Stewardship Musings

2009-04-05T12:56:00.000-07:00

Comments at FUMC Austin Celebration of Abundant Life
April 5, 2009

It’s spring in Austin, Texas. What could be a better illustration of abundant life? Have you ever done the traditional kid or pet or significant other photo in the bluebonnets? You know the seeds from which those little flowers sprout are so tough that if you want to plant them in your yard, the seed companies have to do a process they call scarifying. They scrape the surface and subject the seeds to a sulfuric acid bath. These little seeds are made so tough in order to survive Texas winters, poor soil, and drought, and hang out long enough to bloom when conditions are right. Life is abundant and life is tenacious.

Does it feel a little uncomfortable to talk about abundance when so many of us are losing jobs, homes, and life savings? Maybe that’s because we’ve confused abundance with affluence. Today we’re celebrating abundant life, the life we’re privileged to know and live because Jesus showed us how. We need to remind ourselves of that once in a while. We’re beginning Holy Week, a time of voluntary suffering when we remember what it was like for Jesus’ followers to go through his triumphal entry on Palm Sunday (today) his betrayal, his crucifixion, and his burial. But we know something they didn’t. We know the resurrection is coming. We know at the end of our time of trial, Jesus will triumph and give us the gift of everlasting abundant life. Knowing this, even as we go through the time of trial, we can live that abundant life every day, if we remember who we are.

The Bible tells us over and over if we put our hopes in things of the world we are doomed to disappointment. But the world is so seductive, its promises look so good. We need Holy Week and Easter to remind us about a few things. We need Palm Sunday to remind us that the worldview can be terribly flawed, no matter how real it seems. It’s great fun to reenact the triumphal entry of Jesus with the palm branches today. But most of the people in that crowd were expecting an earthly king in the mode of David. They were in for a very big disappointment. We have the crucifixion to remind us things can look pretty hopeless when our earthly expectations are crushed. And then, we have Easter, to remind us that God’s view gives us abundant grace, abundant life.

True story: A man I know who grew up in a different place, different faith, returned from a year-long spiritual retreat in his own faith and found himself attending services in a small Episcopal Church in the US. He heard the words of the hymn they were singing, listened to the scripture, and fresh from his retreat heard, really heard, what Jesus’ life was about. He said he wanted to run down the aisles shouting and dancing. But the people in the church sang listlessly, listened half-heartedly, and seemed eager for the service to be over. He wanted to grab them and shake them yelling listen, listen, you’ve got it right here, you’re the one’s who’ve got it. But, not wanting to be arrested, he was silent. It’s so easy for us to take this gift for granted when we have it. Sometimes it takes a fresh set of eyes to see clearly. Sometimes it takes stripping away layers of old paint to reveal the beauty of the wood beneath. When the world’s institutions fail us, it’s a wake up call to remember what true abundant life is.

Every time I read Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, the writings of a survivor of the WWII concentration camps, I’m reminded that I do have a choice about how I view things, how I respond to the world view. I can choose an abundance mindset or I can choose a scarcity mindset. When I choose scarcity I retreat, I live in fear, I stop being generous because I’m afraid there isn’t enough. I look with suspicion at my neighbor and mistrust at the stranger. I build walls. Fear paralyzes my mind and prevents creative thought.

When I live with an abundance mindset I live with confidence and joy. I share what I have with faith that there will be enough. I welcome the stranger believing she has something to offer that will enrich my life. I honor a passion for love and truth and beauty. Freed from fear, I’m able to think creatively, act boldly, and live abundantly.

Jesus said it, I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. What is God’s abundant life? Jesuit priest Anthony DeMello offers us an exercise to help answer that question. First, recall the kind of feeling you have when someone praises you for something you have done, when you are approved, accepted, applauded. Now contrast that with the kind of feeling you have when you look at the sunset or the sunrise or nature in general, or when you read a book or watch a movie that you thoroughly enjoy. The first, although not bad, is a worldview feeling. The second is a soul feeling.

Another exercise let your mind wander away from my talking for a minute, if you haven’t already, and think of some time when you stopped short at something so beautiful it fully captured all your senses and you forgot to think, you only experienced. Think of times when you felt real peace in your heart, and then remember what you were doing. My guess is, those moments didn’t depend on possessions or money or a job. Those were moments of experiencing God’s abundant life. No one here can be immune to the problems of the day, and none of us can afford to ignore them, but we do get to choose our attitude toward them.

So today we choose abundant life. We celebrate that we have the freedom to choose an abundance mindset, the example of the Christian faith to show us how, and the support of this community to help us follow through.

When I started working on this talk my mind went to the classic musical, Fiddle on the Roof. Remember the engagement dancing scene and the song - to life L'chai-im. Now I don’t have any alcoholic beverage here today, and I’m certainly not going to dance for you, but I do invite you to join me in this toast from Fiddler.

To us and our good fortune!
Be happy, be healthy, long life!
And if our good fortune never comes,
Here's to whatever comes,
Drink to L'chai-im, to life!

2009-03-23T06:45:00.000-07:00

At the "Awakenings" group last night we talked about labels and viewing people as a child of God rather than through our perceptions and judgments. A story told me by a friend of mine who was a psychologist came to my mind after the session. During his internship, my friend worked in a state maintained mental institution. Most of his patients were there not by choice but by incarceration or involuntary commitment. He told me that each day working with the patients he imagined the well whole person within them and spoke only with that person. No matter what the body did, he imagined himself communicating with the well person who was trapped inside. If I were to translate this to church language I would say communicating with the pure soul within the person. If I imagine myself as a pure soul, and the "other" as a pure soul, I stand a better chance of interacting with them without judgment. We may all have to act out our rolls, including disagreement with actions or protecting society from the results of certain actions, but we carry out those rolls as part of the dance of two souls, learning about God through our interaction with each other.What am I to learn? In my interacting with those society might label as monsters, I learn about my own dark side. I contain within myself components of each characteristic I admire or hate in others. When I acknowledge that without judgment, I can begin to relate to the "other" appropriately without judgment. I never really judge another, I only judge myself. That's how I view it.

More about Mark

2009-02-28T08:33:00.000-08:00

The third chapter of Mark includes Jesus' selection of disciples. It sound so easy in the book. Jesus walks up to people and says follow me and they drop everything and go. Then he picks the 12 who will preach and heal in his name. What was so different about these people? Did Jesus ask others who didn't follow him or did he already know who was going to say yes? We don't see much struggle on anyone's part, except for Paul of course who came later. Were these times so different or were these people just so poor they had nothing to lose? That sounds like a convenient excuse.

Jesus also expresses concern that people will get so wrapped up in his healing, the miracles, that they miss hearing the message he is trying to preach. What may I be so wrapped up in that I'm missing the message?

Mark

2009-02-27T12:10:00.000-08:00

One of the options for Lenten observance is to read the Gospel of Mark, twice. Why, I wonder? Why Mark and why twice? I have decided to give it a try and see what Mark may have to say to me. Reading a chapter a day I have discovered, Mark is the oldest of the gospels. It is also more active, telling in active verbs what Jesus did. It records the least of what Jesus said.

2009-02-26T07:42:00.000-08:00

There is a great deal of creative energy related to our financial situation right now. What else would cause so many meetings of small groups, soul searching, brainstorming to find ways to keep our church strong, meetings to pray, and pruning to the essential activities? What else would cause so many of us to evaluate our resources and look deep in our hearts to determine our priorities? What else would generate such sacrificial giving among some of our members?

A winnowing spirit is blowing through our church – if we can recognize it. For some of us this is the first time to face a financial crisis and it’s frightening. Some of us will turn away. Life is hard enough. We come to church to escape those things not face more of them. God go with you. When you need us, and you will, we will welcome you back in love. Those who remain are embarking on a spiritual adventure from which we and this church can emerge stronger in the faith with a clearer understanding of Christian stewardship, more in love with FUMC, and blessed. It may not feel like it right now, but if we take this as God’s opportunity to build us as Christians, it will be so.

But what if we fail? What if there are not enough of us who accept this mission or it to succeed? Then this church will complete its place in history and it will be time to make room for a congregation with the passion and will to respond to God’s calling.

Let us be clear. This isn’t John’s problem, or Jim Weaver’s problem or the Finance Committee’s problem. This is our call, each one of us, to fulfill our vows of membership, respond to God’s call, and further our own spiritual growth. Now is our hour and this is our story.

FUMC has a calling, we have resources, we have people. Will we make the best use of our financial and human resources? What is the best use? It will take love and discernment to agree on the answer to that question. Perhaps we should engage together in an exploration of discernment, what it is, and how to carry it out. Hint: It is not brainstorming nor debate nor blind adherence to any legalistic interpretations nor manipulating to get someone convinced of your point of view. It is prayerfully and honestly seeking to listen for God’s direction.

All crises within the church, in life for that matter, are spiritual. They come in the guise of buildings or committees or worship styles or even carpet selection, but what they really are is our opportunity to learn about the nature of man, our own individual selves, the nature of God, and how to live out our faith through God’s body in the world, the church.

Let me ask you this question. If you saw God lying sick and hurt by the road, what would you do? Oh, that’s a parable isn’t it? Brothers and sisters the church is God’s body in the world. FUMC is wounded and in danger. Who will you be in this modern parable?

On Mardi Gras

2009-02-25T07:54:00.001-08:00

Mardi Gras is over. Most of us who participate in the annual festival don't know or care what it's about. Like most Christian rituals, it has become so divorced from its meaning that the mythological power is gone. It's a great time to party and so we do. We want the party without Lent. We want Easter without Good Friday, and we want redemption without confession. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. It wasn't the church or the government or even our parents who made these rules. That's just the way it is. When the church or the government or our parent (or our pastors) try to explain these rules to us we rebel against them. "Spoilsports!" Our rebellion can't change the truth, no matter how loudly we holler.

The rules of the universe are inexorable and the truth of the Bible describes not proscribes them. I didn't party last night, although I got caught in the Austin Mardi Gras traffic. Today I will go to a service that I don't fully understand, and my forehead will be marked by ash. I will carry that ash voluntarily into my life for the next 40 days and explore the shadow side of faith. There is much to be enjoyed in the light. Now I'm looking for the lessons of the darkness. Mardi Gras is about escaping. Lent is about engaging.

That's how I see it.

2008-12-01T09:39:00.000-08:00

"Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up..." (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, 12)

In Newsweek of Nov. 3, 2008, there was an article entitled “Click in Remembrance of Me.” It described two types of online communion service, one by an anti-organized-religion site, and two others provided by United Methodist churches who view their sites as augmenting, not replacing a church service. The article raised the question, can Christian community be authentically replicated online? It raised for me a further question, is community necessary for practicing the Christian faith?

For nearly 20 years I stood in the ranks of the disaffected and viewed my spiritual growth as an absolutely personal and individual thing. Over time, I noticed that every spiritual path I pursued included the same admonition: community is an essential part of spiritual growth. I am a slow learner. Fortunately God is patient and my health is good.

Certainly I didn’t come to FUMC in search of community, or even in search of spiritual growth. I just came to sing in the choir. Each time I became involved in one more activity here I told myself I was “just” serving on the committee to help out, doing my part because I owned it to the church, doing good for the community, taking a class because the teacher was interesting. . . it’s amazing how many excuses I found for my participation. I could have achieved any of these goals in secular pursuits. The fact is, I was in the presence of people whose lives were such examples of the active love of God in the world that I was finding the spiritual grace that so long eluded me during my solitary searching. Once I stopped blindly searching for a new roadmap and opened my eyes, I realized I was already home.

This quarter the stewardship focus is presence. We vow to support this congregation by our presence. As part of that presence we may each take our turn as questioner, lost sheep, dissenter, seeker, or even saint. That’s how we learn from each other, by each living out fully the life we are given. Because we are a congregation of the United Methodist Church where all are welcome, no exceptions, we have a rich, full, and challenging spiritual environment in which to grow.

As a fan of technology, I applaud efforts to reach out in every way we can. We are called to do that. But we are also called to be present for each other. John Wesley preached, “Christianity is essentially a social religion, and … to turn it into a solitary religion is indeed to destroy it. By Christianity I mean that method of worshipping God which is here revealed to man by Jesus Christ. When I say this is essentially a social religion, I mean not only that it cannot subsist so well, but that it cannot subsist at all without society, without living and conversing with other men.”

And so to my question is community necessary for practicing Christina faith, scripture, my experience, and Methodist tradition says resoundingly, yes.

As the Beacon moves to a quarterly publication, we will have only one Stewardship column per quarter. However, if you would like more conversation, please continue to visit our blog. Yes, I do believe in technology as one means of community, but God willing, I’ll be present in church next Sunday as well.

Money Management, Gift or Curse?

2008-11-19T12:39:00.000-08:00

The gift of financial skills is the one most admired in our society, and the one most problematic to our souls. While John Wesley begins his comments on money with “Make all you can,” he tempers it with “save all you can and give all you can.” Alas, Jesus is even tougher on us saying it’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter heaven, and sending the rich young ruler away sad with the comment that he must give away everything he owns to enter the kingdom of heaven. Meanwhile we benefit from the generous gifts of those who have used their God-given talent for making money to the benefit of God’s church.

The many verses in the Bible on this subject led me, for most of my life, to assume that poverty was good and wealth was bad. I was in the middle of my life before I could become to view money, and the gift of making money, as a blessing. I began to see the good that could be done by people of power and money who viewed their position as an opportunity to do good rather than as a right for them to enjoy. These individuals understood that their ability was a gift, and returned the results of their successful labor to the source of the gift.

The fact is, the ability to make and manage money is one of God’s gifts. When we refuse to use our talent for making money for God’s benefit, we aren’t being good stewards. The problem is, this one can be a tricky gift. I have written before about a large oak tree that grows beside my home. Its shade enables me to keep my AC bills low in the summer, a natural gift. However, during a wind storm a few years ago, a branch of my shade tree fell on the house removing part of the upper deck. This gift also includes certain dangers.

Spiritual seekers ignore the power of money at our peril. I know of no better description of of the potential bad outcome of possessing power, or trying to run away from facing power, than the stories of the Lord of the Rings. Who among us can risk possessing the power of money on our own? We need the companionship of a community to navigate this journey safely.

Caught up in the daily grind of trying to make a living, working toward career success, meeting the financial challenges of a society in economic stress, we often want to come to church to escape from conversations about money. We want the church to be a haven where we are protected from the many stresses of the world. For good reason, we refer to our worship space as a sanctuary. But my understanding of the church is not a place to which we escape, hiding from the world, but a place from which we can go out, fully engaged in the world, taking everything it has to offer, and returning it to God as a blessing. I believe the church doesn’t exist to shield us from the troubles of the world, but to enable us to face those troubles fearlessly. Our faith enables us to view our wealth, or our poverty, and everything in between, as an opportunity to demonstrate God’s abundant love in the world and in so doing, bring others to want to know this God who enables us to live with joy in the midst of trouble.

2008-11-18T10:56:00.000-08:00

What Gift Can I Bring?

The Gifts Quarter isn’t just about money. It’s about learning to give and receive all of God’s gifts. Dan Dick of the United Methodist Church General Board of Discipleship tells this story online.

I once purchased a beautiful candle holder for a friend. That friend gushed gratitude for the gift. Months later, while visiting my friend, I saw the candle holder tossed into a carton for Goodwill. I still remember how I felt–- a sense of loss and hurt– a rejection of a gift of the heart.

How does God feel about the way we treat the gifts we are given? Not material gifts, or the gifts of our bodies and minds, but our spiritual gifts?

Mr. Dick goes on to say that everyone is specially gifted by God. The question is never, "Am I gifted?" Rather, the question should be, "What are my gifts?" FUMC has a no-fault method of finding out. Pick something that interests you and try it out. If your passion isn’t on any of the lists, talk to one of the team leaders. Maybe your calling is to start something new. Our Knit Wits, the prayer shawl ministry, was started by a new member who had enjoyed this ministry at another congregation and brought it to us.

The church doesn’t define our gifts; rather, the church is defined by the gifts. Congregations are as uniquely gifted as individuals. FUMC doesn't define its work then "plug people in" to positions or offices. Form always follows function, and the structure of the church organization is rooted in the gifts of the people. But no spiritual gift is given solely for the benefit of the individual. Gifts are given for the common good – to build the body of Christ.

The most detailed listing of spiritual gifts in the New Testament is in I Corinthians 12. Paul is quite specific in his writing. He starts by saying “Now, concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed.” He goes on to describe how each of us is part of the body of Christ and each has a specific function, using the human body as a simile. I hadn’t thought about the fact that this chapter precedes the famous Love chapter. When I realized that it put things in new perspective for me. Each of the gifts, teaching, healing, leadership, administration, was listed as a gift from God. Then the final verse in the chapter says. “But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.” The famous Chapter 13, taken in the context of a list of spiritual gifts, says God’s greatest gift to us is love. That is the one gift above all that we must pass on. “If I have all faith so as to move mountains and have not love I am nothing.” Pretty straight talk.

Our world is filled with incredible need. God gives us both the opportunity and the gifts necessary to meet every need. God waits eagerly to see what we will do with these gifts.

Every month in the bulletin and on the website a variety of ways in which members of our congregation can use their spiritual gifts is offered. God has given each of us beautiful gifts. Now is the time to decide what we will do with them. The response is a simple as a phone call or an email.

What Gifts?

2008-10-20T12:55:00.000-07:00

The hymn that is the theme for this gifts quarter is What gift Can We Bring. This is a pretty new hymn having come into the Methodist hymnal in the last edition. It is credited, both words and music, to Jane Marshall in 1980. I only remembered the first verse and had to look up the rest in the hymnal. I liked them so much I'm sharing them here now so you can have them through the remainder of the gifts quarter.

What gift can we bring, what present, what token
What words can convey it, the joy of this day?
When grateful we come, remembering, rejoicing,
What song can we offer in honor and praise?

Give thanks for the past, for those who had vision
Who planted and watered so dreams could come true.
Give thanks for the now, for study, for worship,
For mission that bids us turn prayer into deed.

Give thanks for tomorrow, full of surprises,
For knowing whatever tomorrow may bring,
The Word is our promise always forever,
We rest in God's keeping and live in God's love.

This gift we now bring, this present, this token,
These words can convey it, the joy of this day!
When grateful we come, remembering, rejoicing
This song we now offer in honor and praise!

Gifts - the gift of making money

2008-10-10T14:32:00.000-07:00

A Brief Parable

2007-11-12T04:52:00.000-08:00

A story about gifts: While attending services with us, our young grandson became agitated when we reached the time when the collection plate began to be passed. In some distress the young man tugged on his grandfather’s sleeve. “I don’t have any money for the collection.” Granddad reached in his pocket and quickly produced a dollar just in time for the collection plate’s arrival.

What about this gift? The child had come empty-handed to the service. This gift represented no toil or sacrifice; it barely passed through his hands. What kind of offering was this? He only asked, received, and passed on.

Is this so different from any of us? Isn’t that what we do? We receive gifts from God for the purpose of offering them back, using them to benefit others along the way. When we make the mistake of taking credit for the gifts, we become stingy selfish, closed in. When we view all that we have as a gift for giving away, we become generous, thankful, and joyful.

An Affair of the Heart

2007-11-10T17:32:00.000-08:00

First Church has adopted as its mission a stewardship-based statement: “We are called to make the best use of every resource entrusted to us by God in order to bring as many people as possible into a lasting life-changing relationship with God through Jesus Christ.” The mission acknowledges two very important things: resources are entrusted to us by God, resources are to be used to bring people into a relationship with God. As each of us is part of “people” we may assume the use of resources is to bring ourselves, as well as others, into the lasting life-changing relationship. We may also assume that the “life-changing relationship” is not a one-time thing, but a continual change as we progress on our way toward perfection (a goal we may not reach but for which we are encouraged to strive).

Stewardship is sometimes more of a challenge than we can meet on our own. That is one of the interesting challenges of stewardship. It often causes us to step so far out of our usual capabilities, that we realize we can only accomplish our goals with help from God. Is stewardship a means of accomplishing something, or is it a means of keeping us aware that we are in need of a higher power? When I would give of my resources, but I have barely enough to make ends meet, God tells me the parable of the poor widow who had so much less than the rich, but was recognized for giving so much more. If stewardship is my training ground to teach me that in the end, I need to reach out for some help to accomplish God’s goals for my life, the good news is that without fail, when I reach out for help to accomplish my duty as a steward, God will be there

Why make such a big deal out of this? Because Jesus taught us that it is important. He talked five times as much about money as about prayer. Until we have committed our finances to God, we have not fully committed ourselves. Our attitude towards money can either be a stumbling block in our faith journey or a means of growing in grace. Giving is a matter of the heart, not the wallet.

Giving - Negotiation or Partnership?

2007-11-09T04:14:00.000-08:00

Is giving to God a negotiation? How do I decide how much to give? How much is enough? Thomas Bandy talks about that in his book, Beyond the Collection Plate.

“In the world of declining church philanthropy that we are leaving behind, people within and beyond the church make the following assumptions: God requires many sacrifices of my time, talent, and money but fundamentally my lifestyle and God’s mission are different things.

Secular media and ecclesiastical preaching make it clear that charity should hurt. Generosity should not be joyous or fulfilling or rewarding; it should require careful negotiation between my preferences and God’s preferences so that giving is neither too easy nor too hard. It is not just a belief that my needs should come first (my tastes, my family concerns, my health issues), nor even that our needs should come first (our church property maintenance, our harmony, our traditional music), but that these self-serving needs are legitimately distinct from whatever God happens to be “about” this year.

In the world of thriving church faithfulness that is emerging, people within and beyond the church make different assumptions; God requires only one sacrifice – myself– and therefore, my lifestyle and God’s mission are one. The real issue is not whether I am willing to give up my life to acknowledge Jesus, but whether I am willing to give up my lifestyle to follow Jesus…..my concerns and your concerns merge into God’s concerns. The resulting urgency makes the budget lines for our church property, our worship harmony, and our traditional music look rather petty.”

The closing thought in the book said, if the cause is big enough, bold enough, and Biblical enough, we will give everything we have.

The book is Beyond the Collection Plate by Michael Durall and the introduction I quoted is by Thomas G. Bandy.

Hope for Tomorrow

2007-11-07T04:21:00.000-08:00

Unable to sleep one night, I picked up a book from the stack of stewardship books I keep beside my bed and started reading. I came across a sentence that really caught my attention. “The foundation of all charity is the discernment that you, as an individual or as a congregation, have something of inestimable value that gives you hope for tomorrow and provides you with the confidence not to commit suicide tonight.”

Hope for tomorrow. We seem to be very short on hope lately. People are motivated, the book said, by these questions: Do we have a faith worth sharing? Is there a spiritual leader worth following? The sentences following the one I just quoted said, “If you share it (hope for tomorrow) you can give abundant life away to another person, and if you withhold it you risk abandoning another person to cruel fate …True charity is not about financially supporting a program, but trusting credible leaders to share the secret of abundant life with others and empower them to enjoy it.

The book is Beyond the Collection Plate by Michael Durall and the introduction I quoted is by Thomas G. Bandy.

Marilyn Good

ESL Classes (English as a Second Language)

2007-11-06T04:09:00.000-08:00

Because of generosity on the part of First Church, many ministries happen. One of those is English as a Second Language classes, initiated by Rev. Young Son. Cathy Bingamin shares some surprising outcomes of what she thought was an English class.

We will teach English. That’s what we thought anyway. Young Son told us there was a need for English instruction in Austin, so we recruited volunteers and opened our doors in December of 2002. Our class filled almost immediately with people wanting to improve their English skills, but needing much, much more.

Many came because they are wives of UT students living in UT housing. They had no transportation and little confidence in their English skills. They spent their days sitting in their tiny apartments watching TV. Most of these women are college educated and held very good jobs in their own countries. Here they were adrift. Not allowed to work or attend school, they were lonely and miserable. Our students met others in the same situations. They began to plan events together outside our class. Without intending to, we became a social network.

They needed help with day to day activities. Solange from Cameroon needed help passing her driving test. We got driver’s education books from DPS and ran several classes on driving rules. Solange appeared a week later proudly waving her new driver’s license.

Ji Yeoun needed a notary. My husband’s office is two blocks from the church, so we walked over after class and took care of that problem.

They wanted to know what to do if they got sick suddenly, or needed a dentist. We had classes on health issues and explained where to find an emergency clinic. We provided them with a copy of the “Austin’s Best Doctors” article.

They were afraid of being stopped by police. We explained what they should do at a traffic stop. We talked to them about liability insurance requirements and state inspections.

Gemma from Mexico was enrolling her two children in middle school. She spoke very little English. She was completely flummoxed by all the forms she was given to fill out. Kathy Morales devoted a day to helping her and other parents fill out forms and understand PTA and booster clubs.

We discovered that many had lived here for years and never been inside an American’s home, so we invited them to our homes. Pam Tackett hosted Christmas parties for our ESL students.

Edward from Africa was hesitant about meeting Americans. He said his government blames all the countries ills on America, so he was not sure what kind of people we would be. During the month he was here, we had great discussions; he was a passionate socialist. We didn’t convert him to capitalism, but when he had to return to Africa he stood up in class and tearfully thanked us for being so kind to him. He promised to spread the word in his own country that Americans were “people of good hearts”.

So, yes we teach English. But that’s just one of our missions. We’ve discovered we are sometimes the only Americans foreign visitors have a chance to know personally. We are here to listen, to hold their hands and to help out any way we can. And for me and the other volunteers, our rewards are the hugs and tears we get when our students move on to the next phase of their lives.

Cathy Bingaman

How Do We Give?

2007-11-05T04:14:00.000-08:00

Giving is a privilege, we have resources in order that we can give them to God and others and celebrate the gift.

Giving is in thanks. We have been given a great deal, we offer a thank you gift.

Giving is a statement of faith. We give sacrificially (the widow’s mite) in faith that God is the true provider for our welfare and to demonstrate that we put our faith in God, not in material things. We test our faith by giving generously, and we demonstrate our faith in that way as well. Those taking team building classes are asked to throw themselves off of a high place and trust that their team will catch them. That is what giving generously is about.

Giving is joyful. Is our greater joy on Christmas morning opening our own gifts, or seeing the eyes of a child to whom we have given a gift? When we give joyfully, we give joy to God, joy to ourselves, and do good in the world as well. The example of Jesus as our vision of God tells me that God has feelings and that God wants us to be joyful and free in spirit. When we deny ourselves that joy, we also deny God that joy.

Giving is in service. Our gifts serve to help those who have less than we do. “When did you see me naked…”

Giving leads to abundant living. Living from fear and a concept of scarcity leads to holding back both resources and love, to pulling in from others, to isolation, and to loneliness. Giving builds abundance. Resources horded build scarcity.

“I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.”

How Much Should We Give?

2007-11-03T05:36:00.000-07:00

The standard in scripture is the tithe, giving a tenth. The tithe is not the landing place, however, it is intended to be the minimum, the starting place.

The second standard is proportional giving with an intent to move toward the tithe. This means deciding on a percent of your personal income that you will contribute, and then gradually increasing that percentage until it reaches the minimum standard of 10%.

The third standard is proportional giving with an awareness of what percent of one’s resources that amount may be. When we are new to giving we often need guidance in developing giving plans and financial management. We can freely and openly seek that guidance through the services of First Church. That learning is part of our spiritual growth plan.

The Wesleyan standard, is often abbreviated to say as "Earn all you can, save all you can, give all you can."

Financial Health

2007-11-02T02:52:00.001-07:00

Among others in our congregation, your First Church Finance Committee is charged with assuring that we “make the best use of every resource entrusted to us by God.” Though often difficult to see, we are making progress toward financial health. But, you may ask, what is financial health? And, when will we be financially healthy?

To be truly healthy: (1) we must not only balance our budget, we must generate a positive bottom line in order to build reserves to sustain us through times, (2) we must maintain positive cash flow to avoid further debt, and (3) we must continually maintain our church home in order to achieve our mission.

There are good signs that will lead us to a healthy financial future. Thanks to your generosity, giving is now increasing at a rate greater than expenses. The Endowment recently received the largest gift ever received by First Church ($2.9 million). Why is this important? Some of the proceeds from the Endowment go to support chuch operations. Though we will not benefit soon, within three years, the increase in proceeds will be very beneficial. Next year’s “Burn the Note” fundraising campaign will eliminate one of the loans that has burdened us for years, thus reducing costs by nearly $100,000!

If your “extravagant generosity” continues, we will be financially healthy by 2010. We will have a positive bottom line, positive cash flow, increasing reserves, and resources to maintain the many wonderful programs that bring so many to "a lasting, life-changing relationship with God through Christ Jesus.”

Richard Bettis
Finance Committee Chair

Philosophy of Money - Church's Responsibility

2007-10-31T04:42:00.000-07:00

If a congregation is strong in faith, dedicated to a common purpose, and inspired by a common vision, asking for money becomes only a matter of holding a commitment service and a celebration. Recent crises have shown that at their heart, when convinced of a need that they can help fill, people respond with generosity and an outpouring of concern and resources. The key factors are: a vision that touches the heart, a feeling that each person can make a difference, a means for making the gift. Crisis giving shows who we really are at our best moment when we respond to another. At that moment we fulfill our potential as stewards and come closest to God. We may respond to a crisis and give a gift without thought of God in the process. Even then, some breakthrough in our shell has taken place and in that moment, God and the Church find an opportunity.

There is a second type of giving that addresses the long and slow building of faith through discipline. The Christian who has decided to take the next step in faith takes part in this type of giving.

A third type of giving is to a particular cause in which we are interested, or a particular program of the church that exists to serve us. This is a pay for service type of giving.

Another type of giving is end of life bequests, the gift that keeps on giving even after we are gone.

We give based on where we are in our faith journey, our age, and our relationship with money. We may also give to different causes from different pockets of money. The discipline of regular giving may come from the salary, the crisis giving may come in place of some discretionary intent for money available in excess of that necessary for the basics of life. Long term large gifts such as bequests may come from accumulated wealth, stocks, bonds, etc.

It is the responsibility of the church to know where its members are in their spiritual journey and to provide them the opportunity to benefit from abundance, to learn about their own relationship with their resources, and to be generous and cheerful givers.

Philosophy of Money - Our Church Home

2007-10-30T04:37:00.000-07:00

A large percent of our resources at First Church go to support, maintain, and pay the mortgage on our church home. This home provides space for our ministry, and serves as a ministry of space for many others as well.

There are many examples in the Bible of building buildings for God – some of them are good, some show the wrong way to go about things. When the Jewish people left Egypt, at one point they were instructed by God through Moses to build a tabernacle. (Exodus 35-36) There are several key points in that event. God had told the people when they left Egypt to take gold and jewelry from their captors and had made it possible for them to do so. Second, when God asked for donations to build the tabernacle, the people brought so much that the priests had to ask them to stop. Third, God made it clear that the building of the tabernacle was not because God needed a place to live, but that the act of giving and building was the way of building a people out of a tribe of nomads who had been slaves for generations. Messages: God provides what God asks for, our buildings are a means to an end, when we give from gratitude and joy we give generously.

Another example that comes to my mind is the Tower of Babel. This was a building project with the wrong purpose in mind, it was built to glorify the people, not to glorify and serve God. This project tore the people apart.

While our buildings reflect to the world the value we place on our church home, we are cautioned always to remember the purpose for those buildings is not our pride, but God's work.

Philosophy of Money - Salaries

2007-10-29T04:16:00.000-07:00

Lay members of First Church are in full partnership with staff and clergy in carrying out the ministries of the church, but it is full-time workers who enable us to carry out our lay ministry, who care for our buildings, manage our resources, and lead us in the sacraments. The cost of providing highly qualified staff is one of the largest items in the Mission and Ministry Plan.

In the New Testament, there came a time when the members disagreed among themselves about payment for those who were traveling around building up the church. The Bible is absolutely clear about this in its statement, “The workman is worthy of his wages.” (1 Timothy 5:18) Those who serve as clergy and staff are the daily eyes and hands of the Church and as such are worthy of support that enables them and their families to live in reasonable comfort, have the support of insurance and retirement benefits, and make donations of their own wealth to further their own faith without impoverishing their families. While Jesus was an itinerant preacher and lived in poverty, he did not hesitate to make use of the wealth of his followers, and in the scene with Mary who anointed him with expensive oil pointed out that there are appropriate times for generous gifts to the bringer of the message. (John 12:3)

Because of your generous gifts, First Church has been able to make a commitment to pay no less than the defined Austin area "living wage" to any staff member and to provide benefits for all full time staff. In keeping with the Discipline of the Methodist Church in areas of social justice, we can do no less. With your extravagant generosity, we can do much more.

Because You Give - Worship

2007-10-27T06:13:00.000-07:00

Our gifts provide a place where we can gather to worship and have fellowship. First Church provides a "ministry of space" for members of our congregation and beyond. Worship services also require staff and materials. All are provided by our generous gifts. On this Sunday morning, Ruth Randolph shares some comments about worship.

The Sunday morning worship service is very important to me, and I cannot imagine life without it. But another worship service is also an important part of my life-the Wednesday night Chapel Service. The warmth, the music (instrumental by experts) and singing of old and new hymns, the sermon, the prayers, and the fellowship following the service all blend to make Wednesday night a high point of my week. Words cannot express the strength and comfort I derive from this Chapel service.

Ruth Randolph

Philosophy of Money - Investing in God for the Long Term

2007-10-27T05:53:00.000-07:00

Investment Policies
In one of the Bible's many parables of the absentee owner, the owner gives money to each of his servants. One hides it, one invests it in moderate return investments, one goes for a little more high risk. (Matthew 25:14-30) The parable was clear when the owner returned, the servant who hid the money away in fear was chastised. The funds entrusted to First Church as trusts are prudently invested to earn a reasonable rate of return in whatever the current marketplace may be.

The body through which First Church manages long-term investments is the Endowment. This is a separate organization with its own Board of Trustees who are appointed by the First Church Administrative Board. Trustees make a contribution to the general fund each year from the money generated by their investments. First Church was blessed recently by a gift that nearly doubles the size of the amount of money in the Endowment fund. For many years, we have benefited from the legacy left by Mr. Cravens. A final distribution by that legacy was the largest gift given to First Church in my memory, in the neighborhood of $2 million. Mr. Cravens was an example of an individual who used his talent for making money for the benefit of God's work during his own life and beyond.

While this is a very generous gift, and First Church will be blessed by it in the future, because distributions from the Endowment are proceeds from investments, we will not see this benefit for several years. It will be our extravagant generosity following the example of Mr. Cravens that will enable First Church to carry out its work this year.

Philosophy of Money - All Things Belong to God

2007-10-26T04:22:00.001-07:00

In our Philosophy of Money, we start with the acknowledgment that all that we have and all that we are belongs to God and has been given to us as a gift to use to His glory and the benefit of others and the world. When we recognize this, we are free from all that makes us afraid or greedy and sets us free to view all that we have in terms of celebration, thanksgiving, and sharing. It also sets the tone for how we give and how we use our gifts. It is the Church’s responsibility to model this, and to teach it as a part of spiritual growth. We give sacrificially, as Jesus gave, but we also give joyfully, “God loves a cheerful giver.”

As we give money to the church, the Church becomes the steward of our gifts and it is our responsibility to ensure those gifts are used in ways worthy of the nature of the gift, but also used in the spirit described in the above paragraph. Financial policy-making, and following the policies, may seem like a dry and un-spiritual activity, but policies are developed that to enable the church to be a good steward. They also enable the church to act without having to spend precious time making each financial decision from scratch. Acting out of a comprehensive policy gives focus and strength as the church uses it resources. First Church has policies related to receiving, distributing, and handling money.

The Mission and Ministry Plan is a narrative describing how gifts of money will be used to further the mission of the church. It is prepared by all of the lay teams, written by team leaders and staff working together, and adopted by the Church Administrative Board. Approximately 91% of the financial support for the Mission and Ministry Plan comes from identified giving. The results of the Stewardship of Gifts Quarter commitments made on Covenant Sunday tell the staff and lay leadership how much of their vision they will be able to fund in the coming year. If you haven't seen the Mission and Ministry Plan, you can find it on the First Church web site.

Because You Give - Prayer Shawl Ministry

2007-10-25T05:40:00.000-07:00

Gifts of money provide staff and facilities so that First Church ministries can take place. One of those ministries is the Prayer Shawl Ministry. Cindy Reidland is sharing her story iabout the "Knit Wits", our Prayer Shawl Ministry Team.

I have a very dear friend that has suffered with Chronic Pain RDS (Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy) for over 2 years. He has been in and out of the hospital, visited many physical therapy centers, tried acupuncture, pain management, biofeedback sessions, hypnosis, massage therapy and almost anything to try to control his pain, including morphine, methadone and other very addictive drug therapies. At this time, he’s been on disability from his work for almost 6 months and all in all, has only worked about 6-9 months in the last 2 years. He feels very isolated, lonely, & fearful, as well as embarrassed because he cannot work. I check on him weekly and try to be his connection to the world.

One day, I decided to ask our Knit Wit ministry if they would send him a prayer shawl and they agreed. He received his prayer shawl on a Friday and called me Saturday morning to thank me. He was in tears and could barely tell me what this meant to him. He said he opened the package, read the prayer and cried and said he has never received a gift from anyone that meant more to him than this prayer shawl. He finds such comfort in just holding it close. It reminds him that there are people who care and love him and pray for him. This ministry touches people in a very personal, intimate way. I am so thankful that we have this ministry.

Cindy Reidland

Toward a Philosophy of Money

2007-10-24T04:24:00.000-07:00

Developing programs for First Church in Financial Administration, and then in stewardship, has led me to try to articulate for myself some basic tenets in regard to faith and money so that I might not go astray in my writing, and so that we might be consistent in our teaching.

We are, first and foremost, the body of Christ in the world, and secondly part of the United Methodist Church. We are also a non-profit corporation in the State of Texas and the United States of America. These facts create the framework for our philosophy of money. Our rule books are the Bible, the Book of Discipline of the Methodist Church, the policy manual of First Church Austin, and the secular law.

In the nature of the recent NPR Series on "This I Believe," During this Stewardship of Gifts Quarter, I want to share with you some of the things I believe about a Christian philosophy of money.

Marilyn Good

Money is the Appropriate and Necessary Concern of the Church

Herb Miller in his book Money Is Everything makes the following statement. “Buttrick’s classic book The Parables of Jesus lists 43 parables. Twenty-seven of these (62%) refer to money and possessions. One out of every 10 verses in the four Gospels (a total of 288 verses) deals with money. The Bible includes 500 verses on prayer, fewer than 500 on faith, and more than 2,000 verses on money and what it buys.” Miller concludes that “Jesus said that money is everything – not in the usual sense of that term, but in the spiritual sense. Jesus did not divide reality into two parts, the material and the spiritual. He said that the way we think and behave with regard to money impacts us both physically and spiritually. Its use and misuse affect our relationship with God and the quality of our life. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also, (Luke 12:34).” If the Church fails to address money, the church fails in its responsibility of leading its members in spiritual growth.

The founder of the Methodist Church, John Wesley, also spent a lot of time dealing with money. He is often quoted as saying, "Earn all you can, save all you can, give all you can". He was also practical and made it a priority not only to preach giving, but to make available to the poor the same types of financial resources that were available to the rich. He set up financial services for the poor of England. In this example we see discussions of money moving beyond our own stewardship to issues of social justice. The Methodist Church continues this tradition in its approach to mission throughout the world.

Abbondanza

2007-10-22T19:18:00.000-07:00

David H. Nicastro shared with us an essay he wrote a few years ago on about living abundantly. It happened to be an Easter essay, but the subject matches our theme so we wanted to share it with you. Thanks David.

Abundance
Annual Good Friday Essay
David H. Nicastro, April 14, 2006

I think about abundance a lot. Maybe it is because I always “see the glass half full” – I just don’t believe in the pessimistic scarcity mentality that causes some people to see it half empty. Maybe it is because I never experienced true deprivation; surrounded by plenty, I have never learned to curb my appetites (I have been fat most of my life). But I hope there is more to it than that. I wonder what God thinks about abundance.

The word abundance resonates with me; it has been sort of a theme in my life. And perhaps that world view allowed me to attract into my life the world’s most generous woman, my wife. It is not for nothin’ that Sue and I named our house Abbondanza – Italian for plenty (or, more loosely, abundance). It is a running joke for us whenever we have to make a choice – shopping, or selecting from a menu – why choose? Get both! Abbondanza! After we had been thinking for months what to name our new house, I knew what it had to be as soon as the thought occurred to me. A perfect name for our huge house, reflecting our personalities, promising that our home would have plenty of love, plenty of beauty, plenty of fun, plenty of everything.

I came to this world view naturally – both of my parents are exceedingly generous with their time, money, and love. Growing up, our house was always the one in the neighborhood where the kids came to play. We didn’t have more toys or a nicer house; but the house and supervising parents were welcoming in a unique way. As a parent myself now, I appreciate the degree to which they just let us play. We were indulged: it is significant that we had more pets than anyone else I have ever known – I recall dogs, chinchillas, a rabbit, an armadillo, mice and/or rats, tropical fish, a tortoise, an iguana, a salamander, a newt, several snakes, a pheasant, homing pigeons, a parrot (or was it a parakeet?), chickens, and baby blue jays abandoned in their nests and raised by hand. And there always seemed to be enough money, even when there really wasn’t; those worldly cares that stressed my parents were invisible to us kids.

While I worry that there is a fine line between abundance and gluttony, an interesting observation is that abundance is used throughout the Bible only in a positive sense: abundant blessings, grace, pardon, and wisdom. By comparison, wealth is often negative in the Bible, especially in the Gospels: “You cannot serve God and wealth.”

So God’s abundance is not wealth. In fact, I am beginning to realize that those are opposite concepts – wealth is accumulation, while abundance is the awareness that there is plenty – and faith that there will always be plenty, rendering accumulation unnecessary. Jesus prayed, “give us this day our daily bread,” not “give me enough bread to last forever.” God’s creation has enough of everything for everybody, if only we shared it.

The final time that the word is used in the Bible is the most important: Jesus said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” Not money, not blessings or wisdom; Life. Abundant life: the opposite of death. Hey, that sounds familiar.

Uh oh; somehow, I just knew this subject would lead me to the cross. I start off wondering about abundance, and end up learning the meaning of Easter. For now I see that my gluttony leads to death; but I am forgiven, and the hope of the resurrection is new abundant life, to be lived after Jesus’ example: the more I give, the more I live. Abbondanza!

Welcome to Stewardship Musings

2007-10-11T08:37:00.000-07:00

This, our first posting on Stewardship Musings, introduces the Stewardship Gifts quarter at First Church.

I have a small inspirational card on my desk at work (actually an ad from a retirement investment company) that says "What you do today determines how you will live tomorrow." What First Church does today, or more specifically on Covenant Sunday, November 18, will indeed determine how this congregation will live tomorrow, and for some time to come. This blog is intended to provide food for thought, and answer any questions, so that we may have every resource we need to make an informed decision on Covenant Sunday. In fact, we hope we will be more than informed, with God's help, may we be inspired.

Our theme for the Stewardship Gifts campaign this year is Celebrating Abundant Life. That may not sound like a theme for a campaign that is asking us to give, but our belief is that we give in response to the gifts we have been given - so first we're celebrating our abundant gifts.

Choosing an abundance mindset isn’t easy because there actually is hunger and poverty. We are also barraged with advertising to sell us scarcity mindsets so we will buy products. Power brokers sell scarcity and fear to secure their power. Our view of God affects our scarcity/abundance mentality, and our scarcity/abundance view affects our understanding of God. A scarcity mentality perceives a punitive God who “speaks the word of judgment much louder than grace. It fosters fear, reward motivation and tit for tat. The abundance mentality perceives God as the giver of grace who speaks the language of unconditional love. Faith in the God of abundance fosters gratitude.”

These thoughts come from a book we are using as a study guide this quarter, Abundance, by Marilyn Brown Oden. (Commercial - available online from Cokesbury for $3.99 plus shipping.)

To add your thoughts, click on Comments below.

Marilyn Good, Stewardship Chair