Luke 21:1-4; Romans 12:1-2; Genesis 2:7-9, 15-25
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Well, I hate to break it to you ladies, but the hymn that is your theme for this rally is not a Lutheran hymn. Sure, it’s appeared in several Lutheran hymnals: the LSB, LW, TLH, LBW, SBH, and the ELH to say the least. It’s been doctrinally approved, and you all pretty much have known it, well, forever. Still, it’s not a Lutheran hymn. “Take My Life and Let It Be” was written by Frances Havergal, an Anglican. She wrote both the text and the tune. What inspired her to write the hymn was a brief visit to Areley House in Worcestershire where Frances prayed that the ten persons in the house not merely be converted, but that they would be made rejoicing Christians. “Lord, give me all in this house!” she prayed. And, as the story goes, He did. Frances recounted, “Before I left the house everyone had got a blessing. The last night of my visit I was too happy to sleep, and passed most of the night in praise and renewal of my own consecration, and those little couplets formed themselves and chimed in my heart one after another, till they finished with, ‘Ever, only, all for Thee!’”
The consecration Frances mentions here refers to an experience she had December 2, 1873, while reading a devotional book titled “All for Jesus!” which set forth “a fulness of Christian experience and blessing exceeding that to which she had as yet attained.” “Although she had loved the Lord and served Him for many years, upon reading this book she realized her ‘experience was not up to the standard of full consecration and spiritual power, or of uniform brightness and continuous enjoyment in the Divine life’.” This yearning for an ever deeper spiritual experience was typical of the evangelical fervor of her day and, perhaps, of our day as well. Typically, it goes by the name Enthusiasm or Pietism.
Is such yearning for a fuller Christian experience and blessing somehow bad? Well, it certainly can be, as in the case of Enthusiasm and Pietism, but it doesn’t have to be, if understood in the right way. The LORD personally created our First Parents in His image having a holy desire for righteous communion with Him. After the Fall, that desire remains, though corrupted. As another popular hymn has put it, we’re “looking for God in all the wrong places; looking for God in too many faces.” People are want to say that we all have a “God-shaped hole in our hearts” that we’re desperately trying to fill. Suffice it to say, it is the human condition after our Fall from grace.
Frances states her desire for consecration plainly in the first stanza of the hymn: “Take my life and let it be / consecrated LORD to Thee. / Take my moments and my days; / Let them flow in ceaseless praise.” This pious and holy desire resonates with the language of the Psalms, particularly Psalm 139: “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” Frances goes on to pray that her hands and feet, voice and lips, intellect, heart, and love might all be consecrated to the service and glory of the LORD.
Consecration isn’t really a Lutheran word, at least when it is used in this manner. We often refer to the Words of Jesus spoken or chanted over the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper in the Divine Service as the consecration, but when we speak of using our bodies and minds, our lives, our intellect and talents, and our material resources to serve and glorify the LORD, the word we typically use is sanctification, a work of the Holy Spirit. Our sanctification is a pious and holy desire created in us by the Holy Spirit who “calls, gathers, enlightens, sanctifies, and keeps us in the one true faith.” Once we are justified, converted, through baptism and faith, we are also sanctified. The LORD declares us holy in Christ, and the Holy Spirit begins the lifelong work of making us to actually be holy, a work that is completed only in the resurrection of our bodies on the Last Day. Our sanctification, however, is not a feeling or an emotion, although it may evoke feelings and emotions, but our sanctification is a proclamation of the LORD and the work of the Holy Spirit. Thus, St. Paul writes, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.”
To present your bodies as a living sacrifice is act of gratitude. When you recognize and confess that all you have, your body and soul, your reason and all your members, your time, treasure, and talents, the totality of your life, is a gift of God’s grace, then your sacrifice of these to the LORD is an act of confession and gratitude as you give back to God a portion of what He has given to you, and as you selflessly share your gifts with those the LORD puts before you to serve without hesitation, sadness, or resentment, but with Christian love and joy.
Which brings us to the story of the Widow’s Mite, the inspiration behind LWML’s most well-known symbol and source of revenue for National and District Mission Grants. “Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, ‘Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on’.” It is immediately apparent that what we give as an offering is much less about the amount than it is a matter of the heart, the motivation, the love. Jesus praised the widow for her offering because it was literally all that she had. Let’s be honest, if it came down to paying the mortgage, the utility bill, or buying groceries as opposed to putting money in the offering at church, for most the offering would be sacrificed. But the widow did not do that, but she gave her last two pennies. But why? Well, we’re not told precisely, but Jesus’ praise suggests that the widow gave all she had because she trusted in the LORD who had been faithful and good to her in the past, that He would continue to be faithful and good to her in the future. And she gave all that she had, not grudgingly or with resentment, but with contentment, peace, and joy. “Take my silver and my gold; not a mite would I withhold.”
So, the idea of the Widow’s Mite is that you give out of your poverty, want, and need. The idea of LWML Mites is that you give out of your abundance, leftover pocket change. Now, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Jesus doesn’t chide the rich who gave their offerings out of their abundance, but rather he praises the widow who gave all she had out of her poverty. A living sacrifice is, well, a sacrifice. LWML Mites are more akin to a fund-raising effort than an offering, but that’s okay. A whole lotta good is done when Lutheran women nationwide pool their resources to support mission endeavors of all kinds. Truly, giving back to the LORD is a personal confession of what you believe about the LORD: That He is good; that He is faithful; that, whether He is giving, or He is taking away, nothing has changed; that He works all things for the good of those who love Him.
Frances Havergal wanted to give her whole self, as much as possible, to the service and glory of the LORD. That is what “Take My Life and Let It Be” is truly confessing. Your living sacrifice is an outward confession of what you believe in your heart.
To God alone be all the glory.
In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.
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