Thinking about

Dear Friends –

            I’ve been thinking about a difficult word: ‘stewardship’ and what it means in my life.   These things occurred to me:

“Stewardship is everything you do after you say, ‘I believe’”

I was amazed the first time I learned that stewardship is actually considered one of the major faith disciplines of the Christian life – right up there with prayer and reading the Bible.

Stewardship is NOT about funding the church budget.

We have gotten used to thinking about stewardship as just another kind of fundraising – but it is not.  God does not call us to meet a budget but to change the world – one person at a time.

Stewardship IS about our response to the call of God.

I really believe that God has called me to love God and love others and that how I use the gifts God had given me – of which money is just a part – is a primary measure of my response to God’s call.

Stewardship IS about sharing the abundance that God has put into our lives

My life is full of blessings and I have a choice – to think I can use those blessings to enjoy life and feel secure in my future – or to use those blessings in ways that I know would make God smile.  My choice – God’s response.

Stewardship is about taking care of the abundance in our lives.

I think that picking up litter is good stewardship.  I think recycling is good stewardship.  I think not wasting food or materials is good stewardship (yeah, yard sale!).  I think driving as few miles as possible in an energy efficient car is good stewardship.  I think stewardship is about how we live and our values.

Stewardship IS about the generous living of the saints who have come before us.

I feel so blessed with the people who have shared their faith with me.  With the SS teacher in seventh grade who really loved God and really loved us.  At the end of the year he gave me a handmade cross and candlesticks that I still have in my office.  We are surrounded by the gifts that represent the faithful living of the saints who have surrounded us and shared their faith with us.  I want to be one of those saints.

Stewardship IS about learning to live faithfully.

One pastor I worked with said that a church is living, loving, learning laboratory.  It is where we live together learning to live with love for one another and for God.  It is where we learn that giving out of the abundance with which God is filled our lives can be a huge joy – a celebration of the abundance of our lives.

Living Generously.  Loving Generously.  Giving Generously – are not just catch phrases to me but sum up the life to which we are called.  What a difference we can make together when we live giving of both who we are and what we have generously!

                                                                        Peace,

                                                                                    Sally