May 19, 2023
Stewardship: Of Church
There is a most interesting story in Luke’s gospel (7:1-10). Here we find Jesus in the town of Capernaum. There, a Roman centurion had a highly regarded slave who was near death. When the centurion heard Jesus was in town, he sent some of the leaders of the synagogue to ask Jesus to come and heal the slave. When they spoke to Jesus, they lobbied Jesus saying that this centurion loved their faith community so much that he built them their synagogue. If you don’t know how the story ends, I encourage you to read this most surprising text.
Both the centurion and the Jewish elders were preforming liturgies for one another. As you may recall from one of my earlier writings, a “liturgy” is a public service, a work done by a person or people for another person or people. The leaders of the synagogue were acting out of genuine appreciation for this centurion. Most likely this Roman army officer was a “God fearer.” That is, a gentile who had not converted to Judaism but was strongly attracted to the Jewish faith. It is possible converting would have jeopardized his fairly successful career, considering he has enough resources to build a synagogue for the Jews in Capernaum.
At the same time, this Roman official cared enough for this community and its faith to make an extravagant contribution which had little direct benefit to him. When one considers the difference in power and prestige between Jews in the Roman empire and a Roman centurion, together with the appreciation for the centurion felt by this community, there is good reason to believe this act of charity was a genuine grace, with little or any reciprocal benefit.
These mutual offerings of support invite us to consider who and what we value. Our foremothers and forefathers have bequeathed to us a beautiful facility that we call our home church. At the same time they also were shrewd stewards in investing in other properties in our neighborhood. The result of their stewardship is the building at 420 East Pike Street which has become a tremendous resource for our congregation and its ongoing financial health. Care for both of our properties is vital to the life of our church.
On the other hand, our greatest resource is our people. Afterall, we could be a church without a building. Though we joke about being a “Swedish church,” it is more accurate to say our church has deep Swedish roots—maybe even a trunk—but has branches that reflect the many and diverse people who call this place home. In recent months we have had a number of new people enter our doors and stay, some for a short time while others are still with us. Each and every person presents us with the opportunity to serve in some way.
Our “church” is both a building and a community. Church and synagogue have root words which are synonyms, both meaning “gathering.” We are a church when we gather together. Church is also the place where we gather. It is our home and we are the family of faith who gather there, worshipping and serving in God’s name.
We have been gifted with two tremendous graces at First Covenant Church: our loving and caring church family and our two buildings. And both graces require very intentional stewardship. The stewardship of our buildings seems obvious, especially when we are in the first stages of a major renovation/repair of our dome. But there are people who steward our facilities daily, like Allan and Cinda, like Andrew and our Equip team, like those who served and serve on our Facilities team, Todd, Jim, and Arlie, to name a few.
While we have no Deacon board at our church, we are working on ways of being more intentional in caring for our congregation. Hiring a new pastor is part of that solution. But so is introducing yourself to people you do not yet know or know well, praying for one another, and joining your voices in praise and thanksgiving under our dome with all who gather there.
Who knows what surprising ways we might serve others in our community if we keep our eyes open to seeing how we might steward our church, its people and its building?
With tremendous thanks for God’s many graces,
~ Pastor Todd