Luke 5:15-16 and
Luke 10:38-4
This week we continue our sermon
series on stewardship. We began with a
discussion on stewardship of our bodies and learning to love the bodies that
God has given to us as a blessing for life.
Last week we talked about stewardship of the mind and the joy of
theological play as well as the responsibility of good mental health during
this maddening election cycle. Today we
are talking about our time and talents, other good gifts that God has given us for
the up-building of the community of faith.
Let’s begin today with a show of
hands: who here feels like they are really busy? Just about all of us, right? The question I have for us today is
“why?” “Why are we so busy?” Some of us work full time jobs which can certainly
fill up the schedule, and some of us have small kids at home which need our
constant attention. But some of us are
retired and we are also very busy. Once
we had an idea that as we got older we would get the chance to rest, but I
don’t see that happening very much. In
fact, to me, it seems like most of us are spread pretty thin in life. So, again I ask, “Why are we so busy?”
Some of us, myself included, are very
busy because we have a hard time saying “no”.
We are driven by a sense of responsibility to get things done and it is
a lot easier to say “yes” than to deal with the guilt of saying “no”. In our culture, being busy is a status
symbol. If I am busy then that means I
am in high demand, I am an important person; it is a way of feeling good about
ourselves.
The catch here is that it doesn’t feel
good to be busy. On those weeks when we
are spread thin and we can never seem to catch up, we get stressed. It doesn’t feel good to be constantly completing
tasks and yet also feeling like we are drowning under an endless list of
“to-dos”. It doesn’t feel good to be
busy, and yet we keep ourselves in that place.
We let ourselves take on too much.
We allow ourselves to become overloaded.
We don’t say “no” because we feel bad when we say “no”, but then we end
up feeling bad for saying “yes”. It’s a
no-win situation.
This is where stewardship of time
comes in. The perfect example of a
really important person taking a break is our friend Jesus Christ. Our first reading from Luke tells us that
Jesus was busy. Word about him had
spread throughout the area and crowds of sick and needy people were gathering
to hear him teach and to be healed.
Jesus was very busy, very important, and in high demand. And what did he do? Jesus took a break. “He would withdraw to deserted places and
pray.” Were there people in need of
immediate help? Yes, of course there
were. And still, Jesus walked away.
One of my favorite sayings that circulates
on Facebook is that “You can’t pour from an empty cup.” Good stewardship of our time means taking the
time to take care of ourselves. We need
to do whatever it is that refills us. I
am an introvert, so I need to make sure I have some quiet time alone. That means I can’t be doing something every
night. I need to have a few nights each
week when kids are in bed and I can be by myself and just do nothing.
Beyond just taking a break, good
stewardship of time means that it is my responsibility to do the things that
nourish my own soul. I need to read
books, I need to play the harp, I need to take walks, and I need to chat with
my mom on the phone. I need to sit
silently and pray. I need to do all
these things to keep my cup filled, so that when the needs of others are
presented, I am able to pour from my cup into theirs. You can’t pour from an empty cup, so take
time to fill yourself up. Jesus sets a
wonderful example for us. If the world
doesn’t stop spinning when Jesus takes a break, it certainly won’t stop
spinning when we do.
The other half of this sermon is good
stewardship of talents, and for that I want to look at the second reading from
Luke; the story of Mary and Martha. We
are all familiar with this story, women especially, and over the years most of
us have grown to either love or hate it.
Folks have often said that this story shows that contemplation is better
than service. I’m not going to say that
and I don’t think the text supports it either.
Martha is doing good work, and she has a right to be frustrated as she
feels she has been abandoned to service that is supposed to be shared. I get that, we all get that, and at times we
can all relate to Martha in this story.
“Just hurry up and help me” is something that we often say to each other
here in the church family.
The thing is, the moment we say that
is the moment we get off base. Mary and
Martha were siblings, and as with any family, there is a certain amount of
familiarity and frankness of discussion.
We have a tendency to be less patient with those we are familiar
with. So too, we are a family here in
the church. When visitors come we are
open, welcoming, extremely friendly, and very patient. But when it comes to committee meetings and the
busy work of the congregation, we act more like Mary and Martha. We get short with each other, we are less
polite, and we have a tendency to step on each other’s toes. “Just hurry up and help me” is not good
stewardship of our talents or of the talents of others in the congregation.
Jesus chastises Martha which is a
painful part of the story. We don’t want
to be chastised for doing the right thing.
We don’t want to be chastised for completing the mission and ministries
of the church. And yet we are often like
Martha, “worried and distracted by many things” and we are often found stepping
on the toes of the Mary’s around us.
Jesus says that only one thing is
important, and that thing, I believe is discipleship to Jesus Christ. Mary has placed herself in the position of a
disciple, sitting at the feet of Jesus to learn. Martha is trying to take Mary away from that,
trying to put the busy tasks of the day in-between Mary and Jesus, and that is
why she is chastised. Martha is trying
to draw Mary away from Jesus and that is what gets her in trouble. So too, our zeal to get things done in a hurry,
from preparing a luncheon or to completing committee tasks, can draw other
people away from Jesus. We have so many
burdens laid on us, often by the church itself, that we lash out at our friends
in the church family. We get so focused
on getting it done we forget why we are doing it in the first place.
Good stewardship of talents means
making space for each other here in the family that is the church. There is room for everyone, a place for everybody,
in the service and leadership of this congregation. And we encourage everybody to get
involved. But we need to recognize that
not everyone is going to do things the way we want them done in the time frame
we want them done in. The different
calls we experience to different forms of service are all equally good gifts
from a loving God. We need to practice
good stewardship of our own talents and of the talents of others by making
space for each other here in the church.
The last thing we want to do is get between someone and their following
of Jesus because we want to hurry up and take down the tables after lunch or
hurry up and fill all the slots on our to-do roster.
Good stewardship of time and talents
is twofold. First, take care of
yourself. Do whatever it is you need to
do to re-charge your batteries and practice saying “no” to the things you can
say “no” to. Second, take care of each
other. When it comes to sharing our time
and talents as a church family, we need to make space for each other’s unique
gifts. Recognize that getting it done in
a hurry is not as important as getting it done right. The most important thing is being good
disciples of Jesus Christ. We need to be
patient with each other and to make time for each other. If we take care of ourselves first, then we
are better able to be generous when we share our time with others.
God has given us many rich blessings
in life. From bodies that carry us
through each day, to minds that help us analyze and understand the world, to
the time we have for sharing with each other.
As good stewards of God’s good creation we are called to treat all of these
things with respect and love. It is my
prayer that God would fill up each of our cups this week, and that we would
then be able to be generous with each other here in the community of
faith. Amen.
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