Kickoff – Walk in Love
Terri Hurst, Stewardship Chair
10/6/2024
As we kick off this year’s Stewardship Campaign, I’d like to issue a challenge. Don’t worry – it has nothing at all to do with a pledge card or your checkbook. This year, I challenge you to “flip the script,” if you will. If you think Stewardship is about balancing the budget, you need to banish that notion forever.
I say this every year – Stewardship is about using the gifts God has given us to do the work to which God calls us. It’s about giving a portion of our Time, Talent and Treasure to partner with God to build His kingdom. And that means not just here, in this space. Like I said, it’s NOT about balancing the church budget.
Above all, it’s a spiritual journey.
I invite you to join us on a little journey over the next month – a journey of gratitude, prayer and faith. If we do it correctly, stewardship is Grounded in Gratitude. It’s Revealed in Prayer. And it’s Lived in Faith.
Ephesians 5:2 commands us to “Walk in love, as Christ loved us, and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
This year’s theme is Walk in Love. What does it even mean to walk in love? Conveniently, Paul explains it in the preceding verse: “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children…”
That’s not too hard, right? Just be like Jesus? Easy-peasy.
On Instagram, I follow an Anglican priest named Nicky Gumbel. His “thought for the day” post popped up in my feed the other day as I was preparing this talk – God’s perfect provision and timing. He said:
- Praise is giving glory to God for who He is.
- Thanksgiving is giving glory to God for what He has done for us.
- It is the lens through which to view our entire life.
I created these cards to help us get into the correct mindset – and “heartset” – as we discern what our service to God will look like this next year. We won’t be collecting them, so you can keep yours at home, hopefully in a visible spot so you can engage with it on a daily basis. I like to post things like this on my bathroom mirror. I look at them while I brush my teeth and then ponder while I shower.
Here are a few points to pray about and ponder:
We are filled with GRATITUDE when we recognize that everything we have comes from God.
How have you been blessed by God this year?
When we PRAY, God reveals to us how to share those blessings and use our gifts.
Will you ask God to show you how to share your gifts this year?
We live in FAITH when we are willing to trust that God will equip us to share our gifts.
How is God calling you to step outside your comfort zone this year?
We WALK IN LOVE when we follow Jesus’ example of sacrificial love.
How is God calling you to walk in love this year?
I know we’re all busy, so it might be tempting to view this as “homework” to be tossed onto the “later” pile (or worse, the trash). But I encourage you to resist that impulse and actually devote a few minutes each day to this exercise. I promise you’ll be blessed.
Today’s Gospel reading ended with Jesus saying, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.”
The kingdom of God belongs to those who, like children, are fully dependent on God.
I think about when my kids were little. They had absolute faith that we were in complete control of any situation that presented itself.
- Shopping at Target and suggesting that we visit the “Magic Money Machine” so we could buy anything we want.
- Being stuck inside when bad weather canceled a play date at the park, asking why we can’t make the rain go away.
- Trusting that we wouldn’t let them starve even if their dinner involved vegetables.
- Knowing that Mom’s bag contained pretty much everything they needed. Books, games, band-aids for boo-boos, and snacks.
That’s what Jesus means. We should have absolute faith that God is in complete control of any situation that presents itself. We should be fully dependent on God, just like our children are on us. We should trust that He will provide for our every need.
I’m reminded of the Israelites – God led them through the wilderness for 40 years. He sent them manna every single day so they wouldn’t have to forage for or prepare their own food. And – because they were human, they behaved like children. They took it for granted and even complained because it got boring. Kind of like how I’d spend an entire day preparing my Italian grandmother’s recipe, only to hear my youngest wail, “I no like ‘Zagna, Mom!” The knife to my heart was nothing compared to what God must have felt.
Our challenge is to TRUST that God will fulfill all his promises to us. That’s called FAITH. But we’re also challenged to never take any of God’s gifts for granted. That’s called GRATITUDE.
Now, my kids are old enough to know that I can’t control most situations. That there is no such thing as a Magic Money Machine. And that we can’t make the rain go away.
They’ve learned to shop for and prepare their own meals – hopefully involving at least some vegetables.
And while they know Mom’s bag is still full of fun stuff, they’ve learned to pack their own bags.
And that’s as it should be. That’s called growing up. But I pray they never outgrow their dependence on God. Because while they’re now old enough to know that their parents don’t have all the answers, they’re also now old enough to know who does.
Today’s reading from Hebrews beautifully describes the ultimate gift of God’s grace in the form of Jesus’s sacrificial love. But I can’t help but wish that the lectionary included the very next verse: “I will put my trust in Him.” Jesus said it. The author of this letter said it. We should say it, too. It’s easier said than done, sometimes, but it’s oh so liberating.
I will put my trust in Him. True dependence on God, perfectly exemplified in Christ. In Jesus we see humanity as God intended for us to be.
Let us all WALK WITH LOVE – with Jesus, with each other, and with the rest of our world. It won’t look the same for all of us, but it will be beautiful, nonetheless.
That journey? Of Gratitude, Prayer and Faith? You just might find that you never want it to end. It’s the greatest adventure you’ll ever take – and you don’t even need a passport.
And – spoiler alert! Over the next few weeks you’ll get to hear from some of our St. Matt’s family about how they do just that.
To God be ALL the glory, AMEN.
