Sermon from Sunday 20 October

 

Reading(s): Exodus 16.11-18, 1 Timothy 6.11-19, Matthew 13:1-9. This sermon was given by Vanessa Lawrence at All Saints and St Mark.

If you have conversations with people outside the church, it’s clear that they frequently think that the church is rolling in money. We’re the national church, so the church has pots of cash and the government or someone must be giving us loads of money. Sadly, of course, we know this is not accurate. Most of the money comes from the congregations. Most of the volunteer effort that makes things happen comes from the congregations. The church is its congregations.

And so, I want to say thank you, to each one of you, for your generosity – for all you give in terms of your financial support, but also your time and your talents – your clearing of gutters, making cakes, putting up posters, and cleaning the loo. Every single action is a contribution, valued by our community, but also a gift to God.

We are aware that we are in a cost of living crisis, and that makes everything harder for all of us. It may be as a result of this week’s focus on giving, you want to re-evaluate your own giving. A few people giving the equivalent of a couple of cups of coffee a month would make a huge difference to our finances. But it may be that you want to give less – less of your finances, less perhaps of your time. This is all entirely, of course between you and God – you will know what works best for you, your own circumstances and your own wellbeing.

Let’s have a think about our readings. In Exodus, the Israelites are grumbling about God. They’re grumbling that they’ve been brought out into the desert and they’re going to starve. God hears and responds to their grumbling. I was struck by the end of the reading: “those who gathered much had nothing over, and those who gathered little had no shortage; they gathered as much as each of them needed.” God will provide, just as much as we need. Although, we know that there are many in this world for whom anxiety around food, clothes and shelter are justifiable concerns – our collection for the food bank is a stark reminder of this.

This link between faith and wealth is a recurring theme. We see it in the letter from Paul to Timothy. There’s nothing wrong with money and wealth, as such, but we should hold them lightly and not let them come between us and God. When we have to worry excessively about money, either as an individual or a church, it can be hard to focus on God.

Which brings us to our Gospel reading: the parable of the sower. We know that we are called to sow the Gospel seed. In today’s world, that seed is not going to be sown without effort, without volunteers and without the funds to keep our church well stocked with seed and with a vicar to shepherd us on our journey. In addition, as a global society, we have not done all that we can to ensure the land is literally cultivated fairly and in a way that means the resources God has given us are equitably shared – hence our issues with climate change and the knock on effect of poverty.

I’m going whizz through some figures of the Winchester Diocese, because we do not stand in isolation. We are three parishes out of about 10,000 nationally and out of 236 in the Winchester Diocese. Where does Winchester’s money come from? The Common Mission Fund – you might also think of it as quota or parish share. It’s the means by which we all contribute, to the working of the church. Just over £8 million is given by the congregations, to the diocese, based on their size. This works out at an average of about £490 per person. The cost of providing vicars is pretty close to the amount of contributions. When you take stipend, pension, housing and other costs into account, a vicar costs over £70,000 per year. Winchester has 102 vicars at the moment and would like to have 116.

What does Ampfield look like? Well, we can see giving and the benefit of Gift Aid – the one bit of money that we do get given. If you are a taxpayer and you are eligible to Gift Aid your donations, please do. You can see the difference it makes. If you’re not sure if your Gift Aid details are up-to-date, please check. Giving just about covers the Common Mission Fund donations, and most of the running costs. The market, magazine, fete and other activities bring in a lot for St Mark’s – your volunteering converted into cash! But grants and legacies are the only thing keeping the finances in the black. They’re also the only way we can afford to do any building projects.

It’s a similar but different picture for North Baddeley. North Baddesley is heavily dependent on hiring out the church and the hall – thank you Arthur’s Play Space! A bunch of our projects were paid for in 2023 from our building fund; money set aside for that purpose. But we are relying on grants. Our children and families work is currently supported by a grant – but that will run out in about 18 months.

So thank you for your giving, for supporting the churches in our benefice. Thank you for your volunteering and exercising your talents to keep our churches open and our many activities running. Thank you for doing God’s work in these, our communities. It is only through all your hard work that we can provide the space for people to come to know the transforming love of God for themselves.