⬛ I’ve been working with other religious leaders in town to plan the upcoming multi-faith Thanksgiving worship, which will be held on Sunday, November 23 at 3pm at the Y.
Like last year, we will provide the opportunity for those who attend to contribute to an offering that will be given to a local non-profit, as a way of expressing gratitude through action.
My part in this year’s Thanksgiving worship will be to introduce the offering, and to extend the invitation to give.
⬛ I don’t mind talking about money, and inviting people to give… as long as what that money is going toward is something worthwhile, something I truly believe in… something that changes people’s lives for the better.
I know that I myself—like many of you—am always trying to discern how best to use my money. I’ve mentioned before how I define money as life energy; we give up our life energy in exchange for a salary—so that money is our life energy converted into dollars.
And since it is our life energy, it makes sense that we want the use of our money to mean something.
I do not want to waste my money on things that do not contribute to my joy and wellbeing, or to the joy and wellbeing of my family, or to the joy and wellbeing of my community or world.
So if I’m going to invite people to give money to a cause, I’m going to make sure that the cause is, in fact, something that contributes positively to the joy and wellbeing of people.
⬛ So when I talk about stewardship in the church, it’s important for me to emphasize that stewardship is more than keeping the doors open and the lights on. I’ve heard stewardship statements like that too many times, emphasizing that just maintaining the property—keeping the doors open and the lights on—is an end in and of itself.
The property, the building… are tools that help us carry out our ministry; tools that help us do what’s really important, which is bringing wholeness to this fragmented world, and changing lives by sharing with people in word and in action the limitless love of God.
Last week’s stewardship moment was given by Jaci, and she talked about the ministry of our congregation, and also the ministry that takes place at Camp Walter Scott.
Camp Walter Scott (just to be clear) is our camp. It’s not just a camp we send kids to. It’s our camp. We at First Christian Church own and operate Camp Walter Scott, in partnership with the other congregations of the Illinois/Wisconsin region.
And I think we all see in Jaci, and in everyone else who grew up going to church camp, the life-changing impact that our camping ministry has. It is hard to overstate how significant this is. As Jaci said, it helped make her who she is today.
And I know kids whose very lives have been saved by camp. If it weren’t for the love and affirmation they received at church camp, they very well might not have made it to adulthood.
That is something worth talking about when we talk about stewardship.
Jaci also mentioned that, for her, the church is not just a building, but a home.
First Christian Church is a home. Camp Walter Scott is a home. Both, in the very best sense of the word home.
And home is so much more than just a building. It’s so much more than just open doors and lights that are on.
And that is what stewardship is all about. It is making sure that the opportunity to experience home, and all that a home should be… to experience affirmation, to experience God’s limitless, life-changing love, is available to present and future generations.
⬛ And there are so many other ways that we do this. Last Tuesday I had lunch with our Fibers of Love group—and, yes, I call them “our” Fibers of Love group—and those ladies expressed to me their thanks and gratitude that we have provided them a home, a place where they feel welcome, and affirmed, and where they can carry out their important, life-changing ministry, bringing wholeness to our world in a way that is uniquely theirs.
⬛ For the past month we’ve been hearing about the Helping Shelf, and the lives that are changed through that part of our ministry. And in our encounters with some of those who visit the Helping Shelf, we realize that it’s not just about the food or clothing or hygiene supplies; it’s about people coming and feeling noticed, that they aren’t forgotten, that maybe there is still some love for them in this world. They may even think of First Christian Church as a home, even though their only experience of church is through the Helping Shelf. That, too, is life-changing.
And I could say the same thing for the other ministries and organizations and events we support and partner with through our ReachOut team, or through our Open and Affirming team, or through our team that provides funeral meals.
Ministry is so much more than a building. Ministry is so much more than “keeping doors open and the lights on.”
And because of this, I have probably not given church buildings the credit they deserve. I may have downplayed the importance of buildings and property a little too much. Hearing too many stewardship moments that focused solely on keeping the doors open and the lights on, I have probably taken that pendulum and swung it too far in the other direction.
I was made aware of this when I was reading through our stewardship theme material.
⬛ In the stewardship material there is an article about a large, old church which wasn’t named, but which I recognized, because it was in downtown Long Beach, California, and I had been there multiple times for community meetings, interfaith events, pride events, and even a stage production of Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame, where Ethan worked backstage handling props for the actors.
That congregation was founded by the Bixby family—Long Beach’s version of William T. Major and his family—and that church’s sanctuary (the one they still use today) was built back in 1914.
The sanctuary holds over 1,000 people. It has survived multiple earthquakes. And, at 111 years old, it requires a lot of ongoing maintenance.
The article in the stewardship material was written by a former pastor of that congregation. I recognized her name, which is how I knew what congregation it was referring to.
In the article she talks about the many blessings of that building, and the incredible amount of time and energy it takes to maintain it.
And then she said that she and that congregation were like innkeepers for God.
That’s how they saw themselves. Innkeepers for God.
She wrote that “We had the blessings of many assets, including high public regard. When the wider community considers your congregation a gem, you are a lucky church. And…you are also an innkeeper.”
The innkeeper she’s referring to is the innkeeper in the story of the Good Samaritan.
⬛ In the story of the Good Samaritan, the Samaritan shows compassion and mercy to a poor injured man by taking him to an inn, and giving the innkeeper money, to house him and care for him.
And the innkeeper, we assume, does just that. He uses that money to provide a place for the poor injured man to rest and receive the healing he needs.
The injured man’s healing was made possible not only by the Samaritan, and not only by the innkeeper, but also by the inn itself, the shelter that provided him a safe space to recover from his wounds.
Without the inn, the poor injured man would not have found shelter. Without money to run and maintain the inn, there would not have been a place for him to rest and find healing. And without money to buy food for him, and to clean his room, pay the staff, and keep the inn open, the inn would not have been there when the injured man needed it.
The inn itself became a vessel of empathy and mercy.
I had never thought of the role that the inn itself played in this story. Yet for this injured man, it was essential that there be an inn—a place with the doors open and the lamps lit—where he could rest and recover, and be restored back to health.
⬛ Our church is more than just a building.
But the building itself is a sign of hope and love, and don’t you know, hope and love are what the world so desperately needs these days…
This building is a sign of hope to people in our community.
This building is a sign of stability.
This building is a sign of community revitalization.
A neighbor walking by sees this building, sees it being cared for, and feels just a tiny smidgen of God’s love because of that… and if seeing this church in their neighborhood makes them feel that God is near, that God hasn’t given up on them quite yet…
THAT is ministry. That is gospel. That is life.
For people who enter our building to attend a community event… one of the theater groups, or the bridge club, or fibers of love…the building itself speaks of God’s love, God’s affirmation, God’s welcome.
So much gospel is shared, so much good news, so much love, so much hope… just because we are able to keep the doors open and the lights on… just because we plant flowers in the spring and have lights illuminating the rose window on cold dark winter nights. Taking care of this building is a sign of our love for God, but it is also a sign of our love and God’s love for our community; a sign of love for our neighbors.
Yes, it costs a lot of money to maintain a building like this… and the costs keep going up as the building ages. Maybe one day, we will leave this building. We’ve moved into a new building four times before in our congregation’s 188-year history, so doing so wouldn’t be anything new.
But this is the building we have today.
And it is, as I said, a blessing to so many in our community and beyond.
So stewardship does, I guess, also include keeping the doors open and the lights on… and the roof repaired…and the floors replaced…and the heat running…
Because all these things help make this building a home… an inn… a place where people can know God and God’s love; a place where people can experience God’s love and God’s healing in so many life-changing ways.
The innkeeper took care of the inn. The innkeeper used the money he received to maintain the inn, so that it would be there for those who need it.
We are the innkeeper, charged with maintaining a place of refuge, rest, and healing, for all who need it.
And we are also the Samaritan, showing our love for our neighbor by tending to the wounded, and providing the funds needed so that they have a place to find the healing and wholeness they need.
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