Many years ago, Jim Cruickshank (not yet “Bishop Jim”) led a youth conference in the diocese of Edmonton with the theme “To live is to choose.” He helped participants explore how choosing is woven into the fabric of our lives – this instead of that, this because of that, this because it leads to that. And he invited us to reflect on how faith – faith in God as present and active in our lives – affects the ways we choose.
I often think of that conference as I encounter people making choices. In the produce section, I sometimes see someone checking out the “reduced” bin, trying to determine if the aging cauliflower is an inexpensive good choice, or merely a cheap bad one. I remember an acquaintance telling us how his mother insisted that they not purchase something until they could afford a good quality version. It meant waiting, sometimes for a long while, but, as his mother insisted, “We're too poor to buy cheap.”
I think of that conference as I make choices of my own. In 1992 we purchased our first home, with generous support and encouragement from a local realtor and parishioner. Shortly afterwards, Deborah returned to school to undertake doctoral studies, and we began to budget more carefully, and for a year we kept track of every dollar we spent. Money was tight, and the line of credit was beguiling, but for a clergy family, having a home that would remain home to my family, should anything happen to me, was a value and a choice for which we were prepared to make changes in other areas.
For a family bent on fostering learning, Deborah's development of new knowledge, skill and relationships in support of a new vocation was a choice worth making, though it was costly.
As I reflect on the past decade, we have not always made choices based on values - hundreds of bags of Doritos can testify to that. But Jim Cruickshank's wisdom has prevailed often enough that we have some satisfaction that the choices we are making are consistent with the journey we have undertaken.
Stewardship in the life of the church, then, is much more than begging members to float the church just above the water line. It is engaging members in exploring and celebrating the encounter with God in worship, learning, and mission…
All of that is “stewardship.” Only some of it has to do with financial support for the church. Most of it is focused elsewhere – stewardship as choices about where we spend time, money, and effort. Stewardship as friendship, using time and energy to sustain relationships. Stewardship as parenting, using time, energy and money to nurture the lives of children in our care. Stewardship as vocation, asking and exploring the question, “What is my life for and for what do my gifts and God's grace equip me?”
That is to say, people are already stewards. Sometimes they make choices in circumstances of abundance – “chips or cauliflower?” Sometimes, because of conditions we impose on them by decisions we make as a nation, province, or municipality, they make choices in the scandalous circumstances of scarcity – “Shelter or supper?” As a society, we have a great deal to answer for in the choices we ask our leaders to make for us, larding our stewardship with self-interest and then blaming politicians.
We have much to answer for in our stewardship as churches as well. The choices we have made together, perhaps without much clarity or intent, have in many cases lacked missional energy and imagination. As a result, the front line, the place where God's Spirit urges us to encounter the world and illuminate its quest with gospel light, is all but abandoned, languishing on the dusty shelf with the mission statement and decades of good intentions never really intended.
Stewardship in the life of the church, then, is much more than begging members to float the church just above the water line. It is engaging members in exploring and celebrating the encounter with God in worship, learning, and mission, so that the choices we make as the Body of Christ are compelling to members as they navigate the choices they make in their household and personal stewardship. Stewardship among members will follow the stewardship of our common life.
“To live is to choose.” What choices will we make as the Body of Christ in Weyburn, and Wawa, in Montreal and Malahat, in Prince Rupert, Prince Albert and Prince George, Hamilton, Halifax and Hardisty, that will signal to our members that, when it is time to write the cheque, choosing the church is choosing life?
