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Dear Friend in Christ,
For the last six weeks you've heard, each week, that Sunday, October 25, is Consecration Sunday at Christ Church. It's finally here! I hope you've made plans to join for Mass and then for the Celebration Luncheon immediately following the 11:00am Mass. I'll see you there.
You may even have a little "Celebration" fatigue by now; that's not unreasonable. Six weeks of the same slogan might be more than enough to remind you to come to lunch!
And you might even be wondering, "Why, after all, does God want me to give? Doesn't God have enough?" And you'd be right to ask that question.
Fr Anthony Bloom, the late Orthodox Metropolitan of London, shares a story about Moses, a shepherd, and a fox in his book Beginning to Pray. That story reminds me why I choose to tithe each year. If you missed last Sunday's homily, let me share it with you now:
Moses spent the day with the shepherd in the desert, tending his sheep together, observing, milking, herding them. At the end of the day, as they were settling down for the night, Moses noticed that the shepherd poured a little of the best milk into a bowl and set it on a rock away from the camp. Curious, Moses asked what the shepherd was doing. He replied, “Each night I take some of the best milk from the day and set it aside as an offering for God.” Moses, much wiser and more sophisticated than the simple shepherd, was amused, and asked, “Well, does God drink it?” The shepherd assured him that, yes, God drank the milk! It was always gone by the next morning.
Moses smiled and explained to the shepherd that God, being spirit, has no need of material things. There was no way that God could drink the milk. The shepherd was mistaken.
To settle the disagreement, the little shepherd hid behind some bushes and stayed awake all night, hoping to get a glimpse of God coming to drink the milk.
Later that night, while Moses was sound asleep, the shepherd, barely able to keep his eyelids open, spied a little fox creeping across the desert towards the rock. The little fox sneaked over to the bowl, lapped up all the fresh milk, and ran off as quickly as he’d come.
The next morning, the shepherd dutifully reported to Moses that, indeed, Moses was right. Crestfallen, the shepherd conceded that, indeed, God had no need for his milk—it was just a little fox drinking it. “Why, this is good news!” Moses told the disappointed shepherd. “Now you know more about God than you did before.” But the shepherd was still sad. He explained to Moses that the one thing he could do for God was now useless. His act of love was useful only in his own head. His eyes now opened to the truth, that night he set out no milk on the rock.
Moses, surprised by this turn in the shepherd’s emotions, thought about this for a while. And that night, while he slept, God appeared to him in a dream. “Moses, why did you deprive me of the milk the shepherd used to offer me?” God asked. Moses, rather stunned, said to God, “But you had no need of it! I was only trying to help the shepherd know you better. To teach him that you are spirit!”
“Moses,” God replied, “you were wrong. It’s true that I am spirit and that I have no need of the milk. But the little fox quite likes milk. And it was my joy to share it with him.”
God wants us to give because it pleases God for God's creation to have good things. God wants the Church to thrive. God wants us, collectively and individually, to thrive. God wants there to be enough. God wants that little fox to have the milk!
But even more important, the shepherd wants to give. For him it's a way of sharing with God what God has done for the shepherd. A way of giving back--of participating in God's loving, generative life. of God's work in Creation.
And so it is for us. Giving is a spiritual gift, a spiritual discipline, a spiritual invitation. We give not to keep the lights on, though that helps; we give not because we like the choir or the preaching or the teaching that goes on in this place, though those things are wonderful; we give because we need to respond to God's gift to us. We need to reach out in love towards God who has reached out towards us. We need to trust God--just as God has trusted us.
This is it, friends. Consecration Sunday is here. Come to Mass and make your commitment to give for 2027. Come and respond to God--giving thanks for what God has done for you.
We look forward to the fellowship of Eucharist and lunch with you on October 25. And if you live away from Connecticut be assured we will follow up with you after the luncheon, so pray about what you will do in 2027.
I look forward to celebrating together.
Yours faithfully in Christ,
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