It’s stewardship season at Crossroads, and Rev. Cari was pleased to sit with the congregation under the authority of the story of the healing of Bartimaeus today. The story is found in Mark 10:46-52.

The question Jesus asks the blind beggar, “What do you want me to do for you?” is where she starts, contrasting it with a more commonly asked question now, “What is wrong?” But soon enough, she takes a walk through the movement of the text and then invites the congregation into a kind of group lectio divina with the story…

I wonder… do you relate to Bartimaeus? to the crowds following Jesus?

I wonder… do you ever feel like a bystander, a spectator in this world? in your faith community?

And finally, after all that, she turns explicitly to stewardship… and the currencies of gracious leadership, relationship, truth and wellness, which are all flowing so abundantly in the text.