Through Stained Glass: A Mid-Week Reflection-Story Stewardship

“Stewardship of Our Story—The Past”

They have become my go-to sources for comic relief and for simple, but profound doses of truth.

         Of course I’m referring to the characters in the comic strip from the bulletin cover, Brain and Heart.

         Without boring you, here is a brief synopsis of Brain and Heart:  the comic strip follows the inner dialogue between the cynical, society-influenced Brain and the impulsive, optimistic Heart.

         Or, in short—it’s like a modern day interpretation of the story of Mary and Martha.

         The comic strip today is entitled Living in Time and it could not have come during a better season than this: the season of stewardship for our church.

         Guiding our conversation around stewardship, which means the responsible planning and management of resources, is the theme of time—past, present, and future. Specifically, this stewardship season we will explore the story of our church and the stewardship of where we’ve been, how we got here today, and where we want to go.

         Stewardship of our stories is the foundation of our faith, the sustenance of our shared lives together, and the hope we can promise to the pilgrims who will follow us to the place God has promised.

This is why I love this Heart and Brain comic so much. There is Brain, the practical realist, or traditionalist, standing at the threshold of what was, and sighing. Meanwhile, Heart, the hasty romantic gazes with wide eyes at the present, wanting to take root right here, right now. With one looking to the past and the other caught up in the moment, the future is left with a sign that reads “Under development.”

         How you interpret this cartoon is up to you. But the obvious conclusion, I think, is the simple message that the future depends on the decisions we make now. And the decisions that we make now are influenced by the places we have come from and the stories of those upon whose shoulders we stand.

         Stewardship of story, then, is looking at our stories, where we came from, the past, and recognizing that we are here because it took the faith of someone to try something new, different, physically at an unfamiliar location and step from the known to the unknown.

         Thus, the way forward must involve more than hoping for the best in times of uncertainty. It is faith that often times brings us to seasons of uncertainty through following God’s call.

         Stewardship of story, particularly the past, invites us to ponder the question: How do we know where God is leading and calling if we aren’t making ourselves available to God’s call?

Why rock the boat when the water is calm? If it ain’t broke, why mess with it? Because sometimes we need to get out of the familiar to see what God has waiting for us elsewhere. The stewardship of the stories of our past affirms this about the faith of those before us:  faith often is a voluntary giving away of dreams, positions, possessions, in response to God’s nudging.

Which is why Abram’s story is important to our faith story. Because Abram’s story was about something else besides the courting of God and Abram. It was written when the people of Israel had established their monarchy. Or when the promise seemed fulfilled. What this story initially was intended for was not to applaud where they had come from as if saying, “Wow, we’ve done it.” Rather it was about reminding the people that this arrival has occurred not solely on their accomplishments but as a life grounded in God’s benevolence.

         It all started with Abram’s willingness to follow God into the unknown. It began when Abram let go of what was, the way of life he knew and how to exist in the linear definition of which he was a part, and entered into a new relationship with a God who promised something greater than Abram.

Indeed, Heart and Brain can teach us a bit about the stewardship of our past stories. While where we have been gives shape to us, we cannot lament for what was and attempt to recreate, and I’ll even say, clasp onto, what was. Nor can we completely erase and skip over those chapters that got us to this place as a church. Rather the stories of the past teach us how those who went before us lived with God and not against God.

         We are because they were.

         At some point in the long legacy of First Presbyterian Church someone had a vision like Abram. They stood beneath great sky and heard God say, “Don’t be afraid. Look to the heavens. I have not forgotten my promise.”