That's Stewardship!
Luke 17:11-19
Long ago, just after Carrie and I decided
to get married, we had a plan. I was getting ready to go to seminary
in New Jersey, and Carrie, of course, was going with me, which meant
that I was taking Dr. Hamilton's daughter to live 2500 miles away. Well,
during my brief stay in California, I worked on the receiving dock at
Nordstom's department store. Well, bicycling to work early one morning
I had a spill and shattered my two front teeth. I found myself sitting
in Dr. Hamilton's dental chair. He stood with his back to me while he
prepared his various tools and instruments. With his unique sense of
humor (I think he was joking), he eventually turned around to face me
with a needle the length of a yardstick in his hand and said, “Soooo,
you want to marry my daughter…”
That moment, in that chair, can be likened
to what it is like to talk about stewardship.
I have good news! We're going to focus
on stewardship for the next month! Isn't that good news? For many, including
us pastor types, when we hear Stewardship our reaction is ugh!
We usually think primarily about money. Yech! When we hear stewardship,
we think it is about having to do something, sacrifice something. Hearing
about stewardship can sometimes be just about as fun as sitting in a
dentist chair. “Soooo, you want to talk about stewardship…” Well,
if you are like me and feel like this, then I believe Jesus has a word
for us this morning.
When the sun rose on that morning long ago, ten lepers woke up and things were par for the course. The disease that plagued their bodies, the blemishes that made them
“unclean” in the eyes of society
and therefore to be shunned, was still there. The sores that showed
on their faces and plagued their bodies still exacted a social death
that was far more painful than the physical death that, yes, some of
them wished for. As always, they slept outside the city gate so that
their “uncleanness” would not infect any of the “clean.” The
required distance that they were forced to constantly maintain was still
in effect.
There was no reason to suspect that
this day would be any different, with the exception of the news that
Jesus was going to pass by. Perhaps you can picture them in your mind.
Ten lepers calling out, “Jesus, Lord, have mercy on us!”
In some mysterious way - far beyond
our comprehension - this day Jesus conveys to them some gift of the
Spirit - some power of healing - some touch of wholeness. Jesus tells
them to go to the priests to show their healing, and so that they could
be readmitted to the community. Through the redemptive love of God,
they are miraculously cleansed of the leprosy. All ten of them.
As they noticed their healing, their
walk to the priest turns to into a jog, which then becomes a sprint.
The priest would declare them clean, whole, able to touch and be touched,
able to grab their brothers, sisters, parents, and children in big bear
hugs. Oh, they run as fast as they can. It is not only the first day
of the rest of their lives; it is the BEST day of their lives! Can you
see their excited expressions? Can you hear their shouts of joy as they
dash toward the village? It's like they were just told they are going
to Hollywood on American Idol. Ten of God's children, running and jumping
and doing cartwheels because of what God has done for them!
But suddenly, one of their number slows.
He is running ahead, but looking backward at the same time. Out in front
of him is his new future - a life to be lived, experienced, and enjoyed.
Behind him is the one who gave him the gift. His run slows to a walk,
and his walk to a long moment of standing still - looking back and forth
between his new life in one direction, and the source of that new life
in the other. He stops and turns around. He starts walking-and then
running-toward Jesus.
This one former leper saw something
that the others did not. He couldn't wait to embrace his good fortune,
but couldn't forget the source of his healing. In his turning, in his
praise, in his gratitude, in his thankfulness, he was saved.
When Jesus tells this one former leper that his faith had made him well, he was talking about more than physical healing. Literally, Jesus says, “your faith has saved you.” Ten lepers were healed, but that one who turned, that foreigner who was not supposed to get it, was saved from the bottom of his feet to the top of his head to the depths of his soul. In that moment, hugging Jesus around the ankles, shaking with excitement & anticipation, having turned to give thanks, he was no longer a leper. He was no longer a Samaritan, no longer one calling to God and everyone else from a distance. Now he is a child of God, itching to hug everyone around him, and be hugged. “Thank you, Lord! Do you see? Do you see what Jesus
has done for me?!” By turning, and
coming to Jesus before he did anything else, he shouted his
thanks, and it saved him.
This is what Stewardship is all about.
Stewardship shapes our whole spiritual journey. It is not only or first
about money, but about life. It is not about making sure the
church budget is met (that is God's responsibility). It is not about
duty or obligation, or about being perfect, or making ourselves holy.
Stewardship is opening our eyes to what God has done. It is stopping
and turning toward the source of our healing, and it is shouting our
thanks.
This by the way, “Shouting Our Thanks”
is the theme for our Stewardship campaign.
From the time that we are young we are
taught to say thank you. This is polite. This is courtesy. But it goes
deeper than that. Saying thank you, living a life of gratitude in all
our dealings is how we are created to live. It is celebration.
Stewardship is about celebrating the gift of life as God intended: in
harmony with ourselves, in harmony with our families, in harmony with
our neighbor, in harmony with creation, in harmony with God.
Stewardship is hugging Jesus feet and
letting everyone know what God has done.
Perhaps there are some of you here who
are not feeling very thankful this morning. Sometimes, when we find
ourselves in the midst of darkness, it is hard to celebrate.
If you in a place where it is difficult
to be thankful, I would like to highlight a number for you from this
mornings story. One leper out of ten.
Sometimes we are like that one Samaritan
leper, aware of what God is doing in our lives, and sometimes we are
more like the other nine. God has done (or is in the midst of doing)
something wonderful, something miraculous, and we don't even know it.
The fact of the matter is, we are only
aware of a fraction of what God is doing in us and through us. This
story can be read not only as a celebration of the thanksgiving of one
aware Samaritan leper, but also as an invitation to imagine the other
90% of God's saving action of which we are not aware, not yet.
This other 90% contains all of the unknown
workings of God's grace, justice, and love; that God is just itching
to reveal to us when we are ready. In the present, we train ourselves
to turn and say thank you, believing in faith that God is active in
ways that we cannot see, but active nonetheless. We turn in anticipation
of God's hidden activity, and in anticipation of the goodness that we
know is coming because God is faithful.
When we turn to face Jesus in this way,
our eyes are opened to more of what God is doing in us, through us,
and for us. Joy comes with each new act of God's love and care that
we discover.
I was encouraged by my brother Brian Owens to get the bike out and go for a ride. He is always encouraging me to get out, and my first reaction is always to worry about my schedule and all of the things that I have to do. But Brian is persistent, so last Thursday I went out with him...and it was gorgeous. I had to make the commitment to do it, but once I did, it was wonderful. That whole ride I was chatting with Brian, but my spirit was shouting
“Thank you Lord!” That's stewardship.
Next day, we had a finance meeting.
Now, numbers are not my game. When I see a balance sheet, I have to
fight to keep my eyes from glazing over. But sitting around the table,
I noticed Brian had a very different experience. Brian is a numbers
person. From his body language and his voice, I could tell that he was
passionate about this stuff - confident - dare I say excited. Walking
out of the meeting with Ron, our new treasurer, I asked how he was doing
with it. “I'm pumped up!” he said. You know what, their excitement,
their passion, their willingness to offer their gifts, their confidence
nurtured that same feeling inside of me. For the first time, coming
out of a finance meeting, I felt joy in my heart. That's stewardship.
Thankful for what God has done, confident
in what God is doing and will do, pumped up, shouting our thanks, and
ordering our values and our priorities to reflect our gratitude: that's
stewardship. Amen.
October 14, 2007
Rev. Paul Heins
First Presbyterian Church
Logan, Utah