Grace Episcopal Church, Madison NJ
The Messenger
Associate’s Message
Spiritual Stewardship
This month began with All Saints’ Day, when we recall and
celebrate the holy women and men who strove to live faithfully and helped build
the kingdom of God in their own times and places. Some of the saints are nearly
anonymous, their exemplary lives and good works known to only a few people, or
perhaps to God alone. Then there are the saints known by everyone – like St.
Francis whose holy life we celebrate each October in a uniquely raucous service.
And then there are the saints who fall somewhere in between. These are the
people who were distinguished enough to be honored on our liturgical calendar
but whose names are hardly well-known even in the most pious households.
I remember one of my seminary professors suggesting that we
should get to know the great Christian men and women of the past so well that
we might come to think of them as our friends. Although that seemed a little goofy to me at the time, over
these past few years in the course of preparing homilies for weekday services I
have made the acquaintance of some remarkable and inspiring saints. I’m not
sure I think of them as friends, exactly, but some have definitely challenged
me to live more faithfully and proclaim Christ more boldly.
One new acquaintance is Vida Dutton Scudder (1861-1954),
whose feast day was last month. In preparing my little homily on her life I
learned that this remarkable woman taught English at Wellesley for decades
while at the same time putting her deep Christian faith into action by standing
beside the oppressed, insisting on pacifism and asking uncomfortable questions
about our economic system. She challenged Christians to do more than offer
charity to the poor. She confronted the powerful forces that made charity needed
in the first place.
I was most impressed with what she had to say about prayer:
“Let us examine our prayers. How languid they are, how
perfunctory, and alas! How often selfish! Sometimes one feels that men’s
prayers must sadden God even more than their sins. Prayer is the deepest and
surest measure of personality. As men pray, so they really are…A force more penetrating and powerful than
gravitation or electricity is entrusted to us, and we are responsible for the
steady use of it and its direction to the noblest ends.”
God has entrusted so much to our care! At this time of year
when the Church tries to turns our attention to stewardship, we often reflect on,
and take stock of, the material resources that we possess. And as Christians we
are called to – in fact, expected – to give back to God by generously
supporting the Church financially and through offering our time and talent.
But, God has not just given us material riches. We may not
often realize it, but we have also been blessed with bottomless spiritual
riches. Of course, we have been given Grace Church itself – our remarkable
community through which God feeds us and provides us with opportunities to serve
others in ways big and small but always profound.
Maybe most important, we have been given the gift – the
power – of prayer, “a force more penetrating and powerful than gravitation or
electricity.” Yet, I wonder how well we use this awesome power. Do we pray? And
if we do, are our prayers selfish, more along the lines of letters to Santa
than communication with the Source of Life? Do our prayers sadden God more than
our sins?
At this time of year when we focus on stewardship, I’d like
to challenge us all to increase our spiritual stewardship through a small, easy
yet profound exercise. Each week when we come to church we get a copy of Grace Notes that’s jam-packed with
information about upcoming programs and events. But, that’s not all. Grace Notes also includes the names of
all those on our parish prayer list. These people – fellow parishioners,
friends and relatives, total strangers – are all for a wide variety of reasons
in need of our prayers.
So, here’s the challenge: let’s all take Grace Notes home after church on Sunday and pray for each person on the
list every day of the week. It will take just a few minutes, but however we
choose to do this – with a morning cup of coffee, while sitting on the train,
before going to bed – we will be taking responsibility for the power God has
given and directing our prayers to the noblest ends.
It’s very important to fill out our pledge cards and be as
generous as possible. And it is at least as important to be good spiritual
stewards, sharing our prayers for those in need.
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