single persons, people
of all races and families
of every kind.
Sunday
Service:
Holy Eucharist
at 9:30 am
Child care is available
Church of Our
Saviour
191 Flanagan Way (Rt 153) Secaucus, NJ 07094
Tel: 201-863-1449
Fax: 201-863-1474
Mark A. Lewis,
Vicar
MLewis@secaucus.org
Dorothy Fowlkes
Pastoral Associate
This page revised 4
Oct 00
http://www.secaucus.org/
oursaviour
The Church of
Our Saviour
in the Town of Secaucus, New Jersey
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A Spacious
Way
Reflections on the
lessons for the 16th Sunday after Pentecost
By The Rev. Mark A. Lewis, Vicar
Numbers 11:4-6,10-16,24-29 / Psalm
19:7-14
James 4:7-12 / Mark
9:38-43,45,47-48
Today wraps up the preaching segment of this year's fall stewardship focus. As I've said many times, though, this certainly does not indicate any pause in living a stewardship life -- all you do with all you have all the time. That's a never-ending occupation for people who want to grow more and more like God, and to enjoy the fruits of that life long labor.
It's not easy to preach during this season. I want to keep on the topic of stewardship and especially financial stewardship and our offerings to the work of the church. But I also want to say some things about the day's readings. And that can get tough. No one wants to be here all day listening to a sermon. But, today, I got at least a little bit lucky. The readings say plenty about how God is a benefactor to humankind -- the manna. And, in the Letter of James and the gospel reading, about how God really wishes that people who forget that they are connected with their neighbors in one big enterprise ought to think again.
They're great stewardship readings. What we have to work with is held in trust from God, on loan to us for the too-short span of our lives. And the best way to make the most of what we have is to concentrate on working together and not on ruling out people who are trying to accomplish the same things we are.
It is far from my place to thank anyone for his or her offerings and stewardship. Personal stewardship and giving are matters between individuals and God. But I do want to say a few things today about how beautiful I think the reality of this congregation's stewardship is in real life. One of the reasons I love being a part of this place is the authentic and genuinely meaningful picture of giving I encounter here. Here's why I think that:
1. I believe that the giving that goes on here is truly from the heart. People here do not feel pressed to pledge some certain amount that might be based on a desire to impress someone, or to present a grand picture of oneself. That doesn't happen because it can't happen. The effective anonymity of our budgeting process convinces me that when our estimates of giving come in the sum total that is handed me represents more than a bottom line for next year's budget. It looks to me like the cumulative commitment of the people here to the work here. We have done everything possible to distance our giving from tax paying or dues paying. And I believe we have succeeded. I believe everyone who is a regular part of our group here understands that we are not asked to cough up past the point of our willingness to give in order to fund a pre-made budget foisted upon us. We cut our suit to fit our cloth, and, as always, such a suit fits better and looks better than one made of cheap finery or one handed down by someone else.
2. Stewardship here is forward-looking. Unlike some parishes I've seen and heard about, here we are not worriers about money. If you want an education in what good stewardship can do, go visit an Executive Committee meeting in one of hundreds of churches where those sad gatherings are filled with tension over how to pay for things and how to keep the roof from leaking and how to keep the doors open. Survivor mentality. And then come to such a meeting here. That simply does not happen. We don't talk about death here, but about life. A mission mentality. We are far from a rich congregation. We live year-to-year on the thought-out giving of the people who worship here. We are not, like some churches, bolstered by any significant investment income. We are not financed by endowments from the past. But we do indeed pursue our contemporary ministry standing on the shoulders of many who have gone before us between these walls and through the streets of this town and have bequeathed us a strong community that instinctively plans for life and not for death. We are a vital and promising church with plenty of life for today and every expectation of still more to come.
3. Stewardship giving here is very generous. The fruits of carefully cultivating our personal resources are very many. One of the best to me is the creation of cheerful givers. As a group, you are cheerful givers, glad to support, glad to further causes that matter. There are so many individuals here who do that that the attitude permeates us all and sets the tone for us as a group, as an institution. Again, if you visit an Executive Committee meeting, you will find that the liveliest part of the evening centers around needs we find in our community and the world and how we, as a group, can make a difference. The environment, world peace, family planning and other women's issues, community housing and hunger projects, local schools and education, local quality of life, and most recently our efforts to find a way to provide significant new services to people suffering from Alzheimer's Disease. It seems that we always wind up having enough -- sooner or later -- to do what we want and what we need to do to make our ministry vibrant. It's because we're learning to be good stewards of what God has lent us and, in turn, good stewardship has made it possible for us to learn about good giving.
But back to today's lessons, the gospel especially. One of the early biographers of St. Francis of Assisi -- straining to describe what Francis was like -- coined a word to describe the saint's personality. He wrote that Francis was a "spacious" man. It doesn't seem like John was being very spacious the day he complained about the man who was casting out demons without a license. He was moving in a tight little circle with little room in his vision for anything outside it. Just the opposite of the Church of Our Saviour I see before me. And just the opposite of Jesus, a spacious guy if ever there was one. John's smallness is trumped by Jesus' roominess. Jesus will not let his followers draw lines. He warns about the dangers of smallness. It leads others astray. It hangs a millstone on the grand mission of God in the world.
I believe that conscientious stewardship sanctifies lives, changes hearts, and makes people see the world in a whole new way over time. A spacious way. Careful shepherding of all we do with all we have all the time -- with our time and talent as well as our material treasure -- creates an uncanny opportunity for people regardless of how poor, or how smart, or how weak or how strong. If you're being a good steward, you can be spacious. You can be generous. You can see a long, long way down the road you're on. Stewardship allows people to become benefactors to the world, to act as extensions of the Hand of God and move into all kinds of unexpected places. And that is the precise reason God calls me and you and everyone on earth to good stewardship, the ultimate in holy living.
-- Mark Lewis
Your comments or questions are welcome MLewis@secaucus.org.
Links to additional "Reflections on Lessons" may be found at the bottom of the Sunday web page.
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