Category: Episcopal Church

The Heart of the Matter

In the last several reflections, I have explored various aspects of Christian stewardship. I would like to think that any one of them might inspire you to place more emphasis on the spiritual vocation and practice of Christian stewardship in your life. Now, in summary, here’s the heart of the matter.

We need to give.

God is frequently referred to as “the giver.” For example, we pray to God, the “giver of every perfect gift,” “giver of life,” and “giver of pardon.” The favorite of all Christian Bible verses is “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life” (John 3:16). God is the Supreme Giver and we, who are created in God’s likeness, are endowed with a godlike and uniquely human capacity to be givers. We need to give!

Our gift to God establishes a pattern that sanctifies what we do with the remainder. One of the offerings in ancient Judaism was the offering of First Fruits. The first portion of the harvest, “first fruits,” was offered to God. (Leviticus 23:10) “Honor the Lord with your wealth, the first fruits of all your increase” (Proverbs 3:9) And St. Paul wrote, “If the part of the dough offered as first fruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy” (Romans 11:16). So when we give God the first portion of what God has given to us, it has a way of establishing a holy perspective on all our treasure.

Stewardship is different from fund raising. Fund raising is giving to some cause that we approve of with the expectation that we will get something out of it. Stewardship, on the other hand, emphasizes giving to God because we’ve already received. Fund raising will always be necessary, but Christian communities are built upon the generous stewardship of their members.

We need to give and we give to God in response to God’s generosity toward us.

We are asked to make a pledge.

In this and thousands of churches, people are asked not only to practice tithing but also to make a written pledge of financial support. Why is a pledge necessary? Perhaps it should not be necessary. But the fellow parishioners you have entrusted with the governance of the parish do a better job of planning if they have a reliable estimate of the giving of all the members. So, after the pledges are in, they develop a mission plan that seeks to balance the spending with the projected contributions toward God’s ongoing mission.

After all, God has made countless pledges to us. Have you ever thought about the origin of the word “Sacrament?” It is derived from the Latin word sacramentum, which means a sacred pledge or oath. Christian Sacraments are God’s pledge to us. In Holy Baptism, God pledges to love us for ever. In the Holy Eucharist, God pledges ongoing provisions for the living of the Christian life. We pledge to God in response to God’s pledges to us.

We are a covenant community. A covenant consists of unbreakable pledges made between two or more parties. Christianity is meant to be lived in such a community. Theologian George Rupp once said, “There is no life without community and there is no community without commitment.” A written pledge to share one’s treasure is an expression of participation in and commitment to the covenant community.

We make a pledge to God and one another each year as a way of saying, “You can count on me.”

We are called to put our heart into it.

Jesus had much to say about the relationship between our treasure and our true priorities in life. For example, he said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). Isn’t that the truth? Just look at how spend money on things we really love.

The spiritual discipline of Christian stewardship helps to prevent us from loving anything so much that God is squeezed out of our lives. Jesus spent so much time preaching and teaching about our relationship with possessions because he wanted to prevent us from a form of slavery in which we are possessed by our possessions. He wanted to help us avoid putting any idol in the place of our Creator. He wanted us to give God our heart and we just can’t do that if our treasure is in the way. When our giving to God is sacrificial enough, we know if our hearts are being drawn from the love of God.

Some say the heart in the St. John’s insignia symbolizes that St. John’s is the heart of Jackson Hole. That may be true, but other churches and institutions also believe they are the heart of this valley. Some say that the heart signifies St. John’s love for our neighbors. That also may be true. I invite you to consider that it represents the divine call to put our heart into St. John’s and, as the cross inside it suggests, to do it sacrificially. The offering of our treasure will be one of the signs that we mean it.

“For, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

I’ll see you in Church!

And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they partook of food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. - Acts 2:46,47

October 1, 2015
Sermon for Blessing of the Animals ~ September 27, 2015

Listen to the Sermon for Blessing of Animals Sept. 27, 2015

September 27, 2015
Sermon at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Jackson Hole ~ September 27, 2015

The Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost

Listen to the Sermon for September 27, 2015

Read the Sermon for September 27, 2015

September 27, 2015
The Cross of St. George and Tithing

Now as you excel in everything-in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in utmost eagerness, and in our love for you-so we want you to excel also in this generous undertaking. – 2 Corinthians 8:7

As it was a challenge to the original recipients, this exhortation of St. Paul remains a challenge to the Church in any age, including St. John’s today. We are invited to excel in generosity toward God! What is the standard to guide us in such an undertaking? The Episcopal Church teaches that the tithe (ten percent of our income) is the minimum biblical standard for Christian giving. Minimum? The average financial pledge for Episcopalians is about 4% and for members of St. John’s it's about 2.5%. We're being encouraged to step up toward the tithe. And yet, our Church’s teaching suggests that that is only “the minimum.” How much more will be enough?

The reason our Church's teaching is stated this way is that the New Testament standard for giving is one hundred percent. Do you remember the occasion when Jesus pointed out the poor widow who put two small coins in the offering box at the Jerusalem temple? It was an object lesson for his disci-ples. He wanted them to notice that the more prosperous people contributed the mandated minimum portion of their wealth as an offering to God and the poor widow contributed everything she had. “Truly I tell you,” said Jesus, “this poor widow has put in more than all of them; for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on” (Luke 21:3-4).

On another occasion, some people asked Jesus whether it was lawful for the faithful to pay taxes to Caesar. He responded, “Show me a denarius. Whose head and whose title does it bear?” They said, “The emperor's.” He said to them, “Then give to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's” (Luke 20:24-25). The image and title of the Emperor was stamped on the coin of his realm. Jesus' subtle point was that the image and title of God is stamped on the human being, which is the most valuable asset of God's realm.

It is our purpose and our privilege to offer ourselves to God. Jesus showed us how to do that on the cross. The result of that ultimate offering was resurrection. Our offering is made complete and our lives made victorious when joined with his offering. “Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4).

In the insignia of St. John’s, the Red Cross of St. George on the white field is a reminder of the English origins of The Episcopal Church. From the thirteenth century until the nineteenth century, the flag of England was a red cross on a white field symbolizing the patron saint of England, St. George. Most of what we know about St. George is legend. We usually associate him with the Crusades or dragon slaying. However, reliable sources suggest that George was a martyr who suffered under the persecution of the emperor Diocletian in the fourth century.

Martyrdom has always been considered the supreme witness for one's faith. Even more importantly, that red cross is a reminder of victory through sacrifice – the sacrifice of Christ and his martyr, George. When Christian art began to depict the Risen Christ holding a triumphal cross-shaped staff with a banner attached to it, the banner was most frequently white, symbolizing purity, with a red cross on it, symbolizing the victory of the risen Christ over death.

Although Christians still die for their faith in many places, you and I will probably never be required to face physical death for our faith. Nevertheless, we are called to offer our lives completely in Christ's service. St. Paul's invitation to Roman Christians is as significant to us as it was to the those to whom it was addressed during a time of persecution two thousand years ago:

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God-what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:1-2).

So, then, how are we to understand the tithe in relation to the radical expectation that we are supposed to give everything to God? Here's a way to look at it. The tithe is the portion we give specifically to God as a tangible sign of our acknowledgement that everything we have – possessions, time, lives, relationships, labors, influence – whether saved, spent, or given away is a sacred trust from God. Giving sacrificially to God is a spiritual discipline, like the disciplines of worship, prayer, sacraments, study, and good works. We give God a portion of what we have that is large enough to be considered sacrificial so that we notice when it is gone. That should make us mindful of what we do with everything else that remains.

Gay and I practice tithing as a spiritual discipline in this way. Years ago, when we struggled with the decision about how much to give to God, we realized that if we tithed and could not live on the remaining 90%, we were living beyond our means. So we made the necessary adjustments to our life-style and discovered that we still have more than enough. In fact, we are still able to save for a comfortable retirement and to support other worthy causes. It is only one way to keep tabs on our spiritual life and values, but a very important one. It helps us see how abundantly God blesses us so that we can bless others.

When you see that red cross, remember the ultimate sacrifice and victory of Christ, St. George, and all the Christian martyrs. Be mindful of the living sacrifice you are called to make and the victorious life you are called to live. Consider how your bold decision to give to God will gladden your heart and make you a more generous saint in God’s household. Envision how together with your fellow saints you can ensure that St. John’s is a beacon of generosity.

“You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us; for the rendering of this ministry not only supplies the needs of the saints but also overflows with many thanksgivings to God” (2 Corinthians 9:11-12).

I’ll see you in Church!

September 23, 2015
Streams of Living Water

From the melting snow and ice on our peaks, to the lakes that lie in their shadows, to the streams flowing through the valley, to the rain that has been falling this week, Jackson Hole is blessed with an abundance of water. The Thanksgiving Over the Water in our Baptismal liturgy beautifully sums up the ways in which the faithful have recognized expressions of the inexhaustible grace of the Creator in the outward sign of water:

We thank you, Almighty God, for the gift of water. Over it the Holy Spirit moved in the beginning of creation. Through it you led the children of Israel out of their bondage in Egypt into the land of promise. In it your Son Jesus received the baptism of John and was anointed by the Holy Spirit as the Messiah, the Christ, to lead us, through his death and resurrection, from the bondage of sin into everlasting life.

We thank you, Father, for the water of Baptism. In it we are buried with Christ in his death. By it we share in his resurrection. Through it we are reborn by the Holy Spirit. Therefore in joyful obedience to your Son, we bring into his fellowship those who come to him in faith, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Now sanctify this water, we pray you, by the power of your Holy Spirit, that those who here are cleansed from sin and born again may continue for ever in the risen life of Jesus Christ our Savior.

To him, to you, and to the Holy Spirit, be all honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, pp 306-307)

Those of us who reside in places where there is plenty of water often take it for granted. Sometimes, we even find it to be an inconvenience. However, when we experience a drought, it is an entirely different matter. A drought is a temporary experience. Eventually the rains and snows come again and we return to our kind of “normal.” For people who live in arid regions of the world, "normal" is a perennial shortage of water. Water is seldom taken for granted and is regarded as a blessing from above. The land of the Bible is such a place. Perhaps that is why the Bible so often uses water as a metaphor of God's bountiful providence and blessing.

One very interesting example is found in Psalm 65:9.

You visit the earth and water it abundantly;
you make it very plenteous;
the river of God is full of water.

In English, we have many words for flowing water – river, stream, brook, creek. In Hebrew, there are also several words. The Hebrew word for river is: nahar. Nahar refers to a body of constantly flowing water, few of which are found in the Middle East. Even in drought, when water levels may become a trickle, a river never ceases to flow. But the word translated "river" in Psalm 65:9 is not nahar, but peleg, which means a stream, channel, or rivulet. A peleg is the kind of stream that doesn't get mapped because it is not always there; it's seasonal. In the Holy Land, a river - nahar - is something large, permanent, and usually far away. A peleg is local and nearby. A peleg means sudden life in the midst of drought.

Peleg is what God is – local, present, in our midst, not somewhere else to which we must go, but right here in our desert, in our present need. God is new life, rushing into our dry brittle need. And God is full. “The river of God is full of water.” God is not seasonal. Unlike all the other streams that flow, then stop, and everything becomes dry again, God's stream is always full of water. Our world and our lives may be seasonal but God is eternal, reliable, and always full.

I know that it is sometimes very difficult for those who are in the midst of a “dry spell” to feel the abundant waters of God. We may be a dry, cracked creek bed, thirsty and waiting. But God is a river that is always full of water. We may be struggling to make ends meet, but we know there is abundance. Life takes on new meaning when we can face each day with a theology of abundance, eyes wide open to see God's hand a work in the world around us.

Psalm 65 proclaims to us that God is always full, regardless of our feelings, regardless of our season. God is abundant. God has everything that we need and more. It is God's desire to pour out life in abundance. God sent Jesus to be the living embodiment of that abundant life.

When Jesus met the woman at the well, he said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life” (John 4:13, 14). Jesus used the temporal, tangible sign of water from a well as an instrument to lift the woman's vision to perceive the gift of eternal life that satisfies far more than physical thirst.

These bodies of water in our valley and the Baptismal Font, which we see coming and going from worship, provide us with the sign of God as a living stream, full, bringing life in the midst of a desert. And, through the stewardship of lives that are washed, refreshed, and buoyed up by God's abundant blessings, this is what we are to be, bringing blessing and life to those around us.

I’ll see you in Church,

September 16, 2015
Sermon at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Jackson Hole ~ September 13, 2015

The Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost

Listen to the Sermon for September 13, 2015

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September 13, 2015
A Seed Here, A Seed There…

I didn’t grow up around cottonwood trees. My only experience of them until recently has been when I’ve traveled to other places, such as Wyoming.

In June, while sitting on the back porch in Rafter J, I was astounded by the number of cottonwood seeds in the air. I don't believe anyone could have described it to me, any more than I can find words to describe it here. You just had to have been there.

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As I watched in wonder, I realized that all the seeds that were attached to the trees just a few minutes before, have begun taking to the air. All seedpods, the warmth of the sun, the wind, and the rising of the sap, are instruments the Creator has provided for the continuation of this species of tree. I know it's about the same for other trees, but observing the cottonwood seeds in their provided me with an epiphany on that June day.

The seeds of trees speak of abundance in nature. Trees produce far more seeds than are needed to ensure the continuation of the species. Probably only one in several million seeds finds the soil, light, water, and other conditions to germinate and become a mature, seed producing tree. That's the way it is with the natural world. The Creator has provided more than enough!

The psalmist celebrated God's providence in these words, which many people learned to use as a prayer before meals, “The eyes of all wait upon you, O LORD, and you give them their food in due season. You open wide your hand and satisfy the needs of every living creature” (Psalm 145:16, 17).

A couple of years ago, I visited Ft. Wayne, Indiana and the burial site of John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed. The inscription on his headstone reads, “He lived for others.” This humble nurseryman went around sowing seeds, planting nurseries and orchards, and preaching. He sowed a lot of seed in his lifetime. His life had meaning and hope because he relied on the principle that “Anybody can count the seeds in an apple, but only God can count the apples in a seed.” He had a theology of abundance. He also understood that stewardship is not primarily about keeping and saving, but about investing and multiplying.

Our Christian teaching tells us that God created an amazing universe that is chock full of everything a creature could ever need. Then, God created the human being and gave the human being something that has been given to no other creature, the vocation of stewardship. Loosely translated, God said, “Welcome to my world! Everything you'll ever need is here. It will sustain your life and give you joy. I've created you with godlike qualities so that you can be partners with me in the ongoing process of creation. Now use your special gifts and your unique place as my personal representatives to care for it, manage it, and be sure that nobody is ever deprived of the life-giving abundance of my creation.”

One of my favorite movies of all time is “Oh God.” In one of the final scenes, God, who is carica-tured by George Burns, and Jerry, the assistant supermarket manager to whom God is revealed, played by John Denver, are discussing the success of their mission in the world. Nobody seemed to listen to the message God told Jerry to deliver. Jerry thinks they failed. “We blew it,” he says. But God doesn’t see it that way. “Oh, I don’t think so,” God says. “You never know; a seed here, a seed there, something will catch hold and grow.”

In the Parable of the Sower (Mt. 13:1-9), Jesus likens this botanical process of a seed that is taking root, growing, and maturing, to the Kingdom of God. The principle involved is that our job is to sow the seeds. God’s job is to cause them to grow.

I thought about this principle and those cottonwood seeds last week when I read an article about a man named Joe Tolin who lives in Beaumont, Texas. Joe had a cheek swab when he enrolled in a donor program known as Be The Match. Just a few weeks later, he received word that he was a perfect match for a little girl dying from leukemia in Utah. Joe is one of eleven million people on that registry and the only perfect match to save this little girl’s life. The bone marrow transplant accomplished its purpose and the little girl, Cami Carver, is cancer free and enjoying life.

Joe, whose gift provided a one-in-eleven-million chance of saving a life, told reporters, “Even an average Joe can make a difference or save a life.” And so can the gift we offer make a difference or transform a life. Even a little bit of faith or a little bit of generosity can transform the world.

In a meeting I attended with Rob Radtke, President of Episcopal Relief and Development, he told about a program in which a farmer borrows a bag of seeds, plants them, and returns two bags of seed after the harvest. Obviously, the crop produces so many more seeds that the farmer is able to pay 100% interest and still have more than enough for food and market. Only God can figure out the equation!

Equipped with an abundance of seeds, human intelligence and ingenuity, a theology of abundance, and the vocation to be stewards of everything God has provided, just imagine what God can accomplish through us!

Where is the abundance in your life? Where are the seeds God wants to place in your hands so you can steward them to fruition? Do you have a fear of scarcity that needs to be healed so your eyes can be opened to see how generously God has provided?

“God, who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness” (2 Cor. 9:10).

A seed here, a seed there, something will catch hold and grow!

I’ll see you in Church!

September 10, 2015
Sermon at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Jackson Hole ~ September 6, 2015

The Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost

Listen to the Sermon for September 6, 2015

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September 6, 2015
“If it weren’t for St. John’s” – September 5, 2015

Today, while I was out on my walk, I met a neighbor on the path. He said, "I like your cap. Is it a Scottish cap?"

"No," I said, "It's an Episcopal Church cap."

"Oh, like St. John's?" he replied.

"Yep, just like St. John's," I said.

Then he told me, "I'm involved in the Jackson Cupboard."

"Thank you for that!" I said.

"No, thank you." he insisted. "If it weren't for St. John's, there wouldn't be any Jackson Cupboard."

St. John's means so much to this community and I'm proud to be the Interim Rector. And it's one more reason I am Unapologetically Episcopalian.

September 5, 2015
Sermon at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Jackson Hole ~ August 30, 2015

The Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost

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August 30, 2015