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Stewardship part One

Stewardship, Stage One: Giving Up

November 5, 2006

Text: Genesis 18:1-10a

The LORD appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. 2 He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground. 3 He said, "My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. 4 Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. 5 Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on — since you have come to your servant." So they said, "Do as you have said." 6 And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, "Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes." 7 Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. 8 Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.  

9 They said to him, "Where is your wife Sarah?" And he said, "There, in the tent." 10 Then one said, "I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son."

NRSV 

      Think about this question—don’t answer, just think about it:

      How well do you sleep?

      Now, if you’re a parent of a young child, this is a silly question. A better question is, “What IS sleep?” You’ve discovered long ago that sleep is an option, not a necessity.

      But odds are that for the rest of us, sleep isn’t easy, either.

      Here are some statistics from a 2002 survey conducted by the National Sleep Foundation [from appollohealth.com]

• Almost 74% of all Americans do not get enough sleep each night
• Most will feel sleepy or groggy during the week
• 51% of adults say they have problems sleeping at least a few nights each week
• Almost 1/3rd have trouble sleeping every night
• Half of all Americans can not get up without an alarm clock

      David Lidsky is one of those Americans.

      A writer for Fast Company magazine, he decided to test out the advice of a sleep expert—Michael Breus, who wrote the book, Good Night.

      Lidsky first bought a more comfortable bed, one that fit his preferences. And do you know how stressful finding a restful bed can be? Which do you choose? Air beds. Water beds. Memory foam beds. Hybrid beds. Conventional beds. Pillow tops. You can lose sleep trying to get a good night’s sleep!

      Once David got his bed, he then discovered the rhythm his body needed to sleep well. He needed 7 hours of sleep a night, and the optimum time for that sleep for him was 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.

      To help him establish that rhythm, he made a point of getting out into the sunlight at least 15 minutes a day. That calibrated his “body clock,” so he could naturally fall asleep and wake up at his optimal times.

      The result?

      After eight days of this routine, Lidsky said that,

      “I feel good in the morning, and am scarily effective for my first 5 or 6 waking hours.”

      Isn’t that interesting?

      He found the key to sound sleep—get in touch with your natural rhythm.

      Hmmm. At one time people had no problem getting in touch with that rhythm.

      If you lived during the first half of the last century, you worked during the daylight hours, then stopped. Stores closed at 5 p.m. Tractors shut off as the sky darkened. Sunset signaled a time for families to re-join themselves at the end of the day. It was a time for friends to gather. It was a time to enjoy one another and to relax, until sleep called. And a restful sleep it was, until daybreak, and the dawn gently called you to the beauty of another day.

      Maybe some of you lived that natural, restful, fulfilling cycle of life.

      It was before the days of convenience stores and Wal-Marts advertising, “Open 24 Hours!”

      It was before the days of the “always on” broadband internet.

      It was before the days of e-mail and instant messaging.

      It was before the days of cell phones and text messaging.

      It was before the days of the global economy, where you have to be connected to what was going on in India or China.

      It was before the days of school activities that skew schedules and make family members eat supper at different times.

      We might TALK about getting in touch with the natural rhythm of life, and we might even TRY it from time to time, but the reality is that modern life intrudes, making it seem impossible.

      David Lidsky rejoiced that after 8 days of getting in touch with his natural rhythm, he felt better and healthier.

      But…hear what he writes 7 days later:

      “I picked the wrong month to adjust my sleep habits. [Work heats up, and] I stay up well past 1 a.m. to prepare for a big meeting. I’m officially off the wagon.”

      And in the postscript to his story he says, “As I write this, the clock reads 1:35 a.m., so I think it’s fair to say that discipline remains a problem…Now I just have to go back and relearn everything else I’ve jettisoned.” [Fast Company, 9/06, p. 100]  

      How easy it is to throw our bodies out of rhythm. Our souls drive our bodies out of rhythm.

      Lack of discipline. Worries. Desires. And you know the biggest culprit of all: MONEY. [Hey, what else could it be? This IS stewardship-reflection time, after all!]

      We allow our drive for money—we allow our worries over it—to throw us all out of whack.

      Why else does Lidsky stay up past 1 a.m., preparing for the meeting? Because he has a job and ambition…and a mortgage to pay, and car payments to make, and credit card debt to whittle down. He has to pay for food, clothes, insurance. He has to save for retirement, for emergencies, for college funds. He has to pay for vacations so he can get away from it all, relax a little, before he goes back and gets stressed up all over again.

      To help him spend his money, stores compassionately stay open til 9 or 10, some all night, and—lest we forget—he can always order online, 24/7.

      Oh yes—if anything’s “left over,” he can give to church or charity.

      Obsessing over money, hoarding money: this throws everything out of whack. I’ve yet to meet anyone who sleeps well and worries over money.

      A prime example is a man named Mike.

      He’s a hard-driving Wall Street deal maker. A consultant once asked him,

      “Why do you work all the time?"

      He replied, "Why do you think? Do you think I love this place? I am working so hard because I want to make a lot of money!"

      "Do you really need this much money?"

      "I do now," Mike grimaced. "I just got divorced for the third time. With three alimony checks every month, I am almost broke."

      "Why do you keep getting divorced?" the consultant asked.

      He sighed and said, "All three wives kept complaining that I worked all the time. They have no idea how hard it is to make this much money!"

      I don’t think Mike slept very well.

      How well do you sleep?

      Too often, I don’t sleep well, either. 

      If we can allow our lives to run at a different pace—if our lives can beat to a different rhythm: we’ll sleep better. We’ll sleep better, because we’ll live better.

      I love what one person wrote:

Beneath or inside the life we lead every day is another life. This unseen life runs like a river beneath the city, beneath work, family, ambition…In the helter-skelter, in the rush to get an education, to make a career, to make a family, to find material success…this interior life is often [put aside] or paved over…But [it] is unstoppable; it comes up in loveliness like jonquils out of fallen snow.

      Like jonquils out of the fallen snow.

      Abraham knew how to let the jonquils grow.

      He was a rich man, but do you remember what he was doing at the beginning of the passage? It was midday. Prime work time. He could have been overseeing his servants. He could have been crunching the numbers, counting the heads of cattle or the bushels of grain. There were many things he could have been doing to get more money.

      But instead, as the Bible said,

       “He sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day.” He had done some work in the cool morning hours. He might do some more in the late afternoon. But right now, it was time to rest. He knew there was more to life than getting hot and bothered.

      And because he was free to rest at the right time, he saw God.

      God came in the form of three strangers—“angels” as the New Testament would call them. He greeted them, then prepared a big feast. He gave up some of his stuff—a calf, some food—and then gave up some of his time, standing and serving them.

      You know, that’s the way Abraham was. Even though he had so much stuff, he enjoyed giving it away. He was the one who first “tithed” to God—gave 10 percent of what he earned. He showed us how joyful it could be giving God the “first serving,” not the “leftovers.”

      As Abraham freely gave, so did he receive. Not money, stocks, bonds, or CD’s. But something of more value. He received the promise of a son. A boy he would love with all his heart. The boy Isaac.

      Who knows? Had Abraham not had the sense to rest in the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day, he might not have received his most precious gift.

      Who knows? If we don’t have the sense to rest, to live in harmony with the rhythm God’s given, how many gifts will we miss?

      You will have an opportunity to learn to “rest” this week. Your promise card of what you’ll give God is in your hands. As you think about what you’ll give God next year through this church, remember Abraham.

      GIVE UP those things that push you to work in the heat of the day, instead of to rest in the shade of the tent.

      GIVE UP the push for “more and more,” as if your life rests in “more.”

      GIVE UP the fantasy that you and your family are only content with stuff described by the adjectives “bigger” and “better.”

      GIVE UP the thought that you have to do everything yourself, that everything rests on your shoulders.

      If money and worry over money drive you, then you’ll jot down a number on that card without thinking. It’ll be a small one—a “left-over” once you take care of what’s “important.”

      But remember Abraham. Relax in the shade of the tent before you fill it out. THEN you might hear angels talking to you.

      What might they say?

      “Hey, you want to relax? Buy a Select Comfort air bed—dial in your number, and how you’ll relax! It’s only $2500 for a king set—and you’ll sleep like a king!”

      Not exactly.

      The angels will say, “The food. The drink. The Master has provided it for you. Come, and relax with your friends.”