Bishop Daniel Felton: God’s call: stop making his abundance ‘itsy-bitsy’

Believe in the Good News 

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, 

Greetings to you in the healing, hope, and joy that we can only find in Jesus! The season of summer is a time to celebrate abundance … abundant sunshine, limitless produce from our gardens, and an assortment of delicious fruits from strawberries to apples and everything in between. The nature of summer shouts abundance. 

And yet that abundance of nature pales by comparison to the abundance of divine nature. God’s greatest desire is to shower upon us the abundance of his divine mercy, love, healing, hope, and joy. God is by his divine nature abundance itself. 

But what I always find intriguing is that even with the abundance of nature and divine nature around us and within us, our human nature often makes that abundance itsy-bitsy. That’s right, itsy-bitsy. 

Did you ever wonder about the origins of that phrase? The first time itsy-bitsy is ever mentioned is in a novel from the 1930s. Basically, itsy-bitsy means “smaller than it should be!” 

How often in our lives we make the abundance of our God itsy-bitsy. 

For instance, God has given you a purpose and mission in life that is uniquely yours. Nobody before you has ever had your purpose and mission, nor will anyone after you have your purpose and mission. Imagine: your purpose and mission in life has something to do with God’s great plan of salvation. But how often we make our incredible God-given purpose and mission in life itsy-bitsy with excuses like, “I’m not worthy” or “I’m too sinful” or “I have too many imperfections and shortcomings.” Thus, itsy-bitsy. 

Furthermore, God would never give us a purpose and mission in life without giving us an abundance of gifts, talents, and grace to fulfill our God-given purpose and mission. Once again, we make the abundance of those divine blessings itsy-bitsy. And therefore we make our purpose and mission in life itsy-bitsy. 

Not only do we make God’s divine presence in our personal lives itsy-bitsy, but we do the same thing with parish life. Every parish in our diocese is called into existence by God to fulfill a divine purpose and mission for the parish and the surrounding community. And yet, in our human nature, we think that our parish is all about us. Our parish. Our purpose. Our mission. The moment we think that our parish is because of us and therefore all about us, our parishes become itsy-bitsy. 

We have already acknowledged that God would never give us our personal, God-given purpose and mission in life without also giving us all the grace, blessings, gifts, and talents to fulfill his purpose and mission for us. The same holds true for our parishes and our diocese as a whole. God is bestowing on our parish and surrounding community all the grace, blessings, gifts, and talents we need to fulfill the purpose and mission of our parish within our surrounding community. 

With that understanding and to that end, our Ministries Appeal seeks to be the vehicle by we which we share a portion of the abundant grace, blessings, gifts, and talents that we have been given by God so that our personal and parish purpose and mission in life might be fulfilled. 

The Ministries Appeal is all about divine abundance. The Ministries Appeal is all about the fulfillment of our God-given purpose and mission in life personally and as a parish community. The Ministries Appeal is not about us but what God wants to do in and through us. 

Nature’s abundance in a summer season will soon fade to a more guarded sunshine, depleted gardens, and barren tree branches. But God’s abundance is inexhaustible, forever plentiful, and never-ending. As we move on to Autumn and its seasonal abundance, there is only one thing that God asks of us and of our parish and surrounding community: 

STOP. MAKING. ME. ITSY-BITSY. 

May God shower his abundant blessing upon you and your loved ones, 

Bishop Daniel Felton is the tenth bishop of the Diocese of Duluth.