One Thing

As we conclude our season of stewardship this Sunday, I’d like to share some thoughts from one of our parishioners. Doug Irish, a former vestry member, shared a testimony on stewardship several years ago, and, this week, he sent me an email about his journey toward tithing, to which he refers as “the leap.” He writes about worrying as they began to tithe, but, in his words, “I needn’t have done so. Not that my Fairy Godmother suddenly showed up with a bucket of money. Quite the contrary. My career came to an abrupt change resulting in a lot less income. But we found our lifestyle really did not go into a tailspin. What we found was that a surprising number of things and activities we had thought were important actually weren’t.”

Doug closed his email reminding me of a great scene from the film City Slickers, in which Curley (played by Jack Palance) responded to Mitch’s (played by Billy Crystal, of course) midlife crisis by saying something along the lines of, “There’s only one thing in life that’s important.” When Mitch asks Curley what that one thing is, he responds, “That’s for you to figure out.”

As Christians, we believe that the “one thing” is Jesus and His kingdom. When we commit to the discipline of giving toward the mission of the church we are quite literally “putting our money where our mouth is.” As we conclude our season of stewardship this year, I pray that each one of us might catch a glimpse of Jesus and His kingdom, and, as we give toward His kingdom’s expansion, discover with Doug that “a surprising number of things and activities we had thought were important actually weren’t.”

Ultimately, all spiritual disciplines are responses to God’s gracious, decisive action in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. When we, with the Psalmist, “taste and see that the Lord is good,” (Psalm 34:8) our hearts begin to change, desiring more and more to give ourselves to God and God’s work in the world. We worship, we serve, and we give not out of duty or obligation, but rather out of a deep longing to see, as Jesus taught us to pray, God’s “kingdom come and will be done, on earth as in heaven.”

Our mission summary states that we are “disciples of Jesus seeking to expand God’s kingdom in our city.” May this season of stewardship be a catalyst, as individuals, families, and as a congregation, toward that beautiful end.

Peace,

Chris