Saint Francis and saint Trask

Foster himself places St. Francis squarely in the Charismatic stream, citing him as a prime historical example. “I commend Francis of Assisi to you as a model of charismatic jubilee” (106). Jubilee sums up the beautiful sense of joy found in St. Francis. From Le Jongleur de Dieu to whimsical songs to brother Sun and moon, to his own child like wonder and perpetually simple faith, joy filled the Franciscan spirit. It was also jubilee in the sense of the freedom. The emancipation from the dark ages, and the freedom granted in supernatural works. His was a strange mix of celebration and asceticism -- they found their home together in his constant practice of simplicity. Simplicity as Foster notes brings freedom and joy.

From the horrors of war, a year of captivity and a year of convalescence stirred and transformed something deep within Francis. His family and friends may well have seen it as a break with reality, for he through off the imposed reality of this world with the clothes off his back and began a quest to enter fully into the reality of the Kingdom of God. Foster notes his longing for transformation, quoting his poem to the virtues:

Hail, Queen Wisdom! May the Lord preserve you
With your sister holy pure Simplicity!
O lady holy Poverty, may the Lord save you
With your sister holy Humility!
O lady holy Charity, may the Lord save you
With your sister holy Obedience
O al you most holy virtues,
May the Lord save you all,
From Whom you come and proceed (Foster 104).

Francis was gregarious and influenced by the wandering troubadours and jugglers who entertained from town to town. Even as a young man and a soldier, Chesterton notes, “Francis was one of those people who are popular with everybody in any case; and his guileless swagger as a Troubadour and leader of French fashions made him a sort of romantic ringleader around town” (41). That is his transformation wasn’t in his character as much as in whom he served. As he through himself into the service of God with characteristic abandon, he traded French fashions for a hair shirt, but he remained a ringleader, romantic toward God and His creation, and a Jongleur de Dieu.

With beauty Chesterton describes the time and world of Francis. The world was emerging from the dark ages, a time of penance and purging from pagan naturalism. St. Francis emerged into a world that was clean and ready to receive his songs of praise for creation and her Creator. His joyful asceticism was a release from the harsh practices of the previous age. H e renounced the emerging wealth of the renaissance with an adventurous and generous spirit. He fought in the crusades not with an army, but alone with God, hoping to convert the radical Islamists. On his return he found even his own movement too tame, beginning to own property, albeit in common.

Francis is also an example of the incarnational life. He valued the material world and the ways he could see God in the world around him. As my friend Ken notes, Francis saw the wonder and miracle in the world around him. Is it any wonder then that the miraculous followed him? Francis seemed to see the world through spiritual eyes. He could identify the wonders and miracles in the world around, he could see creation as brother and sister. In his simplicity and holy foolishness, he saw the reality of the Kingdom around him. In his mind there may not have been much dividing the natural from the supernatural. His life was the adventure of the true Kingdom invading the world of men, so he had to live according to the values of that Kingdom come what may.

This week we were on our own mendicant adventure with a Franciscan flavor, trusting God for our every need. We went to our District Council without any money to rely on. There in the midst of God’s wonderful provision for us, I found great joy celebrating the lives of saints who had persevered in ministry. Allow me to submit one such saint as a further example of the Charismatic stream, Thomas E. Trask.

Tom Trask celebrated his fiftieth year as an ordained minister this week. Until last summer he served as General Superintendent for the Assemblies of God in the United States. He is a consummate preacher, though not using the method of expository preaching I value most. His preaching relies entirely on the anointing of the Spirit. Prayer and a spiritual reading of the text is important to him as he prepares.

He lived the adventure of ministry that my family is enjoying now. He planted a church in Northern Minnesota in 1956. He made no money as the church’s pastor, so he had to work. His father, also a minister in Minnesota, told him to get a job that was simple enough that he could do while still focussing on God - on his call.

He began to work for a Jewish businessman, W.R. Feldman. After struggling through months of slim income, Fledman approached Trask. “I’ll pay for your management training, if you come back to work for me,” he said, offering a large salary.

Trask said he would pray about it. Fledman was incredulous, “Pray about what? I know what they’re paying you!”
Trask responded, “The church is not my boss, God is my boss.” After praying Trask felt he had no option but to turn Feldman down, believing that he had been “bought with a price.”

Complete trust in God for his financial security combined with a discipline of giving, giving him experiences like St. Francis. One thanksgiving he had no food for his family. He didn’t have money for groceries, but in desperation he got in to his car to head to the store. As he was pulling out a man in a pickup truck pulled in behind him.
“Are you that pastor, Trask?” He asked. When Trask said yes, he said, “I have something you will need for tomorrow.” He proceeded to take two bags of groceries out of the back of his truck. Trask never saw the man before or since, convinced that angels sometimes dive pickups.

Giving continues to be an important discipline for him. As he rose in the ranks of the church and made more money, he increased his giving, until last year he was able to give away %70 of his income. Though he can also strangely value nice cars and manicured lawns as evidence of God’s provision to those around us.

Early in his ministry an older minister told him, “Tom, ask God to put you on a schedule and keep that schedule.” Rising early to engage in disciplines of prayer and study became important for him through out his life, as did “creating a family altar.” He recalled as a child his parents gathering the family before school and praying, “God keep Tom, keep Roy, Keep Patty.” Such times of prayer and worship with his family were important disciplines for him.

Looking back on his 52 years of ministry, Trask says, “Enjoy the adventure, because it was meant to be enjoyed.”

The faithfulness of Saint Francis and saint Trask in the adventure of the kingdom is a great inspiration to me. Like Francis this week I have been challenged to give and entirely trust in God for my family’s provision. It has been wonderful to see him work in us. Dropping the last of our money in the offering plate and then seeing God replenish that amount or give even more for us to give has been hilarious and wonderful. I can appreciate the joy of Francis as he danced naked through the forest, free from possessions but rich in God.

As Elaine and I were Ordained this year, the example of those who have gone before has been powerful as well. I appreciate Tom Trask’s example of faithfulness and demonstration of how this heroic trust and that we can actually make it through the adventure. After we were ordained, and hands laid on us symbolically passing the anointing, Tom Trask kissed my cheek. I accept from the Spirit Trask’s blessing.

Adventures in Asceticism

This week has been an adventure worthy of the Count of Monte Cristo. This time, however, the hero of the story was not Edmond Dantes, Though he had his extravagance and dramatic timing. No, the hero wasn’t me either. God is the hero of this (perhaps every) good story.

We set off for district council with little money but some great assets. Brad Trask had graciously offered us Brighton Assembly’s Missionary House. As hard as we tried to share the blessing, we couldn’t find anyone else to stay with us, so we had this big beautiful house to ourselves. Our parents were going to stay at FaHoLo campground in Grass Lake and watch our kids in their bus.

We thought if worse came to worse we could buy some food with our foodstamps and cook back at the missionary house. But we ha a problem there. I had cracked the card a few weeks back and Elaine called for a replacement. The card didn’t come until we had left. So the cash we had on hand was all there was. We were stressed, but we determined to trust God.

We went down to the campground Sunday night. Elaine and I were in the midst of a three day fast anticipating what God would do in us through ordination, so we only had to feed the kids. The next day we dropped off my suits at a dry cleaner (One Hour Martinizing which is no longer one hour, we were extremely lucky they let us have one day service.) That took the last of our money. In fact I had to borrow a dollar from money I had brought to restock the coffeehouse.

Later that day I had coffee with Professor Mojo, and classmates, Joe and Christy. We talked about St. Francis and other things spiritual. I was so hyped up on caffeine courtesy of Live Wired Coffeehouse (R&D) that I was talking a mile a minute. Christy prayed for us, that God would provide the money to get us back home. Will all our talk about St. Francis I was soon to find the joy of his simplicity and relinquishment.

That night my parents got in. They decided to celebrate our anniversary (a month early) and we went to the grocery store for supplies and a desert. They then wanted to get a pizza. We drove all around Jackson to find a place that was open. My parents felt so bad that they filled our tank for us! Then back at the bus we had desert and opened a card with a gift of $25!

Armed with gas and $25 we headed to council. Tuesday was our ordination luncheon and rehearsal. That night was the banquet we had already paid for, so our meals were covered for this day. Dave Williams laughed at the luncheon that he had intended to send us $100 after reading some comments we had posted about our desire to trust God with our finances and become even more generous. He was so tickled that we didn’t act like victims of our economy. We laughed with him, we thought it was silly, but nice, of him to think of sending $100 to us.

Wednesday was the offering for pastor appreciation - our pastor, the pastor’s pastor, Bill Leach. God had already given us a tank of gas and money. He was great! Elaine pulled the $20 bill out of the envelop with a sly delighted look in her eye. I nodded with a grin. The offering went by and we had $5 left.

The next day was the home missions service, where we celebrate church planting and other missions here at home. We love church planting and we love God and the way he was providing so we gave our last five dollars. After that service I was called over by one of the leaders in our district and was given a Pentecostal Handshake, that wonderful institution where the Spirit inspires someone to pass some cash along with the peace of a handshake. As if we needed further proof that God was taking care of us, I found in my hand five $5 bills, completely replacing the money that we had gotten rid of already! We were being blessed by a photographer with royalty free professional photos on a cd so we in turn blessed him with $20 of our money. I tell you we just couldn’t get rid of the stuff. To our surprise Dave Williams then made good on his ridiculous promise to give us some money. So we were then able to go out to dinner on a crisp $100 bill and put another $50 in the offering! We really couldn’t out give God as much as we tried. It was fun to try. I felt the joy of St. Francis dancing through the woods in nothing but a hair shirt having thrown even the clothes off his back down at his father’s feet. “Now I can truly pray, ‘My Father in Heaven,’” he said.

Dave talked about his early days in ministry as we prepared to take up that last offering. He talked about how God had challenged him to be generous. He was making almost nothing, but he decided to tithe to the district, then tithe again to his church and then give to missions before spending the rest. I laughed out loud and leaned over to Elaine and whispered, “That is ridiculous!” Ridiculous and fabulous! God had only in the last few weeks challenged us to the same thing! What fun this adventure is. O for the day when we can finally give it all away! And we can live free, in the joyful asceticism.