Rectors Reflections... Sharing God's Blessings

The National Council of Churches defines Christian stewardship as: "[our] grateful . . . response to God's redeeming love, expressed by the use of all resources for the fulfillment of Christ's mission in the world." Those "resources" we are blessed with, share and use to help fulfill Christ's mission are many and varied. Those resources are any gift that God entrusts to us, typically categorized in stewardship terms as time, treasure and talent.

Everything we are and have is a gift from God-whether it's a job, retirement income or a substantial investment portfolio; a church building, tangible property and the "stuff' we have including tools and technology; the time we have for work and play and our talents and skills, including our "voice" to speak and advocate for all of God's creation. As followers of Jesus, we are called to be Christian stewards who receive God's gifts gratefully, cherishing and caring for them responsibly, sharing them in justice and love.

To live as a Christian steward, we need to reflect on how God is at work in our lives, giving thanks for that presence and blessing. When we see God in our lives, we are moved to make a commitment to share what we have been given (time, talent, treasure) in the hope and promise that God will continue to show up in our lives.  When we do these things we're encouraged to "own" what we do in church, at church, as church - owning it and feeling responsible for making it happen.  This doesn't come by making a "pledge" but by making an investment that then leads us to a point of wanting to know, to participate, and to commit.

Participating and committing to share is a public witness to what we really value. Billy Graham is famous noting "A checkbook is a theological document; it will tell you who and what you worship." This is counter-cultural here in New Hampshire where we rank dead last for charitable giving. And here in the rocky granite state, churches are "off the radar" for most folks, so how you share your time, talent and treasure through All Saints' Church is a witness to your family, friends and neighbors.

The world asks: "What does a person own?" God asks, "How does a person use what he or she has been given?"

Sharing God's Blessings Together,

+Bill

Uncovering the Baptismal Font at All Saints'

At the annual retreat of the Episcopal clergy in New Hampshire in October, Bishop Rob encouraged us to reclaim our baptismal vocation and live our lives washed each day in those powerful waters of grace. Powerful waters the church has been re-examining through our theology of baptism and rediscovering much of the early church's practice. Our Book of Common Prayer (1979) states, "Holy Baptism is a full initiation by water and the Holy Spirit into Christ's Body the Church. The bond which God establishes in Baptism is indissoluble..." [BCP, p. 298]. Through our baptism we are fully initiated into Christ's Body the Church.

This reclamation is to remind us of those powerful waters as we encourage everyone to splash in them as a tangible symbol of our baptism. Bishop Rob sent us from that retreat to dust off, take the lids off, and fill the fonts in our congregations with those life-giving waters. He encouraged us to have these waters hold a larger presence in the worship spaces of the Episcopal Church of New Hampshire so we can be reminded of the gift of those waters on all those Sundays when we don't have a baptism in worship.

Over the past 50 years, the church has developed a fuller understanding of baptism has led to changes in the placement and size of the baptismal font in many churches. Water is the outward and visible sign of Baptism, and it should be encountered in a prominent place within the church. As Richard Vosko writes in God's House is our House, "the baptismal font....is a crossing where the Christian embraces and is embraced by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The living water is a reminder of the death we died and the life we live, a constant presence to the Church."

Most importantly, our baptismal font reminds us, each time we encounter it, of the promises made on our behalf when each of us was baptized, confirmed when we are young adults, and reaffirmed each time we welcome a new member into the church through baptism. Promises to: renounce evil and commit ourselves to Christ; believe in the triune God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; to continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayer; to resist evil and, when we fall into sin, to repent; to proclaim by word and example the Good News of our risen Lord; to seek and serve all persons, loving our neighbor as ourselves; and to strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human being.

Just as our font is now front and center in our sanctuary, these promises are front and center in our lives. You are invited to splash in these waters, make the sign of the cross in the water, or trace the cross on your foreheads with this "outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace, given by Christ as sure and certain means by which we receive that grace." [BCP, p. 857]