October Focus - Stewardship

October is the season of stewardship in our parish. Every year we set aside time to remember what stewardship is all about. We revisit this topic every year for two reasons.

First, a growing parish can always find new people who have no idea what it means to be a faithful steward of God's abundant blessing. People from outside the Church come into our covenant community with secular models of what we are about.

Many think of us as some kind of "non-profit social organization" like the YMCA, National Public Radio, homeless shelter, or country club. It takes time to discover what it means to live in covenant community with God and other people. It takes time to understand that we are not supported by dues, fees or even financial contributions. We are supported by faithfulness.

A second reason we revisit the stewardship theme every year is because we live in a culture that constantly denies the truth of our stewardship responsibility. We are bombarded with messages and images every day that encourage us to live for ourselves alone. Commercial interests tend to reinforce the false perception that individuals must find happiness in their purchasing power.

When God created the world God did not create a mall, an auto dealership and a furniture store. God created people to find happiness sharing life with other people. It takes time to discover the joy that results when people multiply God's blessing as they create and maintain relational space that allows us all the opportunity to live in the joy of friendship with God and one another.

We revisit the stewardship theme every October because once a year it is worth reminding ourselves what life is all about.

Stewardship wisdom depends on one simple insight. Blessing shared with other people multiply. Blessing hoarded turns to dust. The Bible establishes a standard, a baseline, of faithful giving to the church to help us to discover this fundamental truth. The tithe, 10% of one's income, is the biblical standard of faithful giving in our covenant community.

Shock, dismay and disbelief registers on the faces of newcomers when they learn we take the tithe seriously. It sounds outrageous. It seems unreasonable. But such is the disorientation of our culture.

Several years ago two economists (Acs and Phillips, 1999) wrote a paper called, Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy in American Capitalism. Their simple premise is that the secret to America's sustained economic prosperity over the past three hundred years is the result of: 1) the American spirit of individual initiative, creativity, and willingness to embrace risk (entrepreneurship) and 2) American's deep spiritual foundation that recognized personal wealth as a God-given responsibility (philanthropy).

They argue that creating wealth and being a good steward of wealth keeps society and the economy healthy. To create wealth, but fail to be a good steward of wealth, eventually leads to social and economic failure.

Consider Andrew Carnegie, the most successful entrepreneur of the 19th century. He modeled faithful stewardship for a whole generation of plutocrats. Morgan, Rockefeller, Peabody were faithful stewards whose faithfulness contributed to the health of the 20th century economy.

"Carnegie put philanthropy at the heart of his "gospel of wealth." For Carnegie, the question was not only, "How to gain wealth?" but, importantly, "What to do with it?" (He argued) that millionaires, instead of bequeathing vast fortunes to heirs or making benevolent grants. . . administer their wealth as a public trust during life. . . a key motive for philanthropy is social order and harmony."

Carnegie's understanding of money rises out of the Christian tradition of stewardship. Not just millionaires have the responsibility to administer their resources as a public trust. We all do. When an entire society functions as a faithful steward of God's blessing social order and harmony results.

The Biblical foundation of stewardship begins with God's promise to Abraham in Genesis 12. We remember this promise with the simple phrase, "We are blessed to be a blessing."

God blesses us with all good things (talent, intelligence, supportive community, money). It comes with a purpose. God intends that we multiply God's blessing in the world. When we are faithful stewards, the abundance of creation grows and grows. Acs and Phillips argue this is precisely what we find in the sustained prosperity of the American economy over three hundred years.

We honor the tithe in this parish because it exercises our faith in God and in one another. It reminds us life springs from relational abundance, not material accumulation. It models for our children the way of genuine joy. It disciplines our mind and bodies in accord with God's divine intention for creation and God's divine promise of abundance.

A healthy society of abundance - social, spiritual as well as material - does not begin with the millionaires. It begins with the faithful. This we must never forget.

Monthly Focus Archive

2006:

Easter Focus: New Covenant
Lenten Focus: A Covenantal Response to Poverty
February Focus: Moving Forward

2005:

December Focus: Longing
November Focus: The Gift of Years
October Focus: Stewardship
September Focus: Foundations
Summer Focus: The Book of Acts
Easter Focus: Tapestry
Lenten Focus: Rule of Life
January Focus: The Next Wave

2004:

December Focus: Surprising Grace
November Focus: Free Indeed
October Focus: Money Madness
September Focus: The Outrageous Promise
Summer Focus: Into the Fullness
June Focus: Thick Faith
Easter Focus: All Things New
Lent Focus: A Hungry World
February Focus: Commitment
January Focus: Unity

2003:

December Focus: Hope
November Focus: Worship
October Focus: Stewardship
September Focus: Seasons of Faith
Summer Focus: The Gospel of John
May Focus: Faith
April Focus: Resurrection
March Focus: Truth
February Focus: Covenant Groups
January Focus: Sabbath

2002:

December Focus: Shut Up and Sing
November Focus: Spiritual Gifts
October Focus: Stewardship
September Focus: Intentional Faith