then the world is wrong.

VG: There is a proper use for every resource that I have entrusted to you. Find it!

(pause)

NARR: We haven't forgotten that Jacob Publican also prayed.

JACOB: Lord God, ...

VG: I'm listening.

JACOB: ...have mercy on me, a sinner.

VG: I do, and I will.

NARR: let everyone say: AMEN.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.