Doing the Work of Ananias

This year, I am revisiting a daily devotional a seminary friend gave me years ago, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants by Rueben Job and Norman Shawchuck.

Today’s reading was the conversation of Saul (Acts 9:1-22).

I have read this passage many times before, but as is the case with the Bible, this living word of God, it struck me anew today.

At first I was captured by the introduction to scene, “During the journey, as [Saul] approached Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven encircled him.” This Lent, I’m using a journey theme for Arden UMC—and I have been working through thematic and planning details this week, so I thought, “A-ha, that is my take away today.” I think you have to be quite type-A to be so results-oriented about your daily devotional.

But of course one of the benefits of a structured devotional or reading plan is that you don’t just do what seems at first to suit you. So I read on (I was at that point only 3 verses into a reading 22 verses long).

This reading is about Saul’s conversion. It says so right in the subtitles the translators inserted. SEE---!

But today I was struck by how this is also about Ananias.

Ananias has this really powerful ministry here. You see Saul is converted and called not just through this incredibly powerful encounter with Jesus, but also through the care, guidance and healing ministry of Ananias.

A cursory glance at scripture and scholarly resources reveals that we don’t know much at all about Ananias. And while we have many questions about Paul (previously Saul), we do know far more about him than Ananias. Like an entire galaxy more. A lot more.

Paul is the early church rock star. Ananias is, well, the guy who helps get him started.

As I pondered this, I was reminded again of how we talk about each having different gifts and callings. I reflected on the gift it has been for me and many of my colleagues to be part of the work of the Board of Ordained Ministry and the District Committee on Ministry.

Any annual conference has its rock stars. Any denomination does. Many (perhaps too many) want to be Pauls. We all have different gifts and different callings—even those called to the same orders. Some are called to be Pauls. Some to be Ananiases. Some to a mixture of both, or a totally different way of serving and leading.

Today’s reading was an opportunity for me to give thanks for all who have done Ananias work in my life—helping bring me to greater healing and wholeness in my ministry, as well as discernment as I entered ordained ministry and along the way. I also give thanks for the opportunities I have had to do some Ananias work. It is good, difficult but deeply rewarding work.

I invite you to take a moment or two today to give thanks for those who have done some Ananias ministry in your life. And also to reflect on the gifts, talents and passion God has given you, and where and how you are called to live that out, as we all live into the calls God has placed upon our lives by virtue of our baptisms.

Our Financial Commitments

Are we giving enough? Can we give more? Should we give more? Does the tithe mean just take home pay or gross income? Should we include the value of housing and/or other benefits in calculating a tithe?

Yes.

These are just some of the questions my husband Chris and I consider as we evaluate our giving to the church each year. As we did again for 2016.

When I started out in ministry, I did not have a good habit of tithing, or even giving regularly to the church. I was having a difficult enough time trying to keep up with self-employment taxes, so being intentional about giving to the church was, to be quite honest, way down on my list of priorities.

When Chris and I got married, we began to think intentionally about our giving and how we could move to tithing. Tithing is a principle that comes from the Old Testament. Scripture says that the people of Israel should give 10% of their income to support the work on the temple. The work of the people of God. Not to other good causes, 10%, straight up, first thing, to God’s work.

Today, this principle often takes a back seat to local, national and international aid agencies, and well, the general financial pressures of life. Programs like Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University have done much to attempt to re-establish the tithe as a first-fruits giving (giving not of what is left after everything else, but giving first).

It’s not just that our giving to church is challenging…we live in a culture and time when competing financial priorities challenge our daily decisions. Giving to church just happens to be one of them. And one we are woefully poor at speaking maturely and honestly about.

Stewardship—our use of the resources God has given us—is one piece of our discipleship journey. It matters how we have these discussions and it matters what we decide. Indeed, there are few things that are more representative of our commitments and priorities than what we do with our money.

Chris and I earnestly desire to keep growing in our faithfulness to God. Therefore, each year (and often at other points in the year) we prayerfully discuss and discern how God is calling us to grow in our giving to church.

As a related aside, one of the principles that guides my and Chris’ giving is that we have committed to not significantly give to needs or projects beyond the church until we have solidly established a practice of tithing. We believe God is calling us to see these other financial needs as additional to, not part of, our tithe. This is why—for example—if there are community or international needs, we will generally decline. When the cashier at the grocery store asks if we want to give a dollar for a hunger program, or if someone solicits a special gift for a designated cause, we generally politely decline, and if pushed, explain that we support outreach programs through our church. We also find there are many ways to live lives of generosity to those around us without giving money.

As Chris and I have sought to raise our giving to (and eventually beyond) a tithe, we have chosen to use raises to aggressively do so. What I mean is that, since we figure we were living the previous year on what we had, we will increase our giving by more than 10% of whatever raises we receive. When Chris and I came to Arden UMC in July 2014, we took a significant pay cut to below the conference minimum compensation level. The church has since aggressively worked to raise my compensation. We are grateful for the commitment and faithfulness of the leadership of Arden UMC to do so. And indeed, the giving of the congregation is what makes this possible.

This year, both Chris and I received raises, and so it became a new opportunity to assess our giving. My giving to Arden is taken out of my paycheck. Indeed, I find that having it taken off the top is helpful and a good discipline for our finances. I know others prefer to give other ways, but this way works best for us. Each paycheck last year we gave $230.

This year, Chris and I have decided to give $265 per pay check.

While we still have room to grow, this represents the largest portion of our income we’ve given thus far in our married (well at all) lives, around 9% of our take home pay. It is our hope we may even yet reach 10% through special gifts throughout the year.

I say all this to be honest with you, our Arden UMC family, about where I as your pastor am in this area of my discipleship. Some parts of discipleship are more obvious—you can see the church calendar and know how often (at minimum) your pastor is participating in worship and Bible study, and it always seems a bit more comfortable to ask your pastor about other spiritual disciplines. Chris and I have much room for growth, but we also know we have already and continue to grow in this and other areas. And we hope to teach our girls to do the same thing.

I know, from my and Chris’ experience, that giving to the work God does through our local congregation is one of our most meaningful commitments. And one which challenges us to live into our claim that Jesus Christ is Lord of our lives in very concrete ways.

I invite you, if you have not yet done so, to prayerfully consider your own financial commitments to the work of Arden UMC for 2016. I hope you will reflect not only on your giving to the church, but also your stewardship of the entirety of the financial resources God has entrusted to you, and how you use each and every dime.

If you would like some resources on issues of financial management in general, getting out of debt, of the spiritual discipline of stewardship, please let me know.

May God continue to call each of us forward into greater and greater faithfulness as disciples, and as a congregation may we continue to be good stewards of the resources entrusted to us to do the work of God in our community and world.

Grace and Peace.

Sarah Andrews Schlieckert