But this I say: “He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.”

Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it… . He who doesn’t… pays it” (Albert Einstein).

This truism was coined by Einstein, but it has more frequently been quoted by another: Warren Buffet, the “Oracle of Omaha,” of Berkshire-Hathaway fame. If you know of Warren Buffet, then you will know that he is one of the world’s wealthiest individuals. As of last week, he sat at rank #10 on Forbes’ “Real-Time Billionaires” chart. Year-to-date, he possesses a total net worth of 146.8B dollars. How do we say it? “That’s a lotta cheese, man.”

Warren Buffet is financially savvy. He is well-educated. He was a protégé of the American economist and “father of value-investing,” Benjamin Graham. He is well-tempered, anti-reactionary, and spendthrift (yes, even though he is a billionaire). But returning to the quote above regarding compound interest, what has most led to Buffet’s success is his understanding of one simple point: you must always be investing and re-investing, investing and re-investing. As time goes on, with diligence, you attain to, what Buffet refers to both colloquially and as the subject matter of one of his most popular books: the “Snowball Effect.” You reach financial “critical mass.” Your wealth becomes self-sustaining, i.e., through dividends, and self-generative, i.e., through compound interest.

A helpful analogy in communicating this effect would be that of a field which sows itself, a perennial sowing and a perennial harvest. Any field must be initially sowed. And any field must be tended, weeded, cultivated, fertilized. But what if you were so attentive to sowing and weeding and fertilizing, that you were able to realize the same effect in a field of sweet corn that one finds in a field of wildflowers (or even more infuriatingly: a dandelion patch)? Nobody sows dandelions, but they reseed themselves and regrow year over year over year; every year the patch expands! Theoretically, the same could be true of tomatoes, or pumpkins, or green beans. In fact, I am sure some of us have seen the unintended consequences of vegetables sowing themselves. “Honey, there’s a pumpkin growing in the compost pile!” “Honey, there’s a tomato growing in the flower bed!” A perennial garden of desirable produce, a perpetually expanding Eden: the agrarian’s dream.

The Apostle writes in today’s Epistle, brethren, “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously” (2 Cor 9:6). Of course, St. Paul is not talking about gardening or farming. He is talking about money: every church attender’s favorite topic. Don’t we love it when the priest or council president wants to talk about money, about the parish budget? The Apostle has no qualms about discussing finances; he has no reservation in asking for money. To contextualize the passage for you: St. Paul is gathering a collection from the Christian churches abroad (in Macedonia and Achaia) for distribution to the poor saints of Jerusalem. We know that he gathered funds from the Corinthian, Philippian, Galatian, and Antiochian churches; he makes mention of the collection to the Roman church (Rom 15:30-32), although they were not sponsors. He goes on to say, in chapter 9 of the same Epistle,

“Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly nor under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. … Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God” (2 Cor 9:6-7, 10-11).

“Now he who supplies seed to the sower… will also supply and increase your store of seed… .” Is St. Paul here preaching one of the fundamental tropes of the Prosperity Gospel? “I need you to sow a seed, brother! Just sow a seed of a hundred dollars, brother!” (that’s my best Kenneth Copeland impression). No, the Apostle would never cast stewardship in terms of strict mathematics. “Give God $100 dollars, and he will return $200 to you.” Rather, the Apostle is speaking in terms of “spiritual compound interest.” And I believe there is a significant difference. The Prosperity Gospel proposes an investment and a return in kind. Give God money, … and he’ll give you some money back. The Apostle proposes an investment and a return—compounded—but also converted. “Each of you should give… . Now he who supplies seed to the sower… will also… enlarge the harvest of your righteousness” (2 Cor 9:7, 10). Paul is asking his contributing churches to sow financially and to reap their reward in virtue, in spiritual perfection. Man sows a financial seed, and in return, God will multiply and increase “the fruits of [a man’s] righteousness.”

For those of you who have been participating in our Adult Catechesis, you will already know that this is the case with the spiritual disciplines: fasting, prayer, almsgiving, study, meditation. Time invested in a spiritual discipline multiplies—compounds—the virtuous character of a man. Time spent, sown, invested in fasting yields compounded temperance. Time spent, sown, invested in the study of and mediation on Holy Scripture yields compounded knowledge and wisdom. Time spent, sown, invested in prayer yields a closeness to and a love for God. There is no other way to cultivate holiness, to cultivate love and temperance and courage and faithfulness than to invest time in activities that encourage holiness, love, temperance, courage, and faithfulness. Maybe in our finances we underestimate the eighth wonder of the world: compound interest. But I believe we also underestimate its value in our how we invest our time, in how we cultivate our Christian spirituality. “He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully” (2 Cor 9:6).

We say that we want to be persons of prayer, but we do not pray. We say that we want to be in control of our wills, to be lords over our passions, but we do not fast. We want to be knowledgeable in matters of faith and theology, but we do not study the Holy Scriptures. Brethren, if you spent thirty minutes, morning and evening, praying—every day, every year—over the span of seventy years, you would amass a cumulative total of 25,550 hours in prayer. What axiom did Malcolm Gladwell popularize in his book, Outliers, back in 2008? “It takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to become world-class in any field.” Time, time, time; intention, intention, intention. To some, 10,000 hours might sound like an unfathomable sum of time, at least, spent doing one thing—one talent, one hobby, one skill—deliberately. To another (pause), it sounds like the requisite investment for greatness. “He who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.” Brethren, if you spent one day per week performing a strict fast—no food, no water—tempering the appetites of the flesh, depriving yourself of 2,000 calories daily, also over the course of seventy years (one day per week, fifty-two days per year), this practice would yield a cumulative caloric deficit of 7.28M calories. That’s… not a lot of cheese! Brethren, if you were to spend the time (and if you had the money) pursuing any advanced degree, at the rate of one degree every five years (6 credits per year for five years; that is, a 30-credit graduate degree), over the course of fifty years, you could have studied and received credentials for ten degrees. That’s… a lot of study, a lot of education, a lot of applicable knowledge. “He who sows bountifully… .”

It is almost that time of year, brethren, when we get to discuss church finances. The budget is being finalized, and our annual meeting is approximately one month away. In May, we had a special parish meeting to discuss the addition of transepts and an atrium. We’re still discussing, as clergy, as a council, as a parish how to achieve those goals. Will finances be a factor? When aren’t finances a factor? Will regular stewardship giving be a discussion point? When isn’t it? (pause). In today’s Epistle, St. Paul discusses giving in financial terms, but I pray that I have helped you to see that his words are applicable across a spectrum of human activity. Money invested is money returned. Time invested is time returned. When we ask ourselves, as individuals and as a parish, “What do we want?” we may answer, “Growth, to the glory of God!” Amen. But there is only one way to achieve growth: investment; spiritual or financial or time investment. If you want an active, beautiful, brilliant parish choir: it takes investment, of time and energy. It takes dedication. If you want a large, beautifully-adorned, prayerful, sacred space for worship: it takes investment, of time and energy and money. If you want holiness of life, righteousness, peace, confidence of faith, temperance, humility, reservation in speech, wisdom, knowledge, a deep affection for God: it takes investment and sacrifice; it takes time and energy. We must be investing—deliberately, faithfully, cheerfully—in want we want; and if we are not investing, or not willing to invest, we must ask ourselves, “Why not?” “He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully” (2 Cor 9:6).

Through the prayers of our holy fathers, O Lord Jesus Christ, our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen.

Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!