What comes to mind? Maybe… buy medicine for the uninsured. Perhaps he would buy food for the hungry. Hmmm. Well, it is cold outside, so maybe he would buy blankets, coats and socks.
Well, one Raleigh church decided that they think Jesus would buy a pipe organ. A. Pipe. Organ. Are you kidding me?
Nope. Not at all. I cannot make this stuff up. The very pious Edenton Street United Methodist Church has decided to spend 1.8 million dollars… on a pipe organ. They had more than a hundred members show up to unload the truck… you know, serving God and all. They spent 3 years planning the purchase, deciding the logistics of just what goes where. They even had a committee. After all, one does not spend 1.8 million dollars lightly.
A pipe organ. In a city where there are not enough beds at night for the poor, a city where children go to bed hungry and a city with a huge influx of immigrants who need help adapting, the Church that Jesus Christ founded decides they will spend 1.8 million dollars on a pipe organ.
Contrast that attitude about money with the words of John Wesley, the founder of what today is the United Methodist Church.
“Hear ye this, all you who have discovered the treasures which I am to leave behind me; if I leave behind me ten pounds—above my debts and my books, or what may happen to be due on account of them—you and all mankind bear witness against me, that I lived and died a thief and a robber.” (emphasis mine)
Ten pounds in today’s money is about $20 in the US.
Now, you may think I am being harsh to the Methodists here. (In the spirit of disclosure, I was baptized as a Methodist as an infant, grew up in a Methodist church and am largely Wesleyan in my Theology).
More and more people think the church is irrelevant. In the (distant) past, the works of the church were our witness to the greatness of the God we serve. We fed the hungry, sheltered the orphans, bathed the wounds of the injured. The reason they think that is because we show them that it is true.
These days, we manage to rationalize away the words of Jesus, when he said that whatever we do to the poor, the hungry, the oppressed, we do to him. Instead, the church has bought into American culture that bigger is better. We have mega churches, we have family life centers and we have 1.8 million dollar pipe organs. Meanwhile, the church comes across as irrelevant, uncaring and it looks like we are ignoring the commands of our founder. Is it any wonder that church attendance is falling, that many in the post-modern generation see the church as antiquated and self-serving?
When the church quits building building nice country clubs for themselves, when the church quits ignoring the words of Jesus, when the church becomes the church, then maybe the church will have the right to be heard in discussions about morality, religion or ethics. Until that day, they can just sit in their cushioned pews and listen to their pipe organs.
[...] The Power of Love to Change the World « What Would Jesus Do With 1.8 Million Dollars? [...]
[...] Earlier, I pointed out the article in the News and Observer where a downtown United Methodist Church (I won’t even give them the favor of a link) decided to spend 1.8 million dollars on a pipe organ. [...]
Hey, I want to preface this comment by saying that I think what you are doing is awesome! You are being Jesus to people that Jesus loves deeply, but many overlook for various reasons. I just learned about your ministry recently, so that’s why I’m now commenting on something from last year.
When I read about things like $1.8 million spent on something I personally wouldn’t spend $1.8 million on, my gut reaction is often similar to what you expressed in your post. I totally agree that Jesus wants us to minister in physical, tangible ways to those he described in Matthew 25.
At the same time, as brothers and sisters in Christ, we need to be very careful about how we project our own personal calling onto others. Jesus was clear in Matthew 25. He was also clear when his disciples rebuked the woman for breaking an expensive alabaster jar of expensive perfume and annointing his feet with it. The disciples specifically said that the money should have been spent for ministry to the poor instead. Jesus rebuked them. He supported the woman’s extravagant worship.
Personally, a $1.8 million organ doesn’t help me worship any better. But, that’s me. And Jesus didn’t call me to tell Edenton Street UMC what to do. Maybe during the three years of planning, much prayer went into this project and God specifically led the folks at that expression of His body to break an alabaster jar because He is worthy of that kind of excess in worship. I don’t know. You don’t know. And it doesn’t matter.
I believe that as brothers and sisters trying to live out our lives in Christ, we are all much better off encouraging one another. You are obviously passionate about the poor and homeless. That is an awesome expression of faith and mission. The great thing about the Body of Christ is its diversity.
We need to remember that we think about resources, specifically financial resources, as limited. That is one of the backbones of our culture’s economic system. That is not a valid assumption in God’s economy. God can create more money. So, he can direct ESUMC to worship him extravagently and provide the funds for that and that doesn’t in any way diminish what’s available to Hugh Hollowell to worship him by crying with Skip and paying his bus fare and that doesn’t diminish what’s available to take care of AIDS orphans in Africa, or a business men’s fellowship to reach the rich, etc.
So, Hugh, be encouraged to keep doing what you are doing. I want to meet you someday, because what you write is awesome and what you do inspires me. But, after reading this, I want to go to Edenton Street UMC some Sunday and hear God worshipped on the alabaster jar of an organ they have there.
Scott,
Thanks for stopping by. And thank you for commenting. I have no doubt the staff of Edenton Street Methodist Church can justify the expense. And yes, the alabaster jar story is valid. But…
Jesus did not say “We have $50, so we can buy perfume, or we can buy food for this guy, right here in front of me, who is hungry. Let’s buy some perfume.” And any serious discussion of “The poor will always be with you” should be done in light of Deuteronomy 15, which Jesus was quoting.
Yes, in the kingdom of God there is abundance. However, in the kingdom of God there is also mercy, there is justice and there is love. God has told us what is required of us: to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God.
My argument is not one of scarcity; it is one of discernment. We obviously have the resources to feed the hungry and shelter those without; we just lack the will.
Thanks again for stopping by, and I would love to have a cup of coffee with you and discuss this as much as you want. Just hit the contact button up top there and shoot me an email.
Grace and Peace,
Hugh