Stewards of the Mysteries of God

1 Corinthians 4:1 

This is Stewardship Sunday, you are deciding what your financial gift to the Church is for the next year. And clearly, this is a part of what Stewardship Sunday is about. But this morning, I hope we will all discover that it's something much more profound, important to your faith, to Brick's mission, and the call of Jesus.

Stewardship obviously comes from the word steward. For a moment, let's erase the word stewardship from our minds. And imagine that we have just met the Lord High Steward of the Royal Court in medieval Europe. What role does he play? He's one of the highest-ranking officers in the Royal Court. He manages the assets of the king's realm. If the finances fail and the estate collapses, the Royal High Steward is held culpable. 

But there's an even more critical role the steward plays. The king doesn't have time to interact with all of the people in the castle or the realm. And so, the steward is responsible for making sure that the subjects are taken care of, have enough food and sufficient lodging. Furthermore, when the king is away, the Royal High Steward acts as a regent, literally governing the realm in the monarch's absence. The Royal High Steward is also responsible for transacting business deals with the community, and the integrity of the steward directly impacts the reputation of the king.

In order to properly execute his job, the steward needs to know the king. He needs to understand how the king treats visitors to the court. He needs to understand the way in which the king wants business deals done. 

Let's move this forward in time. A friend from my church in Spartanburg, South Carolina, owned a small family business. It was producing steel ball bearings. And as the owner aged, his second-in-command took on greater and greater responsibility, to the point that all major business decisions were made by this second-in-command. And he performed admirably. Until one day, in order to balance the books, he reduced the workforce beyond that which the owner desired and cut a less than honest deal with a client. The owner was furious, because those employees of the company had given their blood, sweat, and tears over the course of decades and decades. They were a part of the family.

He didn't only want the books balanced. He didn't only want a positive spreadsheet. He wanted to treat all of his employees as if they were members of the family. His reputation had been tarnished, and once that happens, it is hard to recover. 

The steward has several attributes, as we've seen in these illustrations. First, the resources that they manage are held in trust. They don't belong to them. They do it for another, and therefore, the fiduciary must put others' interests before their own. Next, the steward is meant to treat those within the sphere of responsibility of the owner in themanner that reflects the will of the owner. The steward is meant to treat them as the owner would treat them. Third, the way in which the steward deals with the community at large directly reflects on the integrity and the reputation of the owner.

To be a follower of Jesus is, by definition, to be a steward. And it is incumbent upon not just me and not just the officers of the Church, but every member of this congregation to see themselves as a steward, with all that implies.

Psalm 24 declares: “The earth is the Lord's, and all that is therein.” Everything that you have in your bank account, yes, even your own life, your very existence, belongs to God. And the way in which you manage those resources is meant to be as a steward.

Your behavior directly reflects on the reputation of God. Each Sunday when we pray, “Hallowed be thy name,” we are praying that God's reputation - that God will be seen as holy by the world - that when the name of God is invoked, people will respond with a sense of thanksgiving, with a sense of awe, and with a sense of joy. And largely, that response is dependent upon God's stewards here on earth.

Think about the tragedy of the sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church. It is near impossible to measure the harm that is done not only, most tragically, directly on its victims, but on all of those who, as a result, concluded that faith is a sham. Or think about, in certain Protestant circles, the ways in which Christians have spoken with evil, resulting in great and lasting harm, upon gays and lesbians, for example. The treatment of them by the Church has done terrible damage to the reputation of God. Suffice it to say that at times, Christian individuals and the Church have failed dramatically at being proper stewards.

We must know our history, our failings, so that we can be better, more faithful stewards. And this is why I am so thankful for the direction that Brick Church is headed in. Though we will never fully live up to our responsibility - we are humans, after all - I believe that we are striving for all the right things. We desperately want to love others as the Lord Jesus has loved us, with grace, with mercy, with compassion, with fervent effort, and with generosity.

The Finance Committee works untold hours. It's hard to fathom how carefully they pour over every dollar spent. I promise you; it is hundreds of hours. And the reason they pour over every dollar spent is because they don't want a single dollar wasted on administration, on inefficient electricity, or inefficient insulation. They don't want a single one of those dollars wasted so that we have every available dollar to offer the love of God in Jesus Christ.

Here at Brick, we want people to know, outside of these walls, the gift of world-class music - not only the pleasure of the notes, but the power of compositions like Mozart's Requiem to speak into our souls of loss and pain, but even more, hope in the midst of that. We had a few hundred people in this sanctuary last Sunday night, about half of whom were not members of the Church, who came and received that gift thanks to Dr. Ray Nagem and thanks to this choir.

We all know that service to others is one of the most meaningful experiences that we can have. It gives us a sense of purpose, of doing something beyond ourselves, and we know it's important not only for ourselves but for young people. And so, a week ago Tuesday, there were several dozen young people from local high schools here on Tuesday night to help prepare a meal for people without homes.

We have been stewards of these resources here - this building - by welcoming in people who didn't have space to sufficiently mourn and celebrate the life of a loved one, and so we opened Watson Hall.

I can go on and on and on, and I think I will. The prayer shawls, knitted lovingly and caringly, find their way into teachers of the school, into the hands of administrators from a local ongoing school, and into the hands of members of Brick Church who have lost a loved one. And the warmth of that prayer shawl helps people feel the warmth of God's love.

Jesus has told us to welcome the little children, and our children's ministry is growing through a more connected, faith-filled, and meaningful experience. In Sunday School a year ago, the Children's Ministry Committee worked feverishly to improve the curriculum, and the results have been dramatic. But we have also expanded places for children to thrive with their natural talents and gifts through after-school theater classes and through the spring musical.

The care with which we baptize children is noticed by visitors time and time again. This is clearly not something that Brick does as a mere ritual, but it is a sacrament of holy love for the ways in which we treasure each child that comes before that font. But we also know that that is just the beginning, because as we care for them throughout the years in Sunday School, eventually they make their way to confirmation. That's the place where these young people consider the vows that their parents made for them at that font when they were too young to even know their own name. And, through pastors like Caroline, and Beth, they are learning what it is to be Jesus' disciple. 

But it's not mere indoctrination. This is done through a dynamic series of lessons in which each one of those youths has a chance to look inside their own heart and their own mind and forge and affirm their particular understanding of God and the ways that God has planted it in their soul.

Then, of course, there is the Tree Lighting. And I'm not sure about you, but Park Avenue, on the first Sunday evening in December, is the only place in this country that I know of in which thousands of people - Christians, many of them, but Jews, Muslims, atheists, nature worshipers - all come together to sing with reckless joy of all things - Christmas carols.

Truly, in all of these incredible ways, we are living into being faithful stewards of God's resources, of God's reputation. We are acting as God's hands and feet, and I believe also heart and soul.

But we also know that at Brick Church, with the vast resources we have - financial, facilities, and most importantly, people - there is more for us to do. There are more hungry mouths to feed. There are more people on the street to house. There are more sick people to heal. And now, whatever your opinion on the government stepping back somewhat from this role, there is a vacuum, and we need to fill that void, because the need is there.

The Apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians, wrote a fantastic verse that encompasses everything we have been talking about: “We are stewards of the mysteries of God.”

And what is that mystery? Part of our faith that is confusing and confounding to the world is that God would humble himself to the point of death, even death on a cross. The mystery is that in a world which counts and keeps track of people's debts and their enemies, Jesus tells us that there really is no such thing as an enemy, for we are to love them, and there are no debts that we should hold on to from others. “Forgive us our debts, God, as we forgive our debtors.” That in a world of vengeance, we are part of the mystery to repay no one evil for evil.

In a world in which tries to tell us it's all about ourselves and it's all about our success, the mystery of God is that the greatest is not the one who has the most honor and privilege and power, but the greatest in the kingdom of heaven is a humble servant who gets down on their knees and washes other people's feet.

And we believe what is so powerfully reflected in what has come to be known as the Prayer of St. Francis, which is my prayer, and I imagine your prayer as well. It sums up the call of the steward, and it sums up the incredible mysteries of God.

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek

to be consoled as to console,

to be understood as to understand,

to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. 

Amen.