Grow: Renewal and Restoration
Psalm 80
This month marks the beginning of how we as a church will be looking toward the next year of ministry in 2024. We call this season Stewardship season and here's why: a theology of Stewardship reminds us that nothing on this planet is ours to possess. Everything we have, every blessing, every ounce of abundance is a gift to us from God.
And God expects us to take care of what we have. That might mean cultivating our gifts, being mindful of how we spend our time, and being precise in the way we invest our money. As individuals we can be good stewards of creation by treating it with reverence and respect. As a church we can be good stewards of the resources we have and the resources we receive through donations and other revenues both of the financial variety and also the "in-kind."
The Psalmist in scripture writes in Psalm 80: "You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land." I think people who tend to plants, who grow food and flowers and love to get their hands dirty really get an intuitive sense of what stewardship is. The vine in Psalm 80 is a metaphor for God's people. Psalm 80 is widely believed to be a Psalm associated with a repeated ritual of renewal.
Good stewardship is like renewal. It is like tending to a garden. Sometimes it means you need to tend lightly to the garden, just add water and let the plants do their thing. Other times it means you have to be more hands on, pruning dead leaves, removing "suckers" from your tomato plants, pulling weeds and removing pests. In either case, good stewardship is the opposite of neglect.
The garden, just like our faith, and just like our community, needs renewal. A repeated practice of adding water to dryness, food to hunger, care to hurts, order to chaos. This month, I hope you will consider how you can find renewal for yourself. And I hope you can discern how your gifts can contribute to the renewal of Lakewood UMC so that our "vine" can thrive and continue to grow in the ways God is tending us toward ministry in our neighborhood!
Your gifts toward ministry, whether it is your prayers, your presence, your gifts, your service, or your witness is the primary way our congregation will thrive and grow like the strong vine God has made us to be. That certainly means money, but it also means all of the other ways your participation and membership at our church can steward our ministry! Your time and volunteering when we host events, your casseroles when we have pot lucks, your expertise when we need help with a facility issue or other concern, your vision and spiritual discernment on how our church should be moving forward. Each and every one of you are stewards called to help this church thrive in witness to God's love in the world. Thanks be to God.
