The Cart and the Horse

I am sure everyone gets them, those emails from unknown benefactors who write to let me know that I am in receipt of a windfall and all I have to do is claim it.

I am so consciously aware of this con, that if someone actually had money for me, they had better come to me and show me the proof.  Money just doesn't appear when I need it.

In today's reading, however, there is a windfall of sorts.  King Artaxerxes tells Ezra that he will fund the building of the temple and whatever money is left over, they people can do with it what they want (according to the will of God, that is).

Whatever seems good to you and your colleagues to do with the rest of the silver and gold, you may do, according to the will of your God.  The vessels that have been given you for the service of the house of your God, you shall deliver before the God of Jerusalem.  And whatever else is required for the house of your God, which you are responsible for providing, you may provide out of the king's treasury. - Ezra 7:18-20

What an endowment!

The king will cover all the cost of the building and whatever else is needed.  The people can focus on the will of God.

Imagine what life in the church would be like today if we had such an arrangement.

I'm on a mission these days.  I'd like to see this kind of world come to pass.

Here's my thinking on this.

Imagine an endowment that would generate enough annual income to cover the cost of maintaining our church building and property.  All normal repairs and preventive maintenance would be done each year and none of that would be paid out the operating budget.

I know what you are thinking.  Where is that going to come from?

Obviously we don't have a King Artaxerxes as our Big Daddy, so we need another source, but hold that thought for a minute while I continue to ponder the impossible.

Now imagine this special endowment is large enough to support all the church properties in the diocese.

Why stop there?

Right!  Now you are thinking!

So, if we found a way to do this, by setting up a cause and soliciting all sorts of donations, living wills, charitable gift annuities and the like, we still have an important question to answer.

What would we do with the money we raise every year in our churches?

Would we put our fund raising efforts into feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the imprisoned, helping the poor, taking care of the sick?

I hope so.  This is the will of God King Artaxerxes was talking about, isn't it?

As we come to the time of year when we are all bombarded by pleas for support for our operating expenses, I would like to change the conversation and focus on the needs of others.

It's radical, I know, but I believe we can eliminate the excuse of having to find the money to keep the doors open, even if we don't have a large endowment on which to draw.

I realize that many might find it hard to focus on the will of God first and not worry about the buildings and I agree that it sounds like putting the cart before the horse, but we have been failing for so long, I think we need to divide and conquer.

Here's my thought.

Why not put a few creative minds together to work on a pilot program to build an endowment and let everyone else work on the mission to which we are all called?

More to come...


Image credit: artcomma / 123RF Stock Photo