Reflections on “Wrestling with Resources” Genesis 32: 22-29; I Timothy 6: 17-19

 “Wrestling with Resources” September 29, 2024; St. Andrew Presbyterian Church; Genesis 32: 22-29; I Timothy 6: 17-19; Stewardship series

 Genesis 32: 22-29

²²The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. ²³He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had.

²⁴Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. ²⁵When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. ²⁶Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” ²⁷So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” ²⁸Then the man said, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.” ²⁹Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him.

Introduction:   Last spring, our stewardship committee took the idea that prayer shapes committee work to a new level.

I had been telling the committee that I would have a good idea, or maybe someone on the committee would have a great idea, about a theme for the stewardship campaign this fall before I left on sabbatical. 

I told them that in Jan.

then, I told them that in February,

then, I told them that in March

now, it was the April meeting.

as the committee members gathered, we were talking before the meeting, and I said I had some thoughts, but didn’t really have a great idea. 

then, everyone was there so we stopped our pre-meeting chatter, and I offered a word of prayer to start the meeting.

In the moment, I prayed among other things for the Spirit to guide us as we wrestled with the church resources

when i finished the prayer, one of the committee members said, ‘I thought you didn’t have a theme.”

“I don’t” 

“Well, you prayed about wrestling with resources - that would be a great theme!”

then, we were off and running with lots of comments about wrestling, the von Erichs, the latest movie about them.

when I left for sabbatical, they were still talking about dressing up in wrestling outfits and having a wrestling match for the Moments for Mission.

I think that disappeared during my sabbatical, for which you are probably grateful.

so here we are, three of the next five weeks (with a break next week for World Communion Sunday and then the Fall Festival of Faith on October 20) wrestling with resources.

If you Google stewardship scripture lessons, you would probably find the passage from I timothy (might even be in some Top Ten or Top Twenty lists)

I doubt you will find any list of stewardship Scripture passages that has this story from Genesis (even if you go to Top 750 Stewardship passages).

But, if you want to read about wrestling in the Bible, this is number one on any list - jacob’s famous wrestling match.

Let’s see what we can learn about stewardship from this story.

Move 1:  first of all, we are reminded that a stewardship campaign calls us to be intentional.

a.  Jacob’s wrestling match takes place at a challenging time in Jacob’s life.

1. Trying to figure out who he is, 

what his relationship with God is,

and who God is.

2.  Jacob intentionally isolates himself.

3.  We do not know if he planned on spending the time meditating,

or reflecting,

or he just wanted to be alone,

No surprise he ends up wrestling since his name Jacob sounds like the Hebrew word for wrestle 

and as the story goes, Jacob wrestled with his twin brother Esau in the womb.

4. So at this pivotal moment in his life, Jacob intentionally turns to God in the night — and wrestles.

b. As we spend three of the next five weeks reflecting on stewardship here at St. Andrew, we invite you do some some wrestling as well:

wrestling with your reflections on how you share and use your resources like your talents, your money, and your time.

1.  You are not being asked to intentionally isolate yourselves!

2.  it would be great for you to talk to the other people in your household;

share with the kids 

talk to the people in whatever small groups you participate.

Reflect with God, 

reflect with yourself, 

reflect with those to whom you turn for thoughtful conversations.

Not a solitary journey, but a reflective journey of wrestling wtih your resources.

after all, it’s hard to wrestle by yourself.

Move 2: .  Jacob also reminds us of the importance of being intentional.

a.. Jacob always seems to have a plan.

1.. Whether it’s how to take his father’s blessing and birthright from his brother for himself,

or how to deal with the dividing up of the flocks with his father-in-law 

or how to plan his first meeting with his brother Esau (all are great stories to go and read),  Jacob i always has a plan.

2. So now at a pivotal time in his life, he is taking time to come up with his next plan.

d.  that is the primary point of stewardship campaigns - to give us all time to plan how we want to use our time, our talent, our financial resources so they reflect our call to discipleship.

1.  it sometimes feels like stewardship campaigns are only about the bottom line dollar figure of pledges we get for next year’s budget.

2.  No doubt, we do use that number.

3.  But, the process, the invitation from the Interpretation and stewardship committee 

is to reflect and consider what God is doing in our lives and how that is reflected in all aspects fo our lives, including in the stewardship of all our resources.

4.  to put a plan in place for our own lives.

Move 2:  As you wrestle with your resources, make sure it is in the context of how God is shaping you.

a.  First capital campaign

1. My first call in KY

first campaign in as long as anyone could remember

brought in CFCS from the PCUSA (love those acronyms)

two representatives showed up - the older veteran guy and the new, young staff member.

the Session was very quiet at the end of the meeting when the older, veteran guy said his colleague would be our person for the campaign.  I actually had a couple of Session members immediately following the meeting ask if we could request him, not her.

We did not.

for the next six months or so this young, energetic minister with her Puerto Rican accent that seemed particularly different than the KY accents in the congregation worked among us, swept the congregation off its feet, and then led them through a powerful week-end finale to the campaign.

We talked often, and I learned a lot from her.

One of the important lessons she taught me was that she understood her job to be getting people to STOP - stop their normal routines to take a moment and look anew at their lives of faith and how their giving fit into it.

her job, as she explained it, was not to get people to pledge a certain amount of money but to ask people to stop and explore how their pledge reflects their sense of discipleship.

2.  It is never about the dollar amount we pledge;

 Bigger pledge does not necessarily mean better disciple;  

smaller pledge does not mean lesser disciple

Jesus clarifies that for all of us wiht his example of widow who offers her mite.

3. it is always about how we choose the dollar amount and how it reflects where we are in our lives of discipleship.

b. A couple of years ago, a colleague told me this story that took place in the congregation she served.

1.  It was stewardship season at their church.

the sermon had been on stewardship, so the time with young disciples had heard about stewardship.

A ruling elder was driving home from church.  One of her sons was in the backseat of the car and says, “Mom, I have a question.”

Ok

“Do you give more to golf or to God?”

2. guess what? That Ruling Elder started wrestling with her resources a bit more.

c. that is the invitation to all of us - to stop and consider how our pledge can be a part of our discipleship journey.

Conclusion: Jacob comes out of his wrestling match marked for life (He even gets a new name - Israel).

Might be a bit melodramatic for me to say we should come out of a stewardship campaign marked for life.

But as we wrestle with our resources;

wrestle with what God is nudging us to do;

wrestle about the way we spend our time, 

wrestle with how we our money,

wrestle with how we use our talents

 we might be marked in a new way at this time in our lives of discipleship.