Please pass the Advil

Yesterday morning I did something that I thought would be just a grand idea. Accepting a most generous invitation from a person whose name I shall not disclose to protect the guilty, I set the alarm early to join him in a most pleasant exercise experience. At first I thought 5:45am was not unreasonable. I could go and exercise and still have the rest of the morning to do all the things I needed to do. After all, is there a better to start the day than by embracing the morning sun? Well...I will not continue to embarrass myself with the sad details. Just let me say that at one point I was stretched out on a bleacher desperately trying not to be sick as concerned people walked by asking "Are you okay?" All kidding aside (even though every one of the above statements is accurate), the 5:45am program is a ministry of Calvary Baptist Church here in Winston. They call it Boot Camp. I didn't know if I was in the Army, but I knew I was no longer in Kansas, Toto. It is a wonderful idea that for me address not only a need to lose weight and stay in shape - but it speaks to the heart (or fat) of stewardship.

For far too long we have looked at the word "stewardship" as meaning 'paying our dues' or 'giving our pledge.' Church giving has been viewed almost as a membership fee or alumni dues. And to be fair, many times churches and clergy have framed stewardship in that way. But stewardship is not fundraising. It is not the fee we must pay to call ourselves Episcopalians. Stewardship is taking care of what God has given us. We are blessed with financial resources, yes, even though gas will soon be over $4 a gallon, we are still the richest, most prosperous place on the planet. How do we take care of our financial resources? How do they glorify God?

Our planet is, as Eucharistic Prayer C says, our 'island home.' How are we taking care of the planet God has given us? How is our stewardship? And the same is true with our bodies. Taking care (and I'm speaking to myself) of our bodies is a part of our universal approach to stewardship. Not wasting, investing, giving back - glorifying God.

I remember reading a book on Eastern Orthodox theology in which author stated that the first priest in the Bible was Adam. God gave Adam and Eve the whole world (at least the Garden of Eden) and his task was to "till it and keep it." He was to take what was given and offer it back to God. That is what priests do. In the Episcopal Church, the priest takes the offerings from the people, specifically the bread and wine, and offers a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving back to God. In the Old Testament, the priests offered the burnt sacrifices back to God. In the fact that we are all a priesthood of believers, our daily task is to take what God has given us (and God has given us everything) and offer it back to him.

That's stewardship.