FAITH AND STEWARDSHIP

 

 Today, we remember the truth that all that we have is God’s. To be a steward is to manage property for someone else. And it is our job to make decisions with that property for their best interest.

I think we often think of stewardship as the idea of deciding what it is I will give to God. What of my time and money am I going to give to spiritual things like church or volunteer work. That is thinking of it all wrong. It is not a decision of what to give and what to keep for myself. It is a realization that all of it is God’s. Everything you have and are is God’s.

The recent Brief Statement of Faith begins, “We belong to God.” It is not ours to decide with how much we want to give. It is His. We give it all to Him. It is our job as stewards to decide how our time, our money, our lives, are best given to serve God’s best interest. It is not what we give, but how we give it.  

 Sometimes, we think of becoming and being a Christian as giving ourselves to God in just spiritual, ephemeral ways. It is just a feeling and some words in a prayer. But the fact is, if it is real, it will work out in everything we say and do. If we our completely God’s, then so will our reaction to those people who push our buttons. If we are completely God’s, so will our moments when we are called to courageous actions. If we are completely God’s, so will our financial means and statements be.  

 God does not choose to use the glories of this world to shine through. God chooses the weak, the discredited, the people of little value in this world through whom to work the glories of this world.

But God loves to turn things upside-down. He chooses the most unexpected people to work with. He specializes in social outcasts. Remember, Jesus will be criticized for his involvement with publicans and sinners-those who are looked down upon because of lifestyle choices they have made.

What good thing can come out of Galilee and Nazareth? It is exactly those places and people that the world does not value that God chooses to work through.

Years ago a Sunday school in Philadelphia was overcrowded, much like some of our children's departments today. A little girl was turned away. She began, that day, to save her pennies to help the Sunday school have more room. Two years later, she died from an incurable decease. They found a pocketbook by her bed with 57 pennies and a little scrap of paper with a note saying to help the church build a bigger Sunday school.

The pastor of that church, used that note to make a dramatic appeal to his congregation. People's hearts were touched. One realtor gave the church a piece of land. He said he just wanted a down payment of 57 pennies.

The local newspaper picked up the story, and it was carried across the country. The pennies grew, and the results can be seen in Philadelphia today. I've never been to that spot, but I'd like to go see that church. It seats 3,300 people with a large Sunday school department. I'd like to visit Temple University and Good Samaritan Hospital that came about as a result of that initial effort. I'd like to visit the room at Temple University where that little girl's picture is on the wall with the reminder that she gave 57 cents with an amazing result.

You may not think you have much to offer, but she did. Trust in the Lord, as Savior, and as our Helper, is essential in order for one to understand the concept of giving, of true stewardship. He knows that we need to be fed and clothed. And so by trusting in Christ, He in turn will bless us when we least expect it, but oftentimes when it is most needed. As we trust in Him more and more, we give more – more of ourselves, our talents and time, as well as monetary assistance to the Church to carry out the ministries of Christ.

 We need to realize that everything we have and are is God’s. We recognize it as God’s. And he can use it all for his purposes.  

Most of those who belong to this Orthodox parish lose sight of the fact that the Church is not primarily an organization; She is first and foremost a Eucharistic community, an organism whose members receive their edifying power from Christ to grow up into Christ! Our stewardship cannot be separated from the knowledge of Christ! Our stewardship is not stewardship at all if it is not done in a Christ-like manner! True stewardship is an active life in Christ! “Let us commend ourselves and one another and our whole life to Christ our God,” we pray during the Liturgy. Amen