From the Rector (July 19, 2009)
"Greater love has no-one than this: that one lay down one's life for one's friends."
On July 4, as we waited for the water shuttle across the Boston harbour, we chatted with the people ahead of us in line. Two parents, two daughters, the elder about to start college. She intends to become a pharmacist, a seven-year process culminating in the Doctor of Pharmacy degree. Her primary reason for that long process was that pharmacists were in such demand that she would easily receive a six-figure income for half-time work.
Two days later, at a brew-pub in Cincinnati, we met another student, almost finished her degree. When she finished, she was enrolling in a programme in Switzerland that focused on prevention and treatment of drug addiction. She was already involved with a group called "Law Enforcement Against Prohibition" or LEAP, whose members are law enforcement agents (police, lawyers, etc) who favour regulation of drugs over prohibition.
These two young women helped clarify for me a dimension of stewardship that Bob Dylan sings about in "You Gotta Serve Somebody". The young woman who waited on us in Cincinnati was joining her life to something important, investing her life in something bigger than her. She was choosing the object of her service. The young woman who was ahead of us in line in Boston was, in a sense, hoarding her life - intending to keep as much of it for herself as possible.
For years, I understood the text at the head of this reflection as an invitation to lay one's life down, as if one could choose either way - lay it down, or not. I don't think that's the invitation. Laying down my life isn't an option, something I'm sharply aware of because I just celebrated a birthday and realize that I have laid down fifty-three years of my life. In the rearview mirror, some of that laying-down has been principled, generous, deliberate, loving. And there has been a fair bit of laying-down that has been careless, self-absorbed, unreflective. The thing is that every last minute of those years has been laid down, and not just the minutes in which I was choosing a good purpose for spending that time.
I don't know what I think about regulation vs. prohibition of drugs. It is no doubt a complex issue that calls for thoughtful research, discourse, and discernment. I do know what I think about a young woman who is going to lay down her life, spend her time, to participate in that research, discourse and discernment. I think she's a good steward, spending her time to become more knowledgeable in her advocacy for those who suffer from addiction. Thoughtful, deliberate, principled, purposeful, and in service of the common good. Good stewardship is at least as much about how we spend our time as about how we spend our money.
I suspect, though, that she'll probably be thoughtful, deliberate, principled, purposeful, and focused on the common good in her use of all her resources - time, skill, knowledge, money, influence, and grace.
From the Rector (July 12, 2009)
"Greater love has no-one than this: that one lay down one's life for one's friends."
On July 4, as we waited for the water shuttle across the Boston harbour, we chatted with the people ahead of us in line. Two parents, two daughters, the elder about to start college. She intends to become a pharmacist, a seven-year process culminating in the Doctor of Pharmacy degree. Her primary reason for that long process was that pharmacists were in such demand that she would easily receive a six-figure income for half-time work.
Two days later, at a brew-pub in Cincinnati, we met another student, almost finished her degree. When she finished, she was enrolling in a programme in Switzerland that focused on prevention and treatment of drug addiction. She was already involved with a group called "Law Enforcement Against Prohibition" or LEAP, whose members are law enforcement agents (police, lawyers, etc) who favour regulation of drugs over prohibition.
These two young women helped clarify for me a dimension of stewardship that Bob Dylan sings about in "You Gotta Serve Somebody". The young woman who waited on us in Cincinnati was joining her life to something important, investing her life in something bigger than her. She was choosing the object of her service. The young woman who was ahead of us in line in Boston was, in a sense, hoarding her life - intending to keep as much of it for herself as possible.
For years, I understood the text at the head of this reflection as an invitation to lay one's life down, as if one could choose either way - lay it down, or not. I don't think that's the invitation. Laying down my life isn't an option, something I'm sharply aware of because I just celebrated a birthday and realize that I have laid down fifty-three years of my life. In the rearview mirror, some of that laying-down has been principled, generous, deliberate, loving. And there has been a fair bit of laying-down that has been careless, self-absorbed, unreflective. The thing is that every last minute of those years has been laid down, and not just the minutes in which I was choosing a good purpose for spending that time.
I don't know what I think about regulation vs. prohibition of drugs. It is no doubt a complex issue that calls for thoughtful research, discourse, and discernment. I do know what I think about a young woman who is going to lay down her life, spend her time, to participate in that research, discourse and discernment. I think she's a good steward, spending her time to become more knowledgeable in her advocacy for those who suffer from addiction. Thoughtful, deliberate, principled, purposeful, and in service of the common good. Good stewardship is at least as much about how we spend our time as about how we spend our money.
I suspect, though, that she'll probably be thoughtful, deliberate, principled, purposeful, and focused on the common good in her use of all her resources - time, skill, knowledge, money, influence, and grace.
From the Rector (July 12, 2009):
Last week's focus on financial stewardship introduced the practice of proportional giving, and commended the "modern tithe" of five per cent of taxable income as a starting point for considering what is appropriate for your household.
Such a practice would clearly have a significant impact on most people's financial circumstances. For some, five per cent is too high, while others may have a capacity to contribute more.
For as long as you've read about stewardship, it has probably been framed, one way or another, in terms of maintaining the church, its staff and programmes. And for as long as I've been in ordained ministry, that focus has kept people's financial support much lower than their capacity. The money you contribute to support the ministries of St. Jude's is not money you give to the church. By virtue of your baptism, you are among those who constitute the church. The money you contribute is an allocation within the body of which you are a member. And stewardship is the practice of being deliberate about that allocation.
For example, it is good stewardship to allocate money for shelter, food, and clothing for yourself and those who count on your providence - your children, for example. It is good stewardship to decide what activities are important for you and others in your household and deliberately allocate resources to undertake those activities. It is not good stewardship to drift into spending money you can't afford to spend on activities that don't bring delight or growth or learning.
A steward is a trustee and, for the most part, God has entrusted a great deal to us. The New Testament has rather a lot to say about the responsibilities of trustees, and some of it very much in earnest. After the Kingdom of God, the matter of money occupies more of Jesus' discourse than any other topic. And yet, as his disciples, we give little collective attention to the spiritual reality of money, or to the question of our accountability for how we acquire, invest, and use money. What principles might help us to consider our financial stewardship? There are, I think, only two. First, that we are stewards, and second that we are stewards for the Kingdom of God.
The first principle invites us to look at our bank statement and remember: "This is not my money. This is money in my care." That is, for most of us, a radical shift in thinking, and leads to a significant realignment of money decisions - from what I can afford to what is consistent with my convictions. The second principle then emerges - money entrusted to our care is to be allocated in ways that enact or bear witness to the Kingdom of God - God's promised and emerging future. Characteristics of that kingdom include generous hospitality, shared meals, justice, compassion, nurture, peace, reconciliation, forgiveness, beauty, joy and love. It is for such things God entrusts money (and the capacity to earn money) to us. And when we allocate the money in our care to such purposes, supporting the life of our household and contributing to the life of our community and our world, we become focused and deliberate participants in God's mission in and for the world.
Our first ancestors rebelled against their vocation as stewards, looking after God's garden. The Adversary convinced them they could have the wealth without the principles and practices of life as stewards. The irony is that they ended up, not with more, but with less. I wonder if we are meant t0 learn something from their mistake?
From the Rector (July 5, 2009):
In the past week, each household in the parish received a statement of their contributions to the ministries of St. Jude's Church over the past five months. The range is considerable - from very little to five figures. There's no way of knowing what those numbers mean, though. The numbers don't tell you anything apart from the circumstances of the people attached to them. The small number may represent a substantial and sacrificial gift, and the large number may be a comparatively small amount in light of the person's wealth and circumstances.
And if we're looking to such numbers for some guidance about our own giving, they can be very misleading. We each have a different financial capacity. That's why proportionate giving makes sense. It allows us to assess our own financial participation in the ministries of St. Jude's in a way that relates to our own capacity for such participation.
The Corporation of St. Jude's recommends that our members begin their consideration of proportionate giving by considering support equal to five percent of taxable income. In simple terms, that represents one dollar per week per thousand dollars of annual taxable income (line 260 on your tax return). The beauty of this method is that it provides a concrete number founded in financial reality. For example, if that amount is $50,000, then five per cent is roughly fifty dollars per week - or $2500 per year. Now, when you file your 2009 tax return, you'll receive a substantial tax credit - $966.03, so that your gift has cost you $1533.97. How cool is that?
That's the upside of five per cent - a concrete number founded in your financial reality. The downside is that people's circumstances vary. Add a couple of children in day care, or in university, to your household expenses, and your five percent is going to "cost" you more than it will someone without those expenses. Starting at five per cent, you might want or need to go down from that number for the time being, anticipating a time in your life when expenses fall off and you'll be able to offer more financial support to the ministries of St. Jude's - touching, transforming, and healing lives.
The upside of that downside is that a number of people at St. Jude's have found a way to move up from five percent, and you may be one of those people for whom such a level of financial participation is possible. That level should no more embarrass people who do not have that capacity than it should limit people who have that capacity and more. The ministries of St. Jude's will thrive and grow, and God's healing and justice will spread, in no small part in proportion to the willingness of the baptized to participate meaningfully in the financial costs of those ministries.
There is renewed and emerging energy for the ministries of St. Jude's church. The ministries of Sharing in Caring live out the ethic of Jesus towards those in need of healing, comfort, prayer and companionship. Justice and Servant ministries, especially our growing food and hunger initiatives, enact the promises of our baptism - to seek and serve Christ in others, and to nurture human dignity. Opportunities for worship, learning, and a rich and vital common life continue to grow. All this happens by way of the contributions of the people of St. Jude's. There is more for us to do, and more joy for us in the doing. Proportionate giving is not a matter of giving more to the church. We are the church. Proportionate giving is a matter of the church giving more to the world, of the community of the baptized being faithful to the covenant of our baptism, following Jesus into God's mission of healing, reconciliation, truth and compassion in the world.
As followers of Jesus, we are stewards of our gifts. The coordinator of Stewardship Development works with a team to encourage generosity in our members' use of the resources entrusted to our care.
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