Posted: Feb 13
Trans-figure Stewardship
By Discipleship & Generosity
This coming Sunday we will celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration, which will bring to a close the Season of Epiphany, a season in which the person and mission of Jesus is more fully revealed. We mark the end of this season on a mountain top—where Jesus is transfigured into the dazzling bright fullness of God’s glory.
The feast of Transfiguration prepares us for Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem, a narrow path set before him, in which obedience to death is what will usher in God’ rule. It will always remain a mystery why Jesus had to die. Death and suffering will not have the last word—but they will have their say.
Mark the Evangelist is very fond of describing the journey Jesus takes with his disciples as “the way.” The journey is not so much about moving through the physical landscape of Galilee and Jerusalem, it is about moving towards God’s way. In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus is moving toward the goal that God has set before him: death in the service of proclaiming God’s rule. For the disciples, this journey is a movement towards an understanding and acceptance of what Jesus’ way is. Sometimes it is easy to forget the humanity of Jesus—the fear, anger, trepidation as he moved toward Jerusalem. On the mountain top we get a glimpse, an epiphany of what strengthened and sustained him on his journey: the blessing of God given in baptism, a community of prophets, and deep hope in God. Is this what sustains us as we follow the way?
This past week, I received several requests for a “job description” for a Stewardship Chair. I was heartened to receive this request as it points to planning earlier in the year as opposed to later in the year. While I prefer to call it a ministry description--as opposed to a job description—the value in sharing this document is to affirm and clarify that the purpose of stewardship ministry team is to help people follow the way of Jesus, through the gifts that have been entrusted.
The primary gift that has been entrusted is the gift of baptism. Through each of our baptisms we are marked as God’s beloved and summoned to life long relationship in God’s household. (The Greek word for stewardship is oikonomia, which means steward or servant of the household). Each of us has been buried in death with Christ and raised up in new life. We share in Christ’s death and resurrection.
Thomas Clark Ely, Bishop in the Diocese of Vermont, writes in Born of Water Born of Spirit: I have come to understand the water poured upon my head and the sign of the cross traced on my forehead in baptism as an incredible gift. Each morning when I look in the mirror I look for the cross as a reminder of who I am and whose I am. Buried with Christ in death, I live with Christ in resurrection. Not only does that change me, it changes how I live.*
Baptism is a gift, a reminder and invitation that changes who we are as well as how we live in the world. It is about living consciously and sacramentally as a member of Christ’s crucified and risen body.*
The invitation and challenge then for the Stewardship ministry team is to ask how are we stewarding baptismal living? How are we invited to live more deeply into our baptismal calling? The annual pledge campaign will no longer ask for a 10% or 20% increase in their pledge to meet the budget. Instead the annual pledge campaign will ask how is giving a path to live out one’s baptismal identity?
This will call for frank and honest discussions about the role and power of money in our lives. How do we support one another in moving from scarcity and fair-share thinking to giving from a sense of gratitude for the gift given in baptism. How do we engage in conversation about money that begins with “mine,” but can be transfigured to “thine.”
The blessing given in Jesus' baptism, “This is my Son, My Beloved, In you I am well pleased,” is what sustained him throughout his ministry, whether it was praise, blame and even death.
We share in this blessing; it is what will sustain and transfigure how we approach stewardship and following God’s way.
*From Born of Water, Born of Spirit: Supporting the Ministry of the Baptized in Small Congregations by Sheryl a Kujawa and Fredrica Harris Thompsett
The Rev. Laurel Johnston is Officer for Stewardship at the Episcopal Church Center, and is a member of TENS' Board of Directors.
