Homecoming :
Stories of Living in God's Way
Gerry Hendershot- Tried and Tested: Money, Trust, and Community
At our November buffet we showed a video that I made from photographs of Pilgrims’ “Kingdom Moments:” WIN Actions, Pilgrimage Service Day, Fall Festival, a Habitat build, a Halloween walk for affordable housing, the Pride Parade...and the Lord’s Supper. The video and words by Calva Leonard kicked off of the stewardship campaign (see video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4Yt4ji-xzo.)
The video background song is “Tried and Tested,” by Bruce Cockburn. Charles Briggs wondered aloud how that title fits Pilgrims’ stewardship campaign. I chose it for the music and because Cockburn is a disciple of Jesus, but prompted by Charles’ question, I reflected on the lyrics. “Tried and tested,” Cockburn writes, “Tried and tested...
By the planet's arc
By the falling dark
By the state of the art
By the beat of my heart
By dark finance
By the marketing dance
By the poverty trance
By the fateful glance . . .
Pierced by beauty's blade and skinned by wind
Begged for more--was given--begged again
I'm still here
I'm still here”
Pilgrims have been reminded recently of what it means to be tried and tested by dark finance, by the marketing dance, by the poverty trance, by the fateful glance. Early disciples of Jesus also faced financial tests: Luke says that when Jesus sent 70 disciples to share the Good News, he told them to take no money with them, but to trust in the generosity of others. “The 70 returned with joy!”
I heard an economist say the credit crisis is caused by bankers who do not trust people to repay loans --the financial system is based on a fragile trust in other people. But our community proclaims “We are Pilgrims, together on a spiritual journey, trusting God to show us the way.” When we join in Kingdom Moments, we show the world a different way of living, a way based on trust in God and each other.
We show the world a different way, too, when we practice the spiritual discipline of stewardship--spending in God’s way, spending to make more Kingdom Moments. We are “tried and tested” by this discipline and with Cockburn we can sing “Pierced by beauty's blade and skinned by wind, begged for more--was given--begged again, I'm still here, I'm still here.”
