Father, by Your Spirit help us to learn from Mary and Michael more of what it means to be stewards of all that You have entrusted to us, in Jesus' Name. Amen.
Today we're reflecting on the 'S' word. It's a word that can leave us feeling uncomfortable, and so it doesn't often get talked about. It's a word that has to do with something we tend to regard as a very private and personal matter. No, the word isn't sex! Rather, as you may already have gathered - possibly even from the prayer that I've just said - the 'S' word we're focussing on today is Stewardship.
But what on earth, you might possibly be wondering, does Stewardship Sunday have to do with the Priory's two Patrons, Mary and Michael? Certainly Mary and Michael don't have anything directly to say to us about our stewardship details, such as Parish Share or Priory seating, planned giving or opportunities for service. Yet if we reflect further on what we've just heard about them in the two Bible readings, then they can help us to see the bigger stewardship picture. In particular, they show us two important aspects of stewardship: that it involves surrender, and struggle.
First, stewardship involves our surrender to God. The Priory's Patron Mary is an example of such surrender par excellence. In today's Gospel, we're told how the angel Gabriel came to Mary with an amazing message: "You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus." (Luke 1: 31).
No wonder Luke tells us that Mary was "much perplexed by his words" (Luke 1: 29). She was being called to a surrender which would change her life forever. Her surrender to God would mean receiving a gift of new life, a life which would bring the fullness of God's blessing to the world, but which would also cost her so much. Yet Mary still chose to say yes: "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word" (Luke 1: 38). And her 'yes' - her surrender - opened the way to the wonder and mystery of what followed - the conception, gestation, and birth of Jesus, the Son of the Most High. Jesus, the fruit of Mary's womb, who was born into this world in order to save it.
Mary shows us that stewardship involves surrender to God. But what might that mean for each of us, and for all of us? Last Thursday, I went for one of my all too frequent visits to the dentist. As I lay back helplessly in the dentist's chair, while he probed around in my mouth to discover yet another filling that needed attention, I couldn't help but notice the monitor screen in front of me. There on one side in glorious - well, horrific - technicolour detail were pictures of my teeth. And on the other side were details of the time that my treatment would involve, as well as the mounting cost. Perhaps there are parallels with how you and I approach the subject of stewardship! A sense that stewardship might involve a painful scrutiny, and uncomfortable surrender, one that will cost time and money!
Even if it is ultimately for our wellbeing, that's hard, isn't it? Surrender - saying a wholehearted 'yes' - to God isn't about giving up an hour a week. It is about a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week surrender. And it's not just about the 10% or 5% or whatever amount we choose to give to support the mission of Christ's church. It is about the 90% or 95% or whatever amount we choose to keep in our pockets, and to spend on other things.
So how much, then, are you and I willing to surrender to God? How much are we prepared to surrender to God our hopes, ambitions, and dreams, our time, talents, and money, our bodies, minds, and spirits, in order to be available for His purposes, and so allow God to be really at the centre?
Stewardship involves our surrender to God. In his book Prayers of Life Michel Quoist expresses the honest hesitation many of us may have in responding with a wholehearted unconditional yes to God: "I am afraid of saying 'yes,' Lord. Where will you take me? I am afraid of signing my name to an unread agreement, I am afraid of the 'yes' that entails other 'yeses.' I am afraid of putting my hand in yours, for you hold on to it."
How important it is to acknowledge such anxiety, to be honest about the challenge to surrender. Yet the wonderful thing is this: the One who calls us, also gives us the grace to respond, and to bear the fruit of His Kingdom. So may you and I, like Mary, be those who hear these words: "Do not be afraid .. you have found favour with God." And also be those who are willing and able to say: "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word" (Luke 1: 38).
Stewardship involves surrender to God. Second, stewardship also involves struggle for God. Our other Priory Patron - the Archangel Michael - points us to a struggle that is cosmic in scope. For, as Paul puts it in Ephesians 6, "our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12). And, in today's passage from the Book of Revelation, we are told how "war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back" (Revelation 12:7). The struggle for the fulfilment of God's Kingdom clearly has a heavenly, as well as an earthly dimension, a spiritual as well as a physical manifestation. While the decisive victory has already been won "by the blood of the Lamb" (Revelation 12:11), Satan and his angels are still capable of exerting their evil influence on earth, influence that seeks to deceive, divide and destroy.
Stewardship involves a struggle for God. It lays bare the various ways in which you and I are faced with a struggle to live out the prayer "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done."
It's not always easy to make the right choice, is it? Day by day, we can find ourselves pulled in different directions, and pulled away from choosing to struggle for God.
That struggle happens in all sorts of ways. And it has to do with the choices that we make. Choices that have consequences, for good or ill. Just as Michael chose to obey God's will and the Devil to disobey it, so you and I will face the struggle to know and to choose what is right. And this will reveal who or what is at the heart of our life. In the second of JK Rowling's series of books about Harry Potter, Professor Dumbledore sought to remind Harry of the importance of the choices we make, when faced with the struggle against the evil Lord Voldemort: "It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."
Stewardship involves a struggle for God, as well as a surrender to God. And neither happens completely all at once. It takes time for us to grasp more of what stewardship is really all about. Ultimately, stewardship is about learning to let go and to let God, to acknowledge that - in the words of the offertory prayer - "all things come from You, and of Your own do we give You."
When we live wholeheartedly in the light of that truth, then nothing - not even death itself - can distract us. Some of you may have heard of the 20th century Christian missionary, Jim Elliot. He was killed in 1956 at the age of 28 while seeking to bring the good news of Jesus to a tribe in Ecuador. A few years before his martyrdom he wrote the following words in his journal: "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose."
Today we can thank God for all those who - like our Priory Patrons Mary and Michael - show us more of what stewardship truly involves. And as we do so, let us also remember this: in Jesus Christ, God Himself has already given the ultimate example of surrender and struggle, out of His self-giving love for us and for this world.
John Barr
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