Stewardship
Why I Pledge to All Saints (Thanksgiving, 2006)
One of my favorite novels is Shoeless Joe by WP Kinsella, the novel upon which the popular movie "A Field of Dreams" is based. In this quirky, rich masterpiece, the odd character of a carnival barker is introduced to the young ten-year-old daughter of an Iowa farmer.
She hears his strange call:
"Mothers bring your daughters;
Fathers bring your sons;
See the world's strangest babies!"
"See the world's strangest babies!" Can you hear the barker's call?
In this age of voyeurism, cynicism, and potential despair, do you hear the barkers call? "See the world's strangest babies!"
See the deformed child with no arms.
See the boy who can't speak.
See the teenage girl with six younger siblings, absent parents and no food on the table.
Oh, hear the barker's call: "See the world's strangest babies!"
Look around.
This is the carnival.
Look around our neighborhood. See the homeless and the dispossessed.
Hear the barker's call.
Look around our nation. See a delta neighborhood laid waste by flood waters covered in mildew and silt. Oh hear the barker's call.
From the armchair of the wealthiest nation in the world, look around. See our African neighbors languishing in a bloodbath of civil war colored by hunger, death and despair. Can you hear the barker's call?
"Mothers bring your daughters; Fathers bring your sons; See the world's strangest babies!"
But I think the call can be interpreted in another way. In the novel, the father goes into his backyard and carves out a baseball field. He builds bleachers, chalks the lines and lays down bases. And he begins an imaginary game of baseball -- this is his response to the barker's call, to his life of despair with failing crops and no money in the bank: an imaginary game of baseball. His daughter also hears the call, "See the world's strangest father!" She wanders out into the backyard, grabs popcorn, sits in the bleachers and cheers on her father.
Can you now hear the barker's call? "See the curiosities. See the hope. See the world's greatest possibilities."
Look around. This is the carnival. Hear the call.
See a crumbling building stand.
See the world's strangest preachers.
See a most motley crew around you.
Hear our Lord's call!
Instead of despair, see hope!
Hear the barker's call: "Mother's bring your daughters; Fathers bring your sons; See the world's strangest babies!"
Oh, can you hear the barker's call?
Brothers bring your talents.
Sisters bring your love.
Preachers bring your passions.
See our hope in our Lord Jesus Christ's resurrection!
So when asked why I pledge, this is what I hear. I hear the barker's call.
Feed the hungry.
Rebuild homes.
Save an African child's life.
Reconnect our lives!
Amen.