DO WE HAVE A CHOICE?

            Bishop John J. McRaith, an original member of the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee on Stewardship, had this to say: “Once one chooses to become a disciple of Jesus Christ, stewardship is not an option.”

            This statement by Bishop McRaith summarizes what I believe is important to understand about stewardship: it is intrinsically linked to discipleship. Too often, we view stewardship on one hand as fund raising and talking about money, and if we are really profound, as a way to give back to God a portion of what God has given to us. On the other hand, we look at discipleship as a way of being in relationship with God. Both of those things are correct (partially), but we miss the fact that both of them, stewardship and discipleship, have to work hand in hand. There isn’t a choice.

            Discipleship requires us to surrender ourselves. Once we become disciples of Jesus Christ, then we realize our responsibilities and work

·         on being God’s hands and feet in the world, on sharing the love and the good news of Jesus Christ with the world,

·         on being in service to the world, and

·         on making disciples of Jesus Christ in the world.

·         But, as disciples, we also have a responsibility to share part of what God has given us.

 

            Nothing that we have is ours. We can’t work hard enough or long enough; we can’t buy enough stuff; we can’t….essentially, the operative word is WE. None of it is ours. We don’t have the power all on our own because everything is God’s. God loves us so much that he gave us grace (unearned), gave us Jesus Christ to forgive our sin (unpunished), essentially God gives us everything!

            In a stewardship message that I shared earlier in the month, I used the example of ten apples. All ten apples are given to us by God, and God loves us so much that we are allowed to use nine apples any way we want. We are only asked to offer back one of the apples so that God’s work in the world can be accomplished.

            Note the word offer? It would, of course, be a whole lot easier if God simply gave us the nine apples and kept the other one for God’s self. But that’s not what happens. Because we are in partnership with God, we HAVE to be part of it and we do that by making the offering back to God…not because God needs anything from us, but because we have to make that offering in love and as disciples.

            “As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewardship of God’s varied grace.” (1 Peter 4:10)

            So using the gifts we receive shows us being disciples and being good stewards. How? Stewardship: A Disciple’s Response gives various examples of the works, services and ministries of a good steward:

·         Evangelism and witness to the Gospel

·         Faith formation

·         Stewardship of the church

·         Stewardship of simplicity of life

·         Stewardship for ecology of the globe

·         Witness in the marketplace and institution

·         Financial accountability in person and parochial affairs

·         Stewardship of collaboration in church life and ministries

·         Stewardship of social justice and the work for peace.

            Do you suddenly feel the need to look back at the series of blogs I did earlier in the year about John Wesley’s Manifesto? I did, because so much of it seems to match, doesn’t it?

            So, as disciples, we are stewards. As stewards, we are disciples. There isn’t a choice. You can’t be one without the other. May it be so!

 

STEWARDSHIP IS AN EXPRESSION OF DISCIPLESHIP 

           WHAT ARE WE EXPRESSING IN OUR LIVES?

 

            How often do we define stewardship as fundraising, as something that should only be done in the fall, and as ALWAYS about money? Too often.

            I’ve heard definitions of stewardship that range from my original definition of stewardship as “stewardship is everything” (I was young!) to a very long, verbose definition written by the Council of Stewardship back in, I believe, 1945. Over time, I’ve “revised” my definition to being that “stewardship is the evidence of discipleship.” Even that may not be quite right. Stewardship and discipleship are completely intertwined. You can’t be a disciple if you aren’t a steward of God’s gifts, and you can’t truly be a steward of God’s gifts unless you are a disciple.

            In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1) With that understanding of (1) the importance and primacy of God and (2) what came first (hint: not us!), I believe the following statement by Bishop Robert Morneau is easily understood: “Stewardship is a way of life…When we recognize that God is the origin of all life, the giver of everything that we have and are, the source of our freedom and giftedness, the healthy person responds by thanking God through prayer, by serving God and God’s people through ministry, by sharing our financial resources with those in need.” (Theology of Stewardship–https://sacredheartcatholicchurch.org)

            Doesn’t that response of prayer, service, sharing, financial resources all start to sound an awful lot like those intentional discipleship plans that we’ve been working on as a Conference?  You know those pesky discipleship systems that we didn’t know anything about just a couple of short years ago? Well, surprise, surprise, we’ve had systems for discipleship all along. The See All the People resources has this to say:

            “Whether you know it or not, you already have a discipleship system in place in your church. Your current system produces exactly what it is designed to produce. Once we begin to think about our church as a system, we can start to think intentionally about what our system is producing. Intentional discipleship means we know and have planned out the many ways that people new to the faith enter into our church’s discipleship system and move through it on their way to growth and maturity. We then clearly communicate the opportunities that disciples have through the church, and offer ways to self-assess and reflect upon the next steps for their spiritual journey. (“Developing an Intentional Discipleship System: A Guide for Congregations” by Junius B. Dotson (p. 24-25))

            That system that helps develop disciples and guide them on their faith journey HAS to include stewardship. If we define stewardship as comprised of three parts, what happens?

                        Stewardship of Prayer – this is about our relationship with God. Prayer exists to allow us to talk to God, with God, and to listen to and for God.

                        Stewardship of Service – God gives us gifts and we must use those gifts in service to those in need…not because we are doing for others, but because Jesus is doing for others through us.

                        Stewardship of Sharing – in an earlier blog, I opined that a checkbook is a theological document. It has also been said that “a budget is a moral document.” “For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.” (Matthew 6:21) How we approach our sharing says an awful lot about our discipleship.

            A system of prayer, service and sharing are must-haves in a discipleship system, which then leads to some questions:

·        *     How intentional are we about those systems?

·         *    Are we experiencing joy in our giving and stewardship?

·         *    Is stewardship part of our discipleship plans?

·         *    How moral IS our budget?

A    *    Are we leading a life of stewardship?

 

           A CHECKBOOK IS A THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENT

 

            What is your “favorite” theological document? Maybe the better question is: what IS a theological document? It is a document (book, article, etc.) that discusses and perhaps interprets theology. According to Merriam Webster, theology is “the study of religious faith, practice, and experience.”

            Did you know that most of us have a theological document that is probably carried in our purse or wallet every day? And it is the theological document that we use the most. It’s not the Bible; it’s a checkbook (if you still use checks) and your credit and debit cards.

            If a theological document is defined as something that includes religious faith, practice and experience, then those financial documents definitely qualify! With God being the creator of everything and the provider of everything, then everything we have and everything we do comes from God. So it follows that how we utilize the financial resources in our keeping shows how we treat our faith and relationship with God, because it shows our practice!

            As disciples, we have the responsibility to care for everything that has been entrusted to us, and that includes our financial resources. How we use the resources entrusted to us means placing trust in God’s plans and provision and budgeting and using and spending accordingly. And caring for those resources means to use those.

            We must look for ways to use faithfully the assets with which God has blessed us. Before we believe that that is exactly what we are doing, we have to look at what we are actually doing. How? By looking at our checkbook, at our debit card statements and at our credit card statements and see how are funds are actually being spent.

 

            What we actually do, what we prioritize is no where more evident then when we look at how we have used those assets that God has provided to us in God’s abundance.

 

            We all have priorities. The questions are:

 

·                                             *   Are they God’s priorities or our own?

·                                            * Do we believe what we have is scarce because of having not stewarded our                             resources wisely?

·                                           * Do we trust the God of abundance in everything?

 

 

 

LET US BE GENEROUS TO ALL THE WORLD LIKE GOD WAS GENEROUS TO US!

 

How often do we, in the local church, approach generosity as a once a year in the fall type of deal, focused on raising enough money that we can balance the budget?

·         Too often!

How often do we, in the local church, approach membership as a way of getting more behinds in the seals that will allow us to raise enough money that we can balance the budget?

·         Too often!

How often do we, in the local church, approach discipleship as a way of cultivating more members that will allow us to raise enough money that we can balance the budget?

·         Too often!

How often do we approach generosity, membership and discipleship as part of spiritual formation?

·         Not enough!

As I read back over this, it all feels pretty negative to me, but I decided that rather than change it to a more positive spin, I’d look for the positive in the negative.

We have to remember that we are a channel of God’s blessing, just like Abraham. Abraham was blessed by God, with a blessing that resulted in personal blessings, including the blessing of children, but the blessing also resulted in an open blessing of God’s people, a blessing carried through the Jewish, Christian and Muslim peoples

·         Abraham was Jewish

·         Christianity descended from Isaac through Jesus

·         Islam descended from Ishmael through Mohammed

We experience God because of God’s blessing through Abraham.

Generosity seems so different now when we’re not able to be sitting in our pews and passing the offering plate, but generosity is so much more than that. Generosity has to be spiritual. In my reading, I found a Generosity Prayer that is recited by The Village Church at each one of their services, and I wanted to share it with you.

Holy Father, there is nothing we have that You have not given us. All we have and all we are belong to you, bought with the blood of Jesus. To spend selfishly and to give without sacrifice is the way of the world, but generosity is the way of those who call Christ their Lord. So, help us to increase in generosity until it can be said that there is no needy person among us. Help us to be trustworthy with such a little thing as money that You may trust us with true riches. Above all, help us to be generous because You, Father, are generous. May we show what You are like to all the world. Amen.

            Just as God’s blessing to Abraham was personal and community… so should generosity. Generosity, when done with faith, thought, tact and intentionality not only helps our community, but it also helps us.

            Let us pray: Help us to be generous because You, father are generous. Let us show what you are like to all the world. Amen.

 

  WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE GET TO THE TOP OF THE        LADDER?

            Last week, my blog was about the bottom four rungs of Maimonides’ charity ladder. We talked about moving from not giving at all (on the ground) four steps up the ladder to giving to the poor without being asked.

            The next four rungs take us even further

 

           

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   ------------               Top Rung **

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   -------------                 Giving in a way that both the donor and recipient don’t know each                                        other.

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   -------------                 Giving when the donor is aware to whom the charity is being given,                                     but the recipient doesn’t know who has given.

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   -------------               Giving when the recipient is aware of who is giving, but the donor                                         doesn’t know who the recipient is.

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|                   |

            The bottom four rungs are pretty hard, because it requires us to start! Once we’ve done that, it gets a little easier. Now we’re moving further and further up the ladder. The three rungs that I referenced above hinge completely on whether the donor and recipient know who is giving and who is getting. For me, whether the donor knows or doesn’t know, or whether the recipient knows or doesn’t know have the same weight. It’s when both the donor and the recipient don’t know that things start to become way more generous.

            Think of it this way, I am giving to charity without knowing exactly what it’s going to be used for, or who is going to benefit from it. This not only takes generosity, but it takes faith. I have to believe that the charity to whom I’m giving the gift will use those gifts in the way that is intended and in the way that God intends. When I have faith in God, I can be generous. Because, after all, it’s not mine anyway, right?

            Well, that top rung on the ladder above just says Top Rung**. Why? I wanted to write exactly what I read relative to this top rung about the charity ladder. It says it this way:

            Helping sustain people before they come impoverished by offering

            a substantial gift in a dignified manner, or by extending a suitable

            loan, or by helping them find employment or establish themselves

            in business so it is unnecessary for them to become dependent on

            others. This is considered the highest form of charity.

 

            This is a form of generosity that I think goes beyond “charity.”  While it may seem difficult to move from the ground where we’re not giving anything up the ladder to where we’re giving, it’s still essentially a pretty easy task to write a check, or drop some coins in a box or a basket. It’s pretty easy, sometimes, to volunteer our time to a church or an institution or a project.

           

            But this top rung of Maimonides’ charity ladder has us doing way more than the simple writing of a check, or serving a meal. It has us teaching and giving, lending and leading, enabling and establishing, and helping so that the “recipient” doesn’t have to become dependent on anyone!

 

            This sounds a lot like the part of John Wesley’s Manifesto that says we must reduce the gap between the rich and the poor. How do we do this as a church? Maybe we have to look at what our own local church is called by God to do and to be. Once we’ve figured that out, then we are able to step onto and travel up that ladder to the place where we treat everyone the way we would wish to be treated!