For 10 years, I served on my church’s green team. We gathered on Saturday morning to trim trees and cut the grass—all 12 acres of it.  There weren’t many women on the green team, but I had grown up mowing my parents’ 3 acres. From the time I was quite young, I was able to service a riding mower and use it.

But at the church, the riding mowers were reserved for the guys. I was always given a push mower to cut the grass near the front of the church.

One September, I was working through a difficult office problem—and I needed some quiet time to find a solution. So, I took Friday off from work and, instead, cut the church grass—all 12 acres.  I fueled up a riding mower, and began. The mower blade was set too high. So, I lowered the blade…one notch.

For most of the day, I rode in circles … both on the lawn mower and in my head.

By the end of the day, the lawn looked great, an interesting solution for the problem had presented itself, and I just knew that when the green team gathered the next morning, they would be thrilled to finish the job in short order.

High 5s all around.

What could go wrong? 

Today marks the beginning of St. Christopher’s stewardship season. It is a 6-week period in which we will be attuned to the gifts God has given us– and how we steward those remarkable gifts through our individual lives…and through our shared life as a congregation.

We’ll look closely at characters in Scripture --How did they wrestle with God’s blessing….and how did it flow through them into the world?  We will celebrate the in-gathering of our gifts and pledges for 2025 on the day we celebrate all the saints who’ve made this journey before us. 

So, here we go.

Today’s Gospel reading is the first in a series of 4 episodes in which Jesus will hold the human struggles of this world in sharp contrast to life in God’s realm.

The first episode is a doozy. 

The disciples were out in the world without Jesus. In their travel, they witness the unthinkable: someone—not one of the 12—was casting out demons in Jesus’ name. 

A believer, who understood Jesus’ work, was doing it.  

The disciples saw it happen. But they weren’t happy. They were indignant. This person is not one of “us.”  Rather than rejoicing, they try stop him. Or, as Jesus said, they tried to put a stumbling block between people who needed healing and the one God chose to be a healer. 

The green team assembled as per usual on Saturday morning. They saw that all 12 acres had been cut.

But they were not happy…and certainly not thankful.   First, I did not have their permission to use a riding mower. Second, I had lowered the mower blade and, in their assessment, cut the grass too short. “The grass will die! The grass will die!” The grass did not die. It continues to thrive lo these many years later.

The length of the grass wasn’t really the problem. I had usurped their authority.

Rather than rejoicing, they were angry.

The disciples walked closely with Jesus: There are many occasions in Scripture when Jesus retires to a quiet place, away from the public, and teaches the disciples privately. They travel together, they know one another’s families, they break bread together, they face danger and triumph together. 

The bond they share with Jesus is real.

But relationship with Jesus is not a members-only club. The disciples were not the first—or the last—to believe they understood the mind of Jesus well enough to stop fruitful ministry happening in his name.

Barbara Brown Taylor, author of Holy Envy, says, “The minute I believe I know the mind of God is the minute someone needs to sit me down and tell me to breathe into a paper bag.”[1]

The disciples thought they understood and that they were the chosen ones – they were certain that God would not authorize someone outside their group to do God’s work in the world. Trying to possess authority that did not belong to them created a stumbling block.

In God’s realm, there are no stumbling blocks. The blessing that flows from God to Creation, flows through Creation back to God. It is an endless, eternal flow of God’s love and goodness. 

Jesus’ story illustrates that Creation—humans—do not always participate in this flow fully. Stumbling blocks get in our way. Pride, unhealthy desire, competitiveness, and on and on.   

Our own stewardship journey begins with humility and self-reflection: what are the stumbling blocks I’ve place in my own path? What are the gifts God has placed in my life? How can I be a conduit of God’s blessing in my community?

The character I love most in today’s story is the person casting out demons. He recognized the gift that God had given him.  Through his faithful belief, he used that gift, in God’s name, for God’s purpose. And when the disciples tried to stop him, he pressed on. He received God’s blessing and poured that blessing into the world. That is faithful stewardship.

  [1] Taylor, Barbara Brown; Holy Envy p 108