Stewardship
Why I Give to All Saints’
I've been in the Church all my life. I’ve been Presbyterian, Baptist, Presbyterian, and Swedish Covenant – followed by more Presbyterian. About fifteen yeas ago I eventually came to my senses -- quite literally -- in the music and liturgy of the Episcopal Church, and about six years ago my wife Maureen and I started coming here.
I've always given something to whatever church community I've been part of, and I've heard a great deal about stewardship over the years in Sunday School lessons, sermons, Bible studies, and even college classes. I've been called, visited, interviewed, reminded about and even (sometimes) thanked for my giving. I was once asked to say something quotable for a stewardship brochure. What I came up with, in answer to the question "Why give to the Church?", was the following: "Like Quaker Oatmeal, it's the right thing to do, but it sticks to your soul instead of your ribs."
So you see, I’m pretty much a stewardship poster child, and I should know by now all there is to know about why it's important to give to the Church -- except that wasn't the question. The question was "why do I give to All Saints', why it's the right thing to do for me, here, and what is it about this place that sticks to my soul".
That's a harder question, but I learned a trick in graduate school: if the question is too hard to answer, talk about the question. It turns out that the phrasing of the question "Why do I give to All Saints'?", the particular way that it invites me to add my story to the story of the community, is one of the reasons that I give. In a world where it seems like a lot of energy is expended telling other people what to do, how to live, who to love, and -- at a lot of churches during stewardship season -- how much to give, All Saints' is a place where inspiration precedes perspiration and the most common form of a call to ministry is a party invitation, a call to join a celebration already in progress.
Some celebrations here stick to my soul in a special way. I'll never forget the bright September day three years ago when Maureen and I gathered at this altar with our friends and families and celebrated our wedding. We were joyful, to be sure, but the roots of the word "celebration" remind me that it was a celebration in other senses as well: it was an enactment, a fulfillment in community of a direction we were already headed as individuals.
And in many more routine celebrations, occasions when as often as not I thought at the time I was just quietly sitting in the pew not doing anything, I realize on reflection I was actually enacting in community what was already in my heart. I give to All Saints' because the call of the Gospel, the call to something better than this world offers but still very much rooted in the here and now, still needs to be heard, now more than ever, and this is the place where I hear it, from this pulpit, and at this altar.
Another reason that I give is that the heart of the community is so much bigger than mine. It seems there is nothing too small or too big, too mundane or too glorious, too local or too global, to inspire the passion for ministry of somebody from this church.
On the mundane and local side, Maureen and I count the open plate cash and stamp the checks that the rest of you place in the offering basket. It requires a complete mastery — of second-grade math, and about fifteen minutes after the 11:00 service. And on the other end of the spectrum there are those people from All Saints', whenever they hear about a national or international crisis of massive proportions, where governments and agencies shuffle their feet while people suffer, go there and do something about it.
I know I don't have the time or the talent or the energy or the vision to participate directly in more than a handful of the things that we as a community do. But I don't have to. With all of the other communities I'm part of, my contribution is what gets me in the door. With All Saints', my contribution is what props the door open behind me so that others can join the celebration, and that's why I give to All Saints'.