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    Nov 01, 2015

    Sunday Message - November 1, 2015

    Passage: Matthew 6:34

    Speaker: Pat Botelle, Lay Speaker

    Series: Treasure

    Category: Stewardship

    Keywords: treasure, worry

    Jesus understood that a conversation about money should include words about worry and anxiety. Jesus calls us to stop worrying and shows what happens when your heart is given to him. Jacob Armstrong

    **adapted from the drama "David B. Boomer Talks to God" by Deborah Fisher and Thomas Petty in "The Abingdon Guide to Funding Ministry Volume 1: An Innovative Sourcebook for Pastors and Church Leaders – April, 1995 "

    (The role of David B Boomer was played by George Hoffmann. The role of God was played by Pat Botelle)

     

    TECH: Play Video “Three Little Birds”
     
    DAVE: Yeah right. Easy for you to say…. I have plenty to worry about!! (TECH: Play ringing phone. Phone rings 3 times then Dave picks up the land line phone) Hello . . . ? Hello . . . ?
     
    GOD: Hello, is this David B. Boomer?
     
    DAVE: Speaking.
     
    GOD: David, do you consider yourself a faithful Christian?
     
    DAVE: Wait a minute . . . is this one of those dumb telephone surveys . . . or worse, one of those televangelist solicitations? . . . Listen, pal, I am very busy right now. I don’t have time to answer a lot of idiotic questions!
     
    GOD: No, this is not a survey, Dave. This is the Lord calling you. I haven’t heard from you for years and years. In fact, I haven’t heard from you since you were 12 years old. You’re 35 now, so that makes it 23 years since I have received any kind of communication from you at all! I just thought I would call and see how your faith is doing these days.
     
    DAVE: RIGHT! This is God, and I’m Bugs Bunny. Come on, tell me the truth——who are you really, and what’s your scam?
     
    GOD: No scam, Dave. I really am the Lord your God.
     
    DAVE: Well, now, listen . . . God doesn’t use phone to talk to people——that surely must be a violation of some Federal Interstate Communications Act . . . some violation of the separation of church and state—some violation of something! Besides, God just doesn’t need to use the phone!
     
    GOD: Settle down, Dave; your blood pressure is going off the charts. Now, how do you know so much about what I do and don’t do?
     
    DAVE: Well, I just know these things! And I know that God can’t just go around bugging people’s phones—even the CIA can’t do that! At least they’re not supposed to.
     
    GOD: I am not bugging your phone, as you put it. I’m calling you on the phone!
     
    DAVE: Besides, no one——absolutely no one I know believes that God is a woman!
     
    GOD: Well, at least now you are settling down to facts——you are right. I am not a woman.
     
    DAVE: Now at least you are making sense!
     
    GOD: But I am not a man either!
     
    DAVE: Whoa! Wait a minute . . . penalty flag—fifteen yards! I tell you, everybody-—absolutely everybody I know—knows that you are a man!
     
    GOD: Well now, David, I’m not surprised that you are having trouble dealing with this! The fact is that the way people hear me depends a lot more on how they listen than on how I speak!
     
    DAVE: Wait a minute. This is just too much! I’m getting a headache! Wait! I have a call coming in on the other line. I’ll be back in a minute. (Dave clicks phone.) Hello? Frank! Oh, am I glad to hear your voice. Why? I’m on the other line with a real loony- tune. (TECH: Play Thunder loud crack of thunder played over PA system) Ah, gee, it’s going to rain. . . . What do you mean, there’s not a cloud in the sky? . . . Where are you anyway, Frank? In your office? That’s just two blocks from here. Didn’t you hear that huge crack of thunder? When? When I was telling you about the crazy broad who . . . (TECH: Play Thunder louder crack of thunder). Listen, Frank, like I said, I have someone on the other line. Can I call you back in ten minutes or so? O.K. Catch you later. (Dave clicks phone again) Hello? Hello?
     
    GOD: Hello, Dave. How is Frank today?
     
    DAVE: You do have my phone bugged!
     
    GOD: No, Dave, I sincerely have not bugged your phone. I just wanted to call and see how your faith is these days. What church do you and your family attend?
     
    DAVE: Church? Listen, Gaaa . . . or whoever you are. We just don’t go to church. If you were really God, you would know what our life is like. I have too much going on, too much to worry about to add church to the list! I work 6 days a week, 12 hours a day; my wife works outside the home; and we have two children to raise. I tell you, we’re so busy during the week that Sundays are the only day we have to get caught up on all the work around the house! No way can we go to church—— we’re just too busy!
     
    GOD: You don’t need to talk to me about busy, Dave. I created the world in just six days. Talk about busy weeks! But I still had time to rest on the seventh day. It’s not good for you or your wife or your children to always be rushing around, busy, busy, busy and take no time to talk with me. I can guarantee that you would be a lot happier if you would take time for me. I can provide you with a whole list of references—people who would be more than happy to tell you that Sunday mornings spent with me are worth more than a trimmed yard, a waxed car or money in the bank!
     
    DAVE: I cannot believe that I am having this conversation! I am sitting here, talking on my phone—talking on my phone to—to God knows who.
     
    GOD: Yes, Dave.
     
    DAVE: O.K., O.K. For the sake of discussion, let’s just talk about church for a minute. I suppose it would be good for my children to go to church. I would like them to have the same good experience in Sunday school that I had. Church would be good for my wife, too—heaven knows she needs to go! She needs to learn to be more loving, forgiving and unselfish! And besides, she has been saying, ever since Sarah was born, that we should go back to church. Hey! Did you catch that name? Sarah! We didn’t just pull that name out of the air, you know. We thought it would be good to name her after the wife of one of Jesus’ disciples.
     
    GOD: Abraham.
     
    DAVE: What?
     
    GOD: Abraham. Sarah was Abraham’s wife.
     
    DAVE: Whatever. We did get the name out of the Bible. That says something for us and our faith— doesn’t it? (long pause) Doesn’t it? Jesus!—cut me a little slack, why don’t you?
     
    GOD: Remember, Dave, I’m God, not Jesus. You admit that you haven’t had much time for church. I respect your honesty. I am very delighted to know that you will make a sincere effort to go to church in the future.
     
    DAVE: Effort? Not just an effort-—we are talking Commitment here! We are going to begin . . . this very Sunday! And we will be there every Sunday from now on!
     
    GOD: That is excellent, Dave. I will be glad to see you there. What about your treasure, Dave?
     
    DAVE: My what?
     
    GOD: Your treasure. You know, your time, your talent, your gifts, your money.
     
    DAVE: What about them? (very suspiciously)
     
    GOD: Have you been giving any of your treasure to the church?
     
    DAVE: Oh no, here it comes! The old bottom line— “How much money do you give?” I knew this wasn’t really God. You’re a fund-raiser for that Methodist church down the street, aren’t ya?
     
    GOD: No, Dave. . . . Listen, do you hear that?
     
    DAVE: What?
     
    GOD: You have a FAX coming in.
     
    DAVE:  A FAX!? No one sends faxes anymore. I don’t even have a FAX machine.
     
    GOD: Sorry… OK. Check your phone. Do you have a text message?
     
    DAVE: (Dave looks at his cell phone) Let’s see, who is this from? . . . Real cute! . . . It’s from you, isn’t it?!
     
    GOD: Yes, Dave, it is. Would you care to read it?
     
    DAVE: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
    “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (pause) That’s easy for you to say…
     
    GOD: Has all of your worrying helped you handle your debts any easier? Has your worrying helped you save for college or retirement? Has it helped you with any of these things?
     
    DAVE: Well, no….
     
    GOD: What do you do, Dave?
     
    DAVE: Well now, you know how it is! . . . You know we’re just starting out and all. We just live paycheck to paycheck, and there is nothing left over in the bank account at the end of the month. I’ll tell you, I break out in a cold sweat whenever I think about sending my kids to college. Why, our best friends just finished putting their only child through college—they said it cost almost $80,000! We need to start saving for that real soon. And I don’t know how we’ll ever be able to save enough to retire . . . like I said, there’s just nothing left at the end of the month!
    GOD: How much did you pay for your new car, Dave?
     
    DAVE: My car? That little thing? Let’s see, I think $14,500. (TECH: Play Thunder loud thunder) No, no, wait, it was $19,500—-that’s right, $19,500. (TECH: Play Thunder loud thunder) No, no, it was $21,000. (TECH: Play Thunder loud thunder) O.K., O.K., so I paid $28,900.
     
    GOD: No wonder you have no money left at the end of the month! How about your boat, Dave?
     
    DAVE: My boat? That little fishing boat I got so I could take my son fishing? You know, picture this scene. . . . There my son and I are, early in the morning, out on the lake fishing—with the crisp, clear, cool fresh air all around us, the fog gently lifting off the water, and the glorious beauty of the sun peering up over the clouds on the eastern horizon. There we are, sitting with our fishing poles draped over the side of our little boat!
     
    GOD: Little boat? You call a 38-foot C-Ray a little boat?
     
    DAVE: Oh, you’ve seen it, huh? . . . Yeah, of course you’ve seen it!
     
    GOD: And, Dave, how about your big-screen TV? How about your Xbox - one in your four-year-old’s room? Really, Dave! How about your snowmobile?
     
    DAVE: OK! OK! I get your point. . . . I have a lot of toys. So shoot me! Oops! I didn’t mean that! What I meant was, I am going to begin to try to cut back on how much I buy for myself and, maybe, probably, start giving some of my money to you. Wait! I cannot believe I am having this conversation with someone I cannot even see, and making promises to do things I never before this minute ever considered doing! Am I losing my mind?
     
    GOD: Maybe you are just finding your soul! . . . Go check your computer screen, Dave.
     
    DAVE: My computer? My computer had a complete crash 48 hours ago! No matter what I do, I can’t get it going again. I’ll probably have to get a new one. Ah, I mean after I give some money to the church, of course!
     
    GOD: Just check the computer, Dave. (Dave walks to the computer)
     
    DAVE: It’s on! Wow! Look at these phosphorescent fonts! These are incredible! I’ve never seen anything like them! . . . You know, Lord, you really disappointed me with that FAX – Text thing! I figured that you would surely be up on the latest technology! But these phosphorescent fonts are fantastic! You sure more than made up for that text with this!
     
    GOD: Read what it says, Dave.
     
    DAVE: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”. I guess my heart isn’t really in the right place and all of this--the texts and the thunder are what you call signs——right, God?
     
    GOD: Signs are my specialty, Dave and right now your heart is following what you treasure.
     
    DAVE: I haven’t been doing a very good job of loving you with all my heart and soul and might, have I? But you must love me. Why else would you go to all this trouble, when you have so many other people to watch out for? I guess I’ve been sort of self-absorbed when it comes to my treasure, too. All of a sudden I feel real crummy about that. But that’s going to change. I mean really change—my check to you will be the first one I write, no leftovers for a God who loves me this much! And I’m going to start talking about this with the kids, too—tonight, right at the dinner table——between the overcooked hamburgers and the undercooked pork and beans! My wife will be shocked . . . but I think she’ll be glad, too. And . . . God, can we talk again? I mean, I really liked this! It was...cool! . . . And I .. I really liked it  . Can we talk again soon?
     
    GOD: Any time, Dave. I’m always here, ready and anxious to listen to you. And, Dave, if you need any help with those changes . . . well, I’m here for that, too!
     
    DAVE: Thanks, God. Good-bye..... Honey, you'll never believe what just happened!!!
     
    Pat: So what do you worry about? Are you like Dave and worry about finances, retirement, college? I’m very fortunate; God has blessed Jim and me with the financial resources to live very comfortably. We have a very consistent income each month. What I do worry about as the treasurer is having enough money month-to-month to pay the church’s bills. I know I need to trust God. But in order for me to pay the bills for our ministries, I have to depend on you giving your treasure to RUMC. As Armstrong said in our devotional, “God can do anything but, amazingly, chooses to involve us.” Our involvement comes by sharing our treasure.
     
    The commitment card you received in the mail and that is in your bulletin is for our ministry budget. It is that budget that supports the programs of our church. Many of your give your treasure to the youth program, local missions, the food pantry or other specific ministries and that is great and very much appreciated. But if you only give to a specific ministry and not to the overall ministry budget, then the boring things like gas and electric, the mortgage, salaries, insurance, office supplies that are needed to support all of the ministries struggle to get paid. There are also very important ministries – Sunday school, hospitality, Missions to name a few—that are only supported by the ministry budget so if we don’t have the funds, these ministries suffer. As the choir moves into place, it’s time for you to complete your commitment card. As you do listen to these words from Paul in 2 Corinthians 9:7, “Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. “
     
    The Choir will be singing “Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee” as you bring your commitment card forward. Be a joyful giver and let God know you adore him and the work he is doing here in Reisterstown.