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November |  2006

Spiritual Lessons from Jerry Maguire

I know it’s a tad dated by this point, but every time we roll around to the pledge campaign I find myself remembering the movie, “Jerry Maguire”.  Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr., Renee Zellweger. You know which movie I’m talking about. So if it’s pledge time (and it is) and I’m thinking about “Jerry Maguire” (and I am), then what line from that movie do you think has my attention?

            “You complete me.” Nope.

            “You had me at hello.” Un-unh.

            “Show me the money!” I know that’s what you’re thinking, but wrong again.

            The line that echoes in my head comes when Jerry Maguire is pleading with Ron Tidwell in the locker room. “Help me help you,” he pleads. “Help me… help you.”

            This is the essence of stewardship. I know, folks always complain how the Church is always asking for money, or the Church is only interested in their money, or the only time the Church contacts them is when they’re asking for a check. And I can appreciate the frustration inherent in every one of those statements. Funny thing is, whenever the Church asks you for money, it’s not for the Church’s sake, but for yours.

            Yes, of course the Church needs money to operate. Absolutely. And more money means greater ministry and mission. You bet. But if that’s all we were about, believe me, we’d go about it differently. The Church is not about fundraising, it’s about stewardship. Not that there’s anything wrong with fundraising. There’s not. Fundraising is necessary. It does much good in our society, both by the needs it serves and by allowing people to give of their means for the good of another. But that’s not the Church. At least, it shouldn’t be.

            If fundraising were our only goal, even our main goal, we would probably raise more money than we do with stewardship. Maybe not, but probably. Shoot, if we played the guilt card we could increase our annual giving… in the short term (and then you’d all get mad and leave, or you’d get mad and make me leave). But guilt is not part of stewardship, either.

            When I preach or teach or write about stewardship, I’m not saying, “Show me the money!”, even when it sounds like it. In reality, what I’m saying is “help me help you.” Help me to help you grow in your relationship to Christ. Help me to help you live into God’s Kingdom. Help me to help you give yourself more fully to the One who is your Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer.

            Help me help you give not just your money, but your time and talent, as well.

            Help me help you serve God instead of self.

Help me help you give not only of things but of life.

Help me help you trust in God rather than the world.

Help me help you give your family – your children, grandchildren and spouse.

Help me help you rely on God’s power more than your own.

Help me help you give your desires and hopes and dreams.

Help me help you know Grace over guilt, joy over apathy.

Help me help you give your ability and willingness and effort.

Help me help you live in stewardship instead of fundraising.        

Help me help you give over to God your trust, your faith, your very self.

Help me help you live the abundant life.

Help me help you.

~Father Jay

You can’t catch fish if you never cast.

One of my favorite stories in the Bible is when Jesus calls his first disciples.  Jesus walks up to a group of fishermen and says, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” As Christians, we are all called to be fishers of men, to ‘catch’ people and bring them to Christ.

I am not very good at fishing. And because I am not very good at fishing, I think fishing has more to do with luck than skill. When my sister, Caroline was little, she loved to go fishing with my relatives in Mississippi. Now, my uncles are serious fisherman. They have all the latest gear and fancy lures. They have different strategies and lots of ‘skill.’ My sister, on the other hand, had a three foot long rod with a picture of ‘Snoopy’ on it, and for bait she used whatever worms she could find or maybe some corn.

Clearly my uncles were better fishermen, yet every time they went fishing, my sister always caught the biggest fish. She lacked the skill, the gear, and the experience to be a good fisherwoman, yet it seemed every time she cast into the water, she caught something.

We are called to be fishers of men, but that does not mean that we have to have some great skill or be a good enough Christian or even know what we are doing. Like my sister, all we really have to do is cast and wait for something to bite.

            Being fishers of men is all about invitation. Invite someone to church. Invite someone to a GC small group. Invite someone to a church picnic, or a habitat workday, etc. Invite someone to spend time with you so that they can see how Christ has impacted your life. Anyone can do this. And we do not need to worry whether we catch anything, for that is the Holy Spirit’s job. All we have to do is cast out an invitation, and leave the rest to God.

~Father Michael

Death of a Lawnmower

            It’s official.  I have killed an innocent lawnmower.  Twice.  Once it was because of running over a tree stump.  Okay—that was my fault entirely.  But the second time, I think, was just because the lawnmower was fed up.  It had had enough.  After all: isn’t the grass growth cycle supposed to slow down at some point?  Isn’t the weather supposed to change come October?  Isn’t it supposed to get….oh, I don’t know…COOLER?  Who knows?  By the time you are reading this, it may be a perfectly cool, crisp fall day. I hope it is. But as of this writing, it is hot; it is humid; I am tired of mowing grass, and I have the calluses to prove it.

            And I am tired of waiting for fall to get here.

            I was walking along today, behind the fed-up, about-to-die lawnmower, deep in thought…about fall…about seasons…about waiting.  Not just waiting for cooler weather; but waiting in general.

I recently read somewhere that believing in God is the easy part.  Waiting on God is the hard part.  I can’t remember who said it, but it seems to me to ring very true.  So many of us, as Christians, have gotten over that first hump:  we believe in God.  And we can believe He is a God with a plan.  But as we struggle to have faith in that plan playing itself out in our own individual lives, there are times when it seems like nothing is happening.  Maybe we’ve felt like we were moving along at a steady clip, and now suddenly we’re running into some invisible wall.  And it’s frustrating.  And it is a test of faith.

After all, when God has a plan, He makes a way.  Right?  He clears the path.  Doesn’t He?  Why would He deliberately let us see a goal in the distance, let us move toward it, and get so close….and then let us hit the wall again?  Like giving us a handful of beautiful cool fall days and then taking them away, allowing the sweltering summer to sink back in.

The Bible says that if we wait for what we do not have, we wait for it with patience.  Patience is a rare commodity in a drive-through nation.  I am a fan of 30-Minute Meals; of already-cooked lasagna noodles; of swipe-and-run gas pumps.  I wish the desires of my heart came in a convenient microwaveable bag.

But they don’t.  So this is going to be the hard part, and there’s no way around it: like it or not, we sometimes have to wait on God.  We can keep banging our heads against the wall; we can spin our wheels until they smoke, we can grumble and complain…or we can make the choice to hold on tightly to the faith that there is perfection in His timing, and we will probably only understand it in hindsight.

Meanwhile, there are things to be learned in the waiting time.  There are gifts here if we will only stop and realize that things will move forward when it is time, and not a moment sooner.  And someday, we might actually even realize that what we perceived as waiting was actually a time for us to stop and take a breath while God was working out the details. We can decide, finally, to let go, and trust in the God who will have His way at the perfect time; who built a towering oak tree into a tiny acorn—knowing it would take a hundred years to reach its height; who can see amazing potential in us, in all that we can accomplish, in all that we will become…if we will only wait a little while.

As I was putting away the lawnmower this evening, knowing that the grass I just cut is already getting taller again, I had to smile. Because I realized that fall is eventually going to come.  That God does hear my prayers.  And the desires of my heart?  He probably planted some of them there in the first place.  It is time I recognized that the waiting can be as much a blessing as the getting there.  I have every assurance, every faith, that unimaginably good things lie ahead. In this life; in the next.  But that doesn’t mean I am going to miss the blessings that lie in the here and now.

And when the good stuff comes, you know, you always know—and one day, you will hear yourself saying it:  It was worth the wait.

~Tracy Aubin, Editor

What does a KAIROS team do?

            At Kairos meetings, we pray, bond, get training, instructions, and assignments for our Kairos weekend duties. Meetings are held on Saturday and last from 8:30 until about 2:00 in the afternoon. We carpool, leave early, take breakfast snacks and have a wonderful trip to the meeting.

             If the prison is a men’s unit, only men go inside the prison.  The men all have specific duties:  some are table leaders, some are put in charge of the stewards (guys who man the food table who have attended a Kairos), some are runners between the prison and the cooks, some give speeches, some play guitars and sing.  Meanwhile, the women on the team cook the meals for 125 or so people three times a day for the entire weekend. We are housed far away from the prison.  The women do not see prisoners.  They prepare and send the meals to the prison, prepare for the team’s meals, clean up and have their own chaplain and activities (like swimming in the stock tank), visiting, packaging cookies and preparing agape or resting. We bond, make wonderful friends and have a great time—yes, and work hard too. 

            Team meetings are held every night so the men can tell us how the day went.  Usually by Saturday, our men come back on cloud nine because of the hearts won for Jesus that day. On Sunday we all go to the closing.  Prisoners do not mingle with the outside.

            Kairos for the women’s unit at Lockhart is just the opposite from the above. The men cook and the women go inside—duties are the same.

            The Kairos movement is turning the prisons around.  The chaplains are ecstatic; the correctional officers are amazed, and the wardens are pleasantly pleased to see how showing God’s love to the prisoners is making Christians willing to go the extra mile to stay out of trouble and walk the path of God.           More people willing to serve means more prisons can hold KAIROS.  This movement is world wide, and KAIROS is being held in prisons all over Texas.  If you’re interested, come to a meeting or a closing and see what it’s all about. If you have questions, contact Warren Wundt or Mickie Teagarden.

(This is the 3rd and final installment in Mickie Teagarden’s Kairos series.)

Make a Note:

▪On November 12th, the Outreach Committee will be holding a Pack the Pick-Up day!  Grocery bags with suggestion lists will be handed out the two Sundays prior, and everyone is encouraged to take two or more grocery bags to fill if they can.  The holidays are just around the corner, and this is such an important time to help the less fortunate right here in our community!

▪Nothing spruces up your home during the holidays like fresh greenery!  Good thing the annual Youth Greenery Sale is underway!  Be sure to look for members of our Youth Group each Sunday after church.  Proceeds benefit Christmas Ski Camp.

▪This year’s Stewardship kickoff event—Pirates of St. Andrew’s at the Seguin Outdoor Learning Center—was a rousing success.  If you see Kyle Yoemans or Ryan Kuhn around, give them a big pat on the back for making it happen.

▪A big thank-you to all of you who helped at our St. Andrew’s Work Day last month!  The church looks great!

▪St. Andrew's is hard at work on the latest Habitat for Humanity house, in the 700 block of Elley Street, off Heideke Street, second block north of Kingsbury.  Upcoming workdays include November 11th and December 9th.  Remember, no building experience is required—we need your help!   Questions?  Ask one of the Board of Directors:  Scott Hahn, Warren Wundt, Darrell Huck, Anna Schodowski or Mickie Teagarden, or call the church office. 

Happy Thanksgiving St. Andrew’s!