Thursday, December 09, 2010

Christmas Sentiments

An evangelical friend of mine recently told me: “We need to keep Christ in Christmas.” An Anglican friend of mine recently told me: “We need to return the ‘mas’ to Christmas.” [Note: The word Christmas is actually the bringing together of two words, that is, the Christ Mass or the ancient worship service welcoming the Christ child into the world.]  It is not surprising that a common sentiment this time of year is “This is the season of peace and love.”  What do all these sentiments mean?  What does it mean to keep Christ in Christmas? Is it purely intellectual? How do we practice peace in this season? How do we show love to others?
Jean Vanier is the founder of the L’Arche Community (http://www.larcheusa.org).  The L’Arche Community is a worldwide ecumenical organization that has hundreds of small community houses where people with disabilities live in a kind of monastic community.  They are an example of a new monasticism that is becoming popular in the Protestant Church. Vanier, in seeking to explain how love is pragmatically experienced, writes, “To love someone is not first of all to do things for them, but to reveal to them their beauty and value, to say to them through our attitude: ‘You are beautiful. You are important. I trust you. You can trust yourself.’ We all know well that we can do things for others and in the process crush them, making them feel that they are incapable of doing things for themselves. To love someone is to reveal to them their capacities for life, the light that is shining in them.”
This season can subtly mislead us to think that the way we show others our love is to heap gifts upon them or to patronizingly give “the needy” a meal or “needy children” gifts all in a spirit of good will that leaves them with an armful of things and a heart that is still empty.  Don’t confuse this sentiment as a minimizing of our efforts to provide food and toys through our constituent agencies (i.e. CAReS, Shelter of Hope, Salvation Army, etc.).  Rather it is an encouragement to continue our interest in others year round. Our call to love others is a demand we place on ourselves to invest ourselves in the lives of others.  How can we stand with other people of faith in our community to fight the ever growing problem of prescription drug addiction, broken families and unemployment?  How can we use the resources and opportunities present within our own congregation to make a difference in our own backyard? How can we join with Christians around the world who live in countries hostile to the name of Christ?
May God keep us from assuming that our good fortune, our congregation’s strong financial commitment, is our own doing or that our ability to serve is anything other than a gift of God. To those much has been given, much is expected.  I know you join with the clergy and elders of this congregation to thank God for his generosity.  May we claim our role as spiritual leaders in this community.  It is not that the darkness of the world is so dark, but that our light has yet to shine so that the shadows of despair and the absence of Christ are forced to flee.  As one of our elders said recently, ‘May the devil tremble when he realizes that First Christian Church is awake.”

Friday, December 03, 2010

Stewardship Campaigns

The Estimate of Giving Campaign is coming to end at the congregation I service.  In the middle of this recession, this year’s campaign is the second largest and could be the best campaign ever as late estimates continue to come in.  I have always been overwhelmed at the response from our congregation. 
 One of the purposes of a stewardship campaign is to ensure that we build a responsible budget.  Whether we like it or not, people vote with their checkbooks.  These campaigns not only allow us to plan for the most effective ministries possible, but they ensure we have our finger on the pulse of the congregation. 
I have served in previous congregations that did not do campaigns.  They felt that a better approach was to “trust in the Lord.”  I understand the sentiment, but what it generally led to was an oligarchy, or the running of the church by a few.  Many congregations that do business like that will often overextend themselves and when they find themselves in a position where they can’t make ends meet, they will extend a call to the congregation.  Since funding often requires planning, most people who had a readily available cash flow to meet emergency needs where a select group.  Soon, those families began to feel a sense of entitlement to decision making or worse, abused by the congregation.  Our Estimate of Giving campaign provides an opportunity for everyone to faithfully plan their finances for the coming year, a good idea for givers and non-givers alike.  Building a budget within those parameters then preserves the ideals of congregationalism, where every voice and every member, becomes a part of the planning process.  In short, a stewardship campaign protects the ideals and integrity of the priesthood of all believers.
Our campaign also forces us to think about what it means to be stewards ourselves.  Jesus talks about money and hell more the any other topics and yet, it is those two topics that are most avoided by the modern church.  Personally, I believe every Christian needs to give something.  It is a part of what it means to be a Christian.  In my own life, it has been proven over and over again that if we tithe, God always make sure we have enough.   Tithing reminds me that God is the source of my needs.  It also reminds me to live within my means.  Now for many throughout the world and in our own community, their basic needs outstrip their income.  Many of these folks still give through volunteering or other active ways.  For most, however, it requires us to think twice about eating out or buying items that we may not really need.  The holiday season is an ideal time to take stock of our life.  Am I living beyond my means? Could I give something to someone else whose needs are greater than my own? Can I endeavor to reorient my life and place God first…in everything, even my checkbook? 
As a spiritual leader, I am convinced that members have a right to know how much we give to the life of the congregation we serve.  If we are going to model the Christian life, including stewardship, we have to set the tone for Christian giving.  Our family tithes (10%) on our gross income, including cash gifts and extra money that comes in.  Why?  God demands and deserves our first fruits.  I also know that God will make sure I never miss it.  It is amazing how liberating a properly oriented life can be for the mind and soul.  Now, don’t get upset with me, I’m just trying to tell you the truth as I understand it and have experienced it.  However, I know my congregation understands.  Their generosity is one of the signs.

Thinking about when I spent Christmas Alone

When I was in seminary, I was privileged to serve a small rural congregation in Bourbon County, Kentucky as a student minister.  I had never been away from my parents for any major holiday my whole life and this was the first year I found myself alone on Christmas Day.  The little church had had a nice Candlelight Christmas Eve service and I was planning to fly home on December 26.  Of course, that meant I would be alone on Christmas Day.  Most of my fellow students had either already left for their respective home towns or they were spending the day with members of their own student congregations.  I awoke to a desolate residence hall at Lexington Theological Seminary and after a cheerful call to my parents with expectations for a late Christmas; I decided I was going to go to the Campbell House Inn to take advantage of their Christmas Day dinner, complete with their 15% student discount.  Upon arriving I was ushered to my table.  The restaurant was far from full, although a few families had begun to fill vacant tables.  Most of the patrons were older couples enjoying one another’s company and a spattering of widows, widowers and men like myself. I remember vividly sitting down and actually enjoying the moment alone.  After a moment of reflection on the true meaning of the day and a brief prayer, I made my way to the buffet.  I noticed through dinner that an older couple sitting at the table next to me would look over my way whispering to one another and shaking their head.  I began to allow my paranoia to take over and wondered if I was dressed appropriately or perhaps had a drop of gravy on my chin.  Moments before I was to decide I would make a quick exit to the safety of the seminary campus, the dear lady leaned over and said, “Honey, are you alone?” The question so startled me that I just stared at her.  “Why don’t you come and eat with us?” she asked motioning to the empty chair at the table.  Why is it that the seconds that pass in real time conversations seem like an eternity?
I guess I had never considered the idea that I was alone.  I knew I would be seeing family the next day and although the world saw Christmas as one day a year, I knew from my having grown up in Church that it was a season of Twelve Days (December 25 – January 5), with Epiphany (the arrival of the Magi) on January 6.  I suppose it was odd that a man in his early 20’s was having Christmas Day dinner alone at a Lexington landmark hotel.  I didn’t feel alone.  In many ways, being by myself made the holiday more sacred as I wasn’t distracted by the noise of opening presents or the blare of parades and football games on television.  No, I decided, I was fine and so I responded, “No, no thank you, I’m fine.”
The kind lady almost burst into tears.  Regardless of how I felt, she thought it too inappropriate for anyone to be alone on Christmas Day.  I can only imagine the courage it took to finally ask a stranger to join them for the holiday dinner and I had refused her kindness and chose to continue in my condition that she found objectionable.  I left soon after the request and enjoyed a near traffic less drive back to the seminary and spent the afternoon reading and packing for my trip the next day.  The image of shock and grief on the dear lady’s face stayed with me though and haunts me to this day.  I wish I could go back and change what happened.  I wish I would have accepted her invitation.  Not so much because I my Christmas was ruined by being alone, but because I think I ruined her Christmas.
This year, if you are alone, look for the opportunities being alone might provide to spend the day in the presence of God, reading the Christmas story and reflecting on the birth of our Savior.  And, if someone asks you to spend time with them, do it.  Not for yourself necessarily, but for them.  Let someone do a good deed.  For the rest of you, if you invite someone over and they refuse, don’t take it personal.  Maybe the second day of Christmas when they are with family will be just as good if they had been with them on the first day of Christmas.