Sermons

"What I Learned at the Grand Canyon about Stewardship"

As some of you know, last May my father, my brother Charles, and I had the wonderful opportunity to hike across the Grand Canyon. The hike entailed rendezvousing with our guide and seven other participants at the South Rim of the Canyon, driving for four hours to the North Rim, and then getting up at 5:00 AM to begin the mile descent into the canyon. We spent four days hiking and learning from our geologist guide and then climbed up the other side. At times, the temperature reached at least 120 degrees. We had to carry our own food, water, sleeping bags, and anything else that we wanted to have with us.

I loaded my backpack before leaving Portsmouth. It weighed about thirty-seven pounds. I had yet to add the sleeping bag that my brother was going to lend. Nor did it include the food that I planned to purchase at the Canyon store.

We arrived at the briefing room, met Wayne, our guide, and began to talk about the hike. After some initial instructions, Wayne asked the ten of us to take everything out of our packs and lay it on the table. I became a little nervous about this, because I knew that he was not going to be happy with the contents of my pack. Nonetheless, out came everything for all to see: two sets of cloths for each day, a book, a raincoat, and other miscellaneous items.

Next, Wayne went through his backpack with us. He had one change of clothes, telling us that we could rinse out the day’s clothes in the river and let them dry over night. Deodorant? No need for it because we were all going to stink by the time we were finished anyway. Tent – who needs a tent when the weather forecast is for dry weather, even though there are rattlesnakes, scorpions, and a myriad of other creepy-crawlies all over the place? When Wayne was finished, I knew that I had my work cut out for me. However, Wayne’s words kept running through my head: “Your enjoyment of this hike will be directly proportional to the weight of your pack.” By the time I had finished, the weight of my pack was down to a much more reasonable twenty-five pounds. The tent, the multiple changes of clothes, the book – all gone. I was down to the bare minimum!

My father, brother, and I passed the test. However, accompanying us on the hike was a family of four. The father was a sixty-three year old doctor, the mother a sixty-year-old judge. They failed the test. This became apparent when we prepared our first meal at the camp sight. While we boiled water to heat our freeze-dried pasta, this family pulled out fresh oranges, fresh vegetables, and all sorts of other delectable items, all carried down the canyon by the four of them. They had so much food that when we ran low near the end of the hike, this family shared with us from their abundance.

After the first day, the mother, Mary, had bleeding, swollen feet, and a very sore knee. She could barely walk. It turns out that she was wearing brand new hiking boots and that she had done no training whatsoever. On the third day, while hiking what was called the Devil’s Corkscrew, we all waited long periods for her to catch up. Wayne carried her backpack. When we set up camp that night, Mary was hallucinating and vomiting. Wayne took her to the Ranger Station and she was given fluids intravenously. The next morning, while we were hiking the vertical mile up the canyon face, Mary was flown out in a helicopter at a cost of about $3,500.

“Your enjoyment of this hike will be directly proportional to the weight of your pack.” I have thought of that statement many times since May. It seems particularly relevant to the spiritual journey, particularly that part of the journey that we are here to consider this morning – stewardship.

My working definition of stewardship is this: “to use the gifts that God gives us to do the work that God calls us to do.” God calls us, as disciples of Jesus Christ, to share God’s love with the people of our world. The good news is that God provides the means by which we can live according to that call. Our task is to use those means to accomplish God’s work in our lives and in our world. We have to find that place in our lives where God’s call and our means intersect! My goal in doing stewardship training and education is to help people to find that meeting point, that synergy between God’s call and our means.

My experience in the Grand Canyon reminded me of three fundamentals of Christian living that help me better to understand stewardship: we have to carry a light load, we have to prepare, and we have to share.

First, we have to carry a light load. As was the case on the hike, our ability to enjoy the Christian journey is directly proportional to our ability to hold loosely the things of this world. We live in a world that is obsessed with things that often control us. Where I live, sailing is a huge industry. I have heard many sailors say that the happiest days of a sailor’s life are the day he buys a boat and the day he sells it. Often, the stress of ownership overshadows the joy of ownership.

One of our tasks as Christians is to recognize the hold that money and possessions have on us. Do they serve us or do we serve them? Is our goal to have bigger houses or to help more people? Is our goal to be wealthier or to be more effective disciples of Jesus? Is our goal to use what God gives us to be the people that God wants us to be? We will never find that place of intersection between call and means if we hold on too tightly to the means. We have to carry a light load as we travel the spiritual journey.

Second, we have to prepare. Hiking in brand new boots and not training before a long hike lead only to pain, disappointment, and failure. Our ability to enjoy the Christian journey is directly proportional to our commitment to prepare and train. Like any other aspect of our lives, it takes training and preparation to be successful as Christian stewards.

How do we prepare and train for Christian service? Worship, prayer, and study are good places to start, as is service to others. If you really want to train to live out your faith in our world, open your checkbook. Look at the way that you spend your money. See where your money says that your priorities really lie. If necessary, retrain yourself so that your values, your faith, and your commitment to Christian living determine how you spend your money. Train yourself to allow God’s call to determine how you use your means.

Third, we have to share. On our hike, not everyone needed to carry a portable stove. My brother and I shared a ground sheet. We learned that it is easier to combine efforts as a group than for all of us to go it alone. Our ability to enjoy the Christian journey is directly proportional to our commitment to share from our abundance. Together, we can combine resources and help each other to succeed. Sharing takes a confidence that God will provide. We cannot give to others if we are afraid that we do not or will not have enough. We have to trust that as we give to others, so God will provide for us. In God’s economy, there is always an abundance, always more than enough. The Rt. Rev. Geralyn Wolf, Bishop of Rhode Island said during one of her Diocesan Convention address, "After living below my means so that others can live above theirs, I would not have it any other way."

We can practice these three stewardship principles here at church. The church teaches that the standard of giving for Christians is ten percent. That means that we dedicate ten percent of what we have to doing God’s work in our lives and in our world. God works in and through us in the context of the mission and ministry of the local congregation. Consider your church to be a training ground for your spiritual journey. Here, you can learn better how to loosen your grip on the things that own you, how to prepare and train for the journey, and how to share with others.

If you want to take an important step in your stewardship journey, consider the pledge card that you will receive in the next couple of weeks. Nothing will help you to loosen your grip on what you have like giving it away. When we give money away, money begins to have less power over us. Pledging is a way to train to be a more effective steward, to consider the intersection between our means and God’s call. Pledging is a way of sharing with others, of allowing others to experience the abundance of God that you and I already share. One tangible thing that you can do is to pledge generously to your church, to support the work that God calls each of you to do through the ministries of Holy Cross and Baskerville Ministries. Start by doing. Sometimes, your heart has to catch up with your body. Take the next step in your journey by giving generously to the mission and ministry of your church. Amen.