I grew up in Sedalia, Missouri, Sedalia is a wide-open, fairly level town on the edge of the prairie. A crossroads from its early days, Sedalia was a nexus for transportation with cattle drives, wagon trains, railroads, and eventually two major highways.
Agriculture was and still is a major part of the economy, but mid-sized manufacturing, education, and health care play significant roles. Life in Sedalia was fairly predictable. In my mind, nothing “really” happened. 

Well, nothing happened of consequence until someone decided to hold a giant “bluegrass” festival along the lines of Woodstock. Most of the popular performers where scheduled like The Eagles, America, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, and REO Speedwagon. Some say that it was bigger than Woodstock in terms of attendees. Hard to tell though. Ticket taking got out of hand right off the bat. I do know that by 4:00 PM Thursday afternoon all four lanes of Highway 65 south of I-70 were heading in the same direction toward my hometown. If you are really interested, you can search for a documentary about the festival called 3 Days in Sodom and Gomorrah. Yeah, it was that bad. There’s an interview with me in the film. Some day I’ll tell you all the whole story. 

Now, the Ozark Music Festival isn’t the main point of this column, but it does serve as a waypoint. You see, the reason the festival happened in Sedalia was that it was the home of the Missouri State Fair. The sprawling fairgrounds on the edge of the flat prairie included fairly large grandstands over a large oval racetrack. Outdoor concert amphitheaters weren’t too common and this seemed to be a great spot to host a lot of people for a long weekend of music.

Well, that’s the purpose of a fairground, to enable a lot of people to get together and share something they love. The weeks in August during the Fair provided some of my most cherished memories. It was a time for cousins from “The City” to come and visit us. It gave us something to do when friends from out of town visited. There was free entertainment everywhere, most of which was just in looking at the thousands of people from all over who showed up.

The Fair wasn’t just about people. It was about what people did. The heart of The Fair is in showcasing the agricultural marvels of our beloved state. How I envied the FFA and 4H members showing their cattle. Seeing the people of our state share their best, their biggest, and their bounty were some of the most enjoyable and uplifting experiences of my youth. 

So I am asking you to reflect upon your experiences of going to a fair. Perhaps it was our Adair County Fair. Maybe you went to Sedalia. Maybe you went for first prize and attended the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines. (You know THAT one is special. There’s a musical about it!) Maybe your fair experience is more along the lines of a festival like our local Red Barn arts festival. Or maybe your experience of a fair is just our local farmers’ market. The list can go on to consider music concerts, sporting events, trade shows, or just a family reunion.

There’s something about a fair, a festival, that is meant to bring out the best in us. (Well, most of the time, if it just doesn’t get out of hand.) These gatherings stand out from the ordinary tedium of the daily grind. They give us objectives to strive for. Sure, much of the fun is just getting together with like-minded folks, but there really is something about a competition for a blue ribbon that makes it all worthwhile. Even if you don’t win, you’ll at least get to steal some tricks from the winner for next year’s competition!

And now for the point:  our parish will be undertaking our first annual stewardship renewal in October. 
This year’s format for stewardship renewal introduces our parish to a new and comprehensive model for accounting for the Lord’s blessings and making a firm commitment to offer them back to God with increase. Each parishioner is asked to discern the just and generous portion they will pledge to offer in the coming year from the time, talent, and treasure they have been given.

I’d like us all to enter into this time of renewal with The Fair in mind. What is it that we as a parish have to share with each other regarding our lives spent in service of the Gospel? What are we proud of that God has worked through us? What can we put in the display case topped by the blue ribbon that says, “This is our best, our biggest, our most bountiful?”  Each day we witness in the media the worst of humanity on display. But that’s a distorted picture that we are called to work against. We have to put the good in front of people to see, or all that they will see are our failures.  As Christ says, a light isn’t meant to be kept under a basket. It’s put on a stand for all to see.

In the coming weeks, we will be working on answering these questions through bulletin articles, ministry listings, and personal testimony at Mass. In October we will have an opportunity to “go to the fair” and register our entries. It will look a bit different from the livestock pavilion or Ag Hall, but no less impressive. There will be three categories for entry:  time, talent, and treasure. We will have a chance to show them off to each other, not in a vain, prideful way. But with quiet confidence that what we have discovered about the blessings of God in our own lives is worth sharing for the good of all.