“Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received (I Peter 4:10).”
The scripture reminds us that everything we have is a grace from God. We didn’t create the heavens, the earth, the seas, and the far flung galaxies. All existence has evolved and emerged over billions of years as an aspect of God’s creative unfolding grace, a grace present in every breath we take. We didn’t create faith, hope, and love, but the experience comes to us freely in surprising and transformative ways. The author Robin Wall Kimmerer (Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants) writes, “We are showered every day with gifts, but they are not meant for us to keep. Their life is in their movement, the inhale and exhale of our shared breath. Our work and our joy is to pass along the gift and to trust that what we put out into the universe will always come back.” Our faith reminds us that we are stewards of God’s incredible abundance. This Sunday we will celebrate the gift nature of life and our part in taking care of God’s many graces!