Your weekly trash output serves as a pretty good indicator of your stewardship efforts. First, it reveals how much you consume. After all, what is trash except the byproduct of consumption? And how we North Americans love to consume.

Second, it shows how much you recycle — or fail to recycle, as the case may be.

In our recent link about his book Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash, author Edward Humes points out that Americans consume 7 pounds of trash per person per day, every day — more than any other people on the planet.  Most of it is packaging material that goes to landfills, and most of landfill trash can and should be recycled.

The good news? We have a LOT of room for improvement when it comes to being good stewards, as my own story reveals.

In my house, Thursday is trash day. Not long ago I would routinely bring two bags to the curbside, plus a few recyclables in the bright blue bin. But then my wife and I got extreme about cutting our trash footprint. We found ways to reduce our waste stream to a trickle. Here’s how:

–We cut out all unnecessary purchases, which not only reduces trash but also keeps more of our cash in the bank!
–We became obsessive about taking those canvas reusable shopping bags to the grocery store, which cuts down on the plastic bags piling up.
–Wherever possible, we began buying food from bulk bins, which cuts down on packaging waste (especially if you reuse the bags from previous shopping trips).
–We stopped using paper towels and paper napkins for cleanup and meals. Our cleaning cloths and napkins can be reused again and again.
–We turned into hard-core recycling fanatics, sorting out absolutely everything that can be recycled — which is, surprisingly, most everything!
–Although a compost heap is in our not-too-distant future, for now we just make sure we consume all our food before it goes bad (and our dogs are happy to help out in this effort). So our biodegradable garbage consists of only unedibles, such as egg shells, coffee grounds and veggie peels.

A few weeks after the campaign began, we were delighted with the result. We now regularly throw out just half a bag of trash every week. It’s about a quarter of what we used to toss. And now we usually recycle a full bin of plastic, glass and metal, and a lots and lots of paper.

How much trash do you throw out every week? How much can you reduce that if you try?

Photo © Olga Lyubkin – Fotolia.com

May 27, 2012

And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. –Acts 2:6

Read this week’s lesson from Acts carefully. I know. Yes, you’ve read it many times before. You know the story. Just humor me. Take another pass at the story and let yourself be transported back to the first century. Imagine you are in Jerusalem in that place with Peter and the others. It’s a busy time, a festival, so faithful Jews from all across the empire have converged on Jerusalem. Perhaps you, too, have traveled there from afar and speak a different language. You are hungry to be a part of this new thing, to hear the latest news from the disciples of Jesus.

Suddenly the wind of the Holy Spirit fills the space. You hear the roar as it rushes through the place. What else do you hear? What do you see? What do you smell? What do you feel? Everything is crazy. People come running to see what is happening. A cacophony erupts –  excited voices speaking in many tongues. Then an amazed silence blankets the room. The disciples begin speaking, and it’s amazing because everyone hears it in his or her own language! You, too, hear the message plainly, and you are amazed. Their words make perfect sense. Is it a miracle or is it drunkenness? Is it a holy happening and the realization of prophecy?

Yes, it is holy, but it is also a remarkable expression of God’s wholly encompassing, holy love for all humankind. People heard the good news in many languages, but the common language was love.

Fast forward to 2012 and back to reality. What languages are spoken in your community of faith? What message are people hearing? How do you hear the good news? Most importantly, is the language of love infused in every song, every sermon, every handshake and hug? Is love woven into the fibers of ministry and the mission of all disciples? Is love the last word in all you say and do in the name of Jesus?

According to the Barna Group, 51% of regular churchgoers say their lives have been somewhat or greatly changed by attending church, but 46% say their lives have not changed as a result of attending church. It makes one wonder what language the 46% of folks in the pews are hearing. How can one hear about the wondrous love and grace of Jesus and not be transformed by it? What gets lost in translation?

I know I’m asking a lot of questions, but it is important for us to re-imagine Pentecost for this day and for our time. Sure, we recognize it as the birthday of the early church, but the Holy Spirit didn’t remain in Jerusalem. The message was not just for that group of folks. Indeed, the gospel is still spreading and is spoken and proclaimed in many languages. The Holy Spirit still blows in faster than a summer rain squall and drenches God’s people in possibility and hope. It’s the same Spirit—timeless yet totally today.

This Sunday consider how the language of faith is spoken in your context. Is the Spirit pouring over the people in a mighty rush of renewal and reformation? Is the church equipped to translate the message in an increasingly pluralistic world? Are you multilingual in a way that spans the generations, that taps into tweets, and blogs, and social networking? Can you communicate the story in images that are visually appealing and relevant?

Consider how the good news might be heard by the single parent without a job and carrying a heavy load of worry. Think about what the body-pierced teenager is or is not hearing as she sits uncomfortably in the pew under parental duress. What about the retired couple who has watched their church change radically over the years? What does the Pentecost message mean to them this year? Yes, dear faithful ones, our church requires a facility with language that goes far beyond Greek, Hebrew, or any modern second language. We must be fluent in the languages of faith and love as well.

Don’t let Pentecost just be another date on the liturgical calendar, a festival day where red clothing, paraments, and flowers are the big deal. The Spirit is present and accounted for, so let that mighty wind wash over you and all God’s people. Let the Spirit whisper in your ear in the language you most need to hear, and trust that same Spirit to give you the words you need to speak to those assembled. May you be awakened to the divine will for community in which you serve and live. My prayer for you is the gift of fresh, bold faithful words spoken in love and carried on the wind of that wonderful advocate and Spirit of God.

With Children

Wind Power: Gather several fans ranging in size from a small hand-held personal fan to a box fan to a high-power shop fan. Be sure to take good safety precautions. Talk to the children about the lesson from acts and the mighty wind of the Spirit coming down from heaven. Turn on the smallest fan. Ask the children if it makes a mighty wind. Turn on the next smallest fan and ask the same question. Finally turn on the shop fan and ask them if this is a mighty wind. Connect the idea of the mighty wind with the excitement of the gift of the Spirit and tell them the next time they are outside in the wind to rest assured that the Spirit is with them.

Photos by Denise Krebs, Martin Beek, and Brayden McLean used under Creative Commons License. Thanks!

(Illustration (c) 2009 BORN, via bigstock.com)

Be sure to check out all the great resources on www.churchlawandtax.com, where this article is posted.

Photo © June Reed – Fotolia.com

Check out some of the other wonderful resources on the website of The Episcopal Network for Stewardship.

May 20, 2012

“They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.” John 17:16-18

“Can I get a witness?”

“What?”

“Can I get a witness?”

“Huh?”

“I said…can I get a witness?”

“To what?”

“Oh for heaven’s sake! Can I get a witness to the authenticity and validity of these words?

“Sure. I mean, I guess. They’re in the Bible, right?”

“Of course they’re in the Bible. They’re part of this week’s gospel lesson.”

“Oh, yeah. That stuff that’s printed in the bulletin.”

“Well…?”

“Well, what? What do you want me to do about it?”

“Be a witness! Take your mission into the world and share the good news of Jesus.”

“You’re kidding, right?

And then you wake up. Whew! It was only a dream, one of those bad Saturday night dreams prior to preaching. You know, the kind of dreams where your worst fears about mission, ministry, and proclamation go leaping through your limbic system like a flock of confused and bleating sheep. Even though your sermon is carefully crafted and printed, you still wonder way down deep in the recesses of your pastoral little heart how in the world the lesson and sermon that follows will connect with the everyday lives of the congregation. How indeed can you get a witness?

You and I both know, of course, that it really isn’t about us. We who serve in worship leadership roles are merely the strings on which God’s message is played. The Spirit works through us and in spite of us. We do our homework, pray a lot, prepare to the best of our ability, pray some more, and tell ourselves that we trust the process. It is after all a holy work in which we are involved and a divine calling to serve and love God’s people. It is also messy work. It can even be discouraging work. We want so much to make a difference, to inspire, equip, and motivate the disciples in our faith communities to experience and share the amazing and radical love and grace of God.

So, dear friends, this week preach to the choir, preach to the congregation, and most of all preach to yourselves. Let Jesus’ prayer wash over you and flow deeply into your spirit. This prayer is for you. It is prayed for you by the master himself. He has given you the words, or as Eugene Peterson puts it in The Message, the “consecrating truth,” so that you will be “truth consecrated” in your mission to witness to the good news of Jesus Christ.

Yep, we swim against the current of culture as disciples and servant leaders. Sometimes it is hard to keep our heads above water long enough to breathe and simply “be.” We fall into the traps of doing and achieving and defining our success in numbers and dollars and building programs and other such concrete measurements. We forget too easily that we are not defined by this world, and in doing so we also forget the freedom we have in Christ, the joy, the completeness, and the wonder of it all.

No matter which way the lessons and the Spirit lead you this week, remember that Jesus’ prayer is for you, too. Be strengthened by the words. Repeat them often as you go about your daily work and ministry. Let the love of Christ and the presence of God nurture and sustain you. Remember,  those beloved people of God will see in you the reflection of what it means to be a disciple more than they’ll ever remember the clever way you weave your words and craft your homily.

Can I get a witness? Yep. You are that witness. I am that witness. We are the witnesses. Preach it brother. Say it sister. Most importantly, live it in love and in faith in each and every breath of your life.

Photos by Ashley Campbell, KatrinaL, Cross Lutheran Church, and Deb Nystrom used under Creative Commons License. Thanks.

*Not familiar with this term outside the 1963 hit song recorded by Marvin Gaye? Witnessing and testifying are two practices that emerged from the Black Church. Rosetta E. Ross writes “By identifying oneself as a witness, a believer asserts that she has personally experienced God’s provision or other intervention. Moreover, emerging from some traditions in early Christianity and developing along with the Black religious practice of testifying, the term witnessing has arisen as a complementary way of naming the believer’s ordinary moral practice–way of living–as religious practice” (pp. 14-15 in Witnessing & Testifying: Black Women, Religion, and Civil Rights, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003).