The Treasure of Grace

by Jen Cantrell

Nearly every Sunday morning, I sit in my customary pew (right side, about half-way back) and I watch my son, Robert, as he serves as an acolyte during the 10:30 service.  Robert is the reason that my family attends Grace now.  My husband and I came from disparate religious backgrounds: Bob was raised in a traditional New England Irish Catholic household, and I was a Southern Baptist girl from Kentucky.  For the first several years of our marriage we spent Sunday mornings on the couch with our coffee and bagels and David Brinkley.  When Robert was born, we talked generally about the benefit of raising children in church, but we were stymied by the differences in our religious upbringings, so we didn't really do anything about finding a church to attend.  However, that all changed when Robert was about four years old.  One day, he asked me, point blank, "Mommy, where is my church?"  Bob and I knew that we needed to answer that question, for him as well as for ourselves, and so we set out to find an answer.  Robert, being a normal four year old, had a very concrete vision of what "church" meant, and to his preschool-aged mind a "church" had Gothic arches and stained glass windows and a bell tower.  The beautiful building on Lake Street was just right.
 
Once inside, Bob and I soon realized that it was more than just the look of Grace that was just right.  We were welcomed into a church that was immediately comfortable and accessible to us, where neither of us felt that we were compromising our personal beliefs for the sake of being part of an organized church.  We grew to love Grace, and we have been actively involved here now for almost twelve years. 
 
When I watch Robert on Sunday mornings, it makes me happy to see him participating in the life of Grace.  He considers serving as an acolyte to be something that he does for the church, and he believes that his service has meaning.  I think he's right about that, and I'm glad that he feels called to give his service to Grace.  I believe that, by serving as an acolyte, Robert is learning about stewardship: giving to the church of time, talent, and treasure.
 
I think often about the relationship of those three aspects of giving, because I believe that in order for the church to grow and thrive, all three are necessary.  My family and I try to give of our time to Grace -- I served on the vestry for four years, I have chaperoned youth activities, I ran the nursery for two years, and Robert serves as an acolyte most Sunday mornings.  To the extent that we have any talents to share, we try to use those in ways that can serve Grace -- Bob and I jokingly refer to ourselves as the "AV Club of Grace Church" because we frequently take photos and video of various Grace activities, and we set up the Grace Oak Park YouTube channel to showcase those videos.  Robert, in addition to serving as an acolyte, also sings with the Grace Madrigals Choir. 
 
So those are our "time and talent" contributions.  However, I am an eminently practical person.  I recognize that the ability of the church to function also depends on contributions of "treasure."  The candles that Robert lights on Sunday morning burn for an hour or two every service, and when those candles burn down, new candles must be purchased.  The candles are beautiful, but they are not adequate to light and heat the church when it is cold and dark.  I love listening to the Madrigals when they sing, and I recognize that in order for the choir to perform, the church has to buy music and choir robes, and I strongly believe that Dennis deserves his salary -- as do Douglas and Shawn for keeping all of these things organized.  I appreciate the majesty and beauty of our church building, but I also recognize that it is old and in need of maintenance and repairs if we are to keep it serviceable for ourselves and future Grace congregations.  These things all require money.  And so, we give.  We make annual pledges and we have managed to increase our giving each year.  We also supported the Capital Campaign a few years ago, and we have made our contribution to this year's Grace Legacy Campaign as well.
 
We give from what we have, time, talent, and treasure, because God and Grace have given so much to us.  We try to take to heart the words of the Gospel in Luke 12:48: "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked."  We receive more than we give, and we are grateful for that.
 
-Jen Cantrell
 
_________________________________