Stewards in a Storm

Have you ever met Jeremiah? He was one of those reluctant Old Testament prophets picked to take the bad news to God’s people. Those old testament prophets really told it like it was, blood, gore, and all. The messages were usually pretty much the same – threats of destruction because the people had strayed from following God. 

Jeremiah had some pretty hard times, but he kept on warning the people and being ignored. Then, when the disaster was clearly upon them and they were about to be sent in captivity in Babylon, God tells Jeremiah to go buy a field just outside of town.  Buy a field? There will come a time, God says, when the people can come back. You go buy this field as a demonstration that you believe in the future, no matter how dismal things look right now. Jeremiah, the good steward, buys the field and a couple of generations later, God makes good on his promise. 

There are some parallels here with our modern situation. Things are pretty chaotic and it’s hard to know where to stand. What does a good steward do in these times? Loren Mead in her book Transforming Congregations for the Future suggests our call may be as prosaic as buying a field. “Our task is to go on holding on, studying and teaching the story of the faith, acting in service to the world, trusting God in the middle of ambiguity, refusing to back away from God’s claim on us. If we hold steady, God will provide the vision when the time is right…The first step in transformation has to do with attitude… [Like Jeremiah] our commitment must be large enough to acknowledge the winds of the storm we are in and go through the storm, not pretend it is unreal…we have new pages to write about what church is and how we serve.”

Jeremiah 32

 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD… The army of the king of Babylon was then besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was confined in the courtyard of the guard in the royal palace of Judah…. Jeremiah said, “The word of the LORD came to me … your uncle is going to come to you and say, ‘Buy my field at Anathoth, because as nearest relative it is your right and duty to buy it.’ …I knew that this was the word of the LORD; ⁹ so I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin …This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Take these documents, both the sealed and unsealed copies of the deed of purchase, and put them in a clay jar so they will last a long time. For this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Houses, fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land.’

Income Tax - a sacred exercise?

Whew! Income tax is done! Whether waiting for a refund or writing that check, or just coming out even, I’m always so glad to have that little task done.

Looking back at the year’s financial summary is a good spiritual exercise for me. Are my expenditures in line with what I say are my life priorities? Was there enough? Did I feel like there was enough when I was living out that year? Will there be enough this year? When will there be enough? If I have enough, (maybe even a little bit more than enough), what should I do with it? Buy a field?  If there isn’t enough, how do I keep from panicking? What does the curriculum of Stewardship 101 have to tell me about all of this?

I was reviewing Adam Hamilton’s book Enough that we studied at First Church this fall. Hamilton talks about ways to overcome fear: trust God, offer gratitude for what we have, live a life of service and generosity to others.  The first one seems the hardest to me.  I can do those other two and still have knots in my stomach and sleepless nights. How do I learn to trust God?  

Here are some ways I’ve found. I can turn to scripture and read God’s assurances.  The Psalms are full of them, for example, Psalm 46: “God is our refuge and strength…therefore we do not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea.”  I can remember my own experience, a time when I was afraid and God comforted or led me through, or listen to the experiences shared by those in this faith community. I can read the stories of John Wesley or other faith leaders of our tradition and learn about their faith experiences. I can practice prayer, stilling my troubled mind and listening in the quite for the still small voice of God. I can volunteer for one of First Church’s myriad service opportunities and learn from those who get by day to day on faith alone.

God’s abundance is a gift, but it’s a gift I don’t seem to know how to receive unless I unlearn what contemporary culture has taught me about who and whose I am. No matter how old I get, I never seem to outgrow my need for refresher courses. Believe it or not, income tax time has become one of those refreshers. Who'd have thought?

Steward's Covenant

We are all stewards - the only question is what type of stewards we will be. Will we act with open eyes, responding to reality, or will we act out of ignorance, led by our fears?

Did you ever hear the alarm in the morning, knowing it was time to get up, but unable it seemed to put out the effort to open your eyes? Or wake up suffering from allergies or an eye infection, and find your eyes glued shut by gunk that had accumulated during the night? Our how about this one, did you ever dream you had gotten up and showered and started your day only to wake up and realize you had been dreaming and overslept?

Sometimes opening our eyes seems impossibly hard. Sometimes we need some help. We need the help of communities, worship, scripture, quiet listening time, and prayer, to have the strength and wisdom to live as good stewards. Above all we need God's help. God steps in, but only if asked. Not by accident is the New Testament filled with parables of Jesus healing the blind, but only when asked. When we make the decision to live a steward's life, this isn't a unilateral action. We move into covenant relationship with God. A covenant is a mutual agreement, made between two parties one of whom is usually stronger than the other. We don't just pledge to God, God pledges us. That relationship is expressed in the Wesley Covenant Service and this  prayer.

I am no longer my own, but Yours.  Put me to what You will, rank me with whom You will.  Put me to doing, put me to suffering.  Let me be employed for You or laid aside for You, exalted for You or brought low for You. Let me be full, let me be empty.  Let me have all things, let me have nothing.  I freely and heartily yield all things to Your pleasure and disposal.  And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, You are mine, and I am Yours. So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven. This is no small pledge, or something to be repeated by rote because it's printed in the bulletin. Ready to enter the covenant? Take some time to read it line by line and meditate on what each line means. I spent a day or a week on each sentence before I could say "So be it." I didn't have to wait until I could actually accomplish everything before I entered the Circle of Stewards. I committed to try to live out each of these agreements, and my fellow stewards at FUMC have helped me on the way. That's what the circle is for. It's our safe place to try new spiritual exercises, grow, fail, be forgiven, and find a new way. 

What if...?

Ephesians 3:14

 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!

I was challenged a couple of years ago by a United Methodist program "Rethink Church." After watching the online video I looked up “church” in the dictionary. Its first definition was “an edifice.” Hmmmm – I don’t think so. Rethink Church posed some questions. What if church were something we did instead of somewhere we went?  What if church were a journey that could change the world? Would you come? What if church weren’t a building, but thousands of doors?  Now our custodian David  might tell you First Church is thousands of doors and every one of them is either stuck or won’t close, but that’s another story. Just a quick count shows we have around 132 doors in our facilities. The Bible says Jesus stands at the door and knocks. How do I know which door he stands behind? Have we created so many doors we are paralyzed trying to decide which one to open? (What’s behind door #1?) Have we spread ourselves so thin we are running frantically from door to door shouting “Who’s there?”

Reaching back through old financial stewardship campaigns I found one based on What ifs… what if you could serve meals to Austin’s hungry, what if you could help refugees learn English and adjust to their new homes, what if you could provide a safe place for children and youth to learn about God? What if? Then it pointed out all the ways our service at First Church is doing these things because of our generous gifts. What if today, Easter Sunday, we rethink the ways in which we accomplish all these wonderful things.

Easter is the time of resurrection, and in keeping with this season, I have a new set of what ifs. What if the current international financial crisis is an opportunity for us to rethink how our economic systems are structured? What if the decline in membership of the traditional mainline churches, and yes, First United Methodist Austin, is an opportunity for us to take really bold steps to move closer to the church God intends for us to be? What if God’s stewards stopped being afraid? What if?

Stewardship 101 - Asking the Right Question

Final installment in Stewardship 101. Most of us spend a lot of effort asking and answering the question "Who am I?" We are defined by our family, our school, our social group, our occupation, our position in our adult family (mommy, daddy), our sports team, our political party. We run around through life collecting bumper stickers to define ourselves, chasing a phantom that constantly morphs into different aspects, disappearing through our fingers like a wisp of smoke. We attempt the perfect Facebook profile, or design an avatar expressing who we would be if we were who we really wanted to be. Life is lived like my son's group of middle school Dungeons and Dragons players in the 1970s who spent all night rolling the dice to define their characters and rarely got around to really playing the game.

Who am I is about limits. If I am a Democrat, I can't be a Republican. If I'm a Longhorn, I can't be an Aggie. If....

But whose am I? The Bible has an opinion about that one. (Psalm 24:1

The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world and all who live in it). And for our modern days of space explorations, (Deuteronomy 10:14 To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it.)

Being my own person was one of the major goals of my life. Psychology says it's one of the necessary rites of passage. Driven by fear of not belonging, I  donned myriad costumes and masks. Meanwhile, God patiently waited for me to open my eyes and see. My fear and blindness hadn't changed the truth. When in despair every roll I played had proven false, and I finally make the grand gesture to give myself to God I finally head the gentle reply, "You are and always have been mine."

Who am I? Wrong question. The answer gives no relief. Whose am I? That answer changes everything.