Judy and I have done several major home improvement projects in the years since I retired from Rainbow Hospice. The first was replacing the second floor (“Judy’s”) bathroom. Taking the existing bathroom down to the studs was probably one of the most satisfying experiences of my life. At the end of the day I could truly see what I had accomplished.
Our Old Testament lesson for Trinity Sunday, the story of creation, gives us a deep image for the life of the Christian steward. “Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image…and let them have dominion….over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that move upon the earth…”
Shavuot or “The Festival of Weeks” occurs seven weeks after Passover and begins on the fiftieth day after, hence its Greek name Pentecost. This is one of the three festivals for which some Jewish people would make pilgrimage to Jerusalem (the other two are Passover and the Feast of Booths/Tabernacles). Pentecost is a harvest festival where families bring the first fruits of their harvest in anticipation of God blessing the remainder of the harvest (Exodus 23:16; Deuteronomy 26:5-11). This made Pentecost already symbolically rich for imagining the beginning of a bountiful ingathering, but in Acts’ case what was reaped was not produce, but people.
As we have talked recently about “year-round stewardship” I remembered a suggestion once made, only half in jest, that the Church move St. Matthew’s Day on the liturgical calendar from September 21 to April 15 and refocus our stewardship emphasis, beginning on that day and continuing through the month of May. We can give thanks for Matthew the Tax Collector, the IRS, and all tax collecting bodies for truly making us aware of our financial health and stewardship.
Our deficit is now over $50k. This year is trending like last year when we needed a heroic year-end offering to erase the deficit. Let us remember that our Giving from the Heart campaign was not only about a year end offering, but also about our steady weekly support of the ministry of Christ’s church. Let us be accountable to each other, and to God the Giver of all good gifts.
“Giving From the Heart” was the theme of our successful year-end offering which helped move our year-long budget deficit into a surplus. We also shared our plans for regular support of the ministry of St. Luke’s in the weeks and months of 2023. Our Strategic Plan calls for a year long stewardship emphasis in which we help one another grow in our life as stewards of God’s graciousness in our lives. There are four major elements of this stewardship emphasis.
On September 11, and the days following, our whole lives were a window into life and death, faith and doubt, suffering and global consolation. On that day, at noon, I hosted a prayer service for the Interchurch Center on Riverside Drive, where our offices are located. Thousands in our building had seen, like we did, the towers fall and did not know the fate of loved ones downtown. As our prayer I asked each of those present to name the names of those on their hearts downtown. To hear those names come at me through clenched teeth and strained voices, to add my own names was such a shocking experience that it drove us all to our deepest reserves of spiritual depth. Our different religious traditions did not separate us. We were united in our humanity before God and each other. And I spoke by heart the 23rd psalm, which paints a picture of community which is relevant to us today.
I was reminded as we went through the financial report and Endowment recipients that the ministry of our congregation is, indeed, a Global Link for all of us. In our financial report was an item for $9000 dollars, a once a year offering to our support of missionaries. One of those missionaries is Pastor Wal Reat, our missionary in South Sudan. I know Pastor Reat and will share some of his ministry in this week’s video. Let us remember that our budget is a living document of relationships which change lives. All of us are better together.
Have you noticed when we come to this time in the Church Year, we seem focus on telling stories – the story of Passover, of the valley of dry bones, of the Last Supper, of the Crucifixion, of the empty tomb, of the road to Emmaus, of Christ’s appearance to Thomas and the Twelve, of the breakfast Christ prepares at the lakeshore…? It seems that theological discourse and confessional propositions are inadequate for capturing the mysteries which fill this season. We push it all aside, sit back, and tell the stories of our tradition.
I greet you during this most Holy Week of the church year. We have made our Lenten pilgrimage together. Our Lenten pilgrimage has been a journey from death (Ash Wednesday) to life. A journey toward our eternal home in the love of Christ. Now I share devotions for the final four Stations of the Cross.