Blog & Pastor Letters

When a church is raising funds for a new building or a diocese is launching a stewardship appeal, there is usually someone — or several someone’s — who serves as the face of the campaign. Maybe it’s a married couple, or a family, or a group of folks who have been particularly active in the community and can speak to the worthiness of whatever endeavor is being undertaken.

Perhaps this Lent you are working hard to stick with your devotions, avoid hamburgers on Fridays, and fight your temptations for soda since you gave it up for Jesus. You are planting seeds in your spiritual life in hopes of growing them into something beautiful and meaningful. However, you have been trying this approach now for many years, and it is hard to say that much has grown during all that time. You could deduce that what you are doing is not as worthwhile as you once believed. There is no fruit because these things don’t matter. Or you could take a real hard look at your life, see where you are planting those seeds, and finally notice what the problem has been all along. WEEDS!

Where do you live? I live in North Carolina. There I pay taxes, own a home, and belong to a parish. North Carolina is in the United States, so I also abide by federal laws, pay taxes, and vote for candidates in all sorts of elections. I identify as an American and try my best to meet certain expectations placed on me by the government, state, and fellow Americans. I do certain things because of my identity.

Lent calls us into deeper everyday stewardship because it beautifully creates opportunities to be mindful of the call of Christ in even the most mundane moments of our day.

Many of us will participate in the time-honored tradition of doing penance, or “giving something up” for Lent. When we do this, we are mimicking the Israelites who filled their baskets with the first fruits of their harvest, “and having set them before the Lord, your God, (bowing) down in his presence” (Deuteronomy 26:10).

Grocery delivery apps are all the rage these days, and I can’t deny the convenience of tapping your finger a few times and seeing your week’s shopping dropped on the doorstep. But there is one aspect of this trend that seems to make a lot of shoppers nervous — fruits and vegetables.