Chapel of
Saint John the Divine

Stewardship Talk by John Edwards, November 9, 2008

Good morning. For those of you who don't know me, my name is John Edwards. Together with my wife Gigi and my daughters Olivia and Martha, I started coming to St. John's regularly when we moved to this neighborhood full-time in 2004. My parents and grandparents had been summer residents here dating back to the 1920s.

I've been a librarian for most of my adult life. In New York I worked at the Teachers College Library, and two different independent school libraries. I was a librarian at Johnson & Wales in Providence, and now I am the librarian at the Willett Free Library, right here in the neighborhood.

Gigi taught English to middle and high school students at independent schools from the time we were married until we moved here full-time. She is now an editor in the URI Publications Office.

I am not a cradle Episcopalian, having been baptized at Central Congregational Church in Providence. Gigi was brought up Roman Catholic, and in 1986, when we decided to get married, we chose the welcoming Episcopal via media.

Gigi was a vestry member at the church we were married in -- Christ & St. Stephen's Church, on the west side of Manhattan. When we moved from the west side to Washington Heights/Inwood, at the northern end of Manhattan, we joined the struggling Holy Trinity Church, which was our spiritual oasis in a tough neighborhood, where Olivia and Martha were baptized. I served briefly on the vestry there.

When we lived in Western Massachusetts for two years between New York and Saunderstown, we were parishioners at St. Stephen's, a large parish in downtown Pittsfield with clergy people from the South who had come up North -- "to thaw God's frozen people."

These are the places that I have worshipped in my adult life as an Episcopalian. What they all have in common is that they were, and St. John's is, my neighborhood parish church.

What keeps me coming back to church week after week?

My answer to that question is complicated and it keeps changing. I have sometimes jokingly said that it's because my children drag me that I come.

Really -- my most important and constant reason for coming is that I want to experience the unity of God and Christ and the Holy Spirit and the community of worshippers around me, and I want to carry that experience of unity out of the church and into the world as my guide and to give me strength in everything I do for the rest of the week.

I also come for that "old-time religion" -- the comforting familiarity, clarity, and truth of the words we say every week in the Book of Common Prayer and in the scriptures -- and the traditional hymns that we sing that have been sung by generations before us.

And I come for the chance to be in communion with the other people who are here -- people with whom I would not necessarily cross paths in secular life.

When I give to this church, I feel joy that I am supporting the continuation of the Christian tradition and spirituality -- right here in my local community. The fact that God is at the center of St. John's makes it different from other neighborhood organizations, and I celebrate that difference.

My family and I have found sustenance and solace at St. John's as we have navigated the ups and downs of our lives. We have found delight in the traditions of St. John's. We are grateful for the person-to-person guidance of clergy, and we are grateful for our connections to the Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island and the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Teachers and librarians don't make a lot of money, but in our marriage, Gigi and I have always felt that it was important to give sacrificially and with joy of our treasure to our neighborhood parish. We have been prayerfully considering our role in what is likely to be a very changed St. John's in the near future.

I look forward to doing my part to support St. John's through and beyond this important transition time that we are in.

Gigi and I ask you to stand with us in support of this parish with your presence, volunteer time, and money.

In thinking about what I would say to you this morning, I thought it would be useful to define stewardship. The ideas that came to mind -- "strive to tithe" and "time, talent, and treasure" -- seemed too familiar and glib, but I found inspiration in a couple of places:

From the Outline of Faith in the Book of Common Prayer (a section of the catechism on the Church):

What is the duty of all Christians?

The duty of all Christians is to follow Christ; to come together week by week for corporate worship; and to work, pray and give for the spread of the kingdom of God. (p. 856)

From the web site of the Ecumenical Stewardship Center (of which the Episcopal Church is a founding member):

Christian stewardship is grateful and responsible use of God's gifts in the light of God's purpose as revealed in Jesus Christ. Christian stewards, empowered by the Holy Spirit, commit themselves to conscious, purposeful decisions.

Stewardship is lived out in:

• Living and telling the Good News;
• Sharing God in seeking justice, peace, and the integrity of creation in an interdependent universe;
• Wisely employing God-given human resources, abilities, and relationships;
• Sharing the material resources we hold and giving them in service, justice, and compassion;
• Providing for future generations, sharing in the life, worship, and responsible stewardship of the Church and of its mission.

Both for the individual and for the community, stewardship is a joyful act for the sake of God's world.

Stewardship has also been defined as:

What I do, with all that I have, after I say, "I believe."

Please join me in saying Prayer 11, Prayer For the Parish, found on page 817 of the prayer book:

Almighty and everliving God, ruler of all things in heaven and earth, hear our prayers for this parish family. Strengthen the faithful, arouse the careless, and restore the penitent. Grant us all things necessary for our common life, and bring us all to be of one heart and mind within your holy Church; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.