Quotable Quotes
Several years ago, in a diocese far, far away
a group of leaders in the congregation were struggling with the age old
issue of stewardship. They were searching for a theme which would talk more
about the satisfaction of giving and the mission of the church rather than
about the dollars and “sense” of the church budget. Then one person
suggested this theme:
What Goes Around – Comes Around.
An awkward silence fell over the group until someone burst out laughing! We
can’t use that theme – it sounds like something out of the Godfather movie!
Yet, my colleague had a point – generosity, charity and living life
abundantly brings the same qualities back into our life.
It is easy these days to be fearful of what the economic crises will mean
for us, for our children, for our retirement and for our comfort. Honestly,
I can’t turn on any media without hearing the panicked voice of recession,
crash and bailout making my heart beat faster. For many of us this recent
crises reaches to the heart of our fears. We fear we will not be able to
live comfortably in our aged years, we fear we will lose our job, we fear
for our safety and our economic power in the world and we fear that without
a stable economy we may be on the verge of societal collapse! Yet, many of
those same anxieties and fears have led us to this place where we are
living. Wall Street is a reactionary market and when investors become
anxious or fearful the market plummets. On the other hand when investors are
feeling secure and hopeful the market soars – it doesn’t have much to do
with how things are – but how things might be in the future. We have
never been a faith that operates out of fear or anxiety, but from the
vantage point of faith and hope. We cannot know what the future holds so we
place our hope in Christ.
Whenever the church begins to talk about stewardship it is like the fund
drive on NPR – many people switch to another channel! It is frustrating for
those who are trying to share with others what their gifts have done for
others and what blessings their gifts have brought into their own lives. I
know that most people think it is the Church out begging for money,
again, when we begin to speak about the spiritual and life enhancing benefit
that giving money brings to back to us. Yet, Jesus spoke often about the
need to give our money away – or it will begin to possess us. He didn’t
speak only to wealthy people, but to the widow and the leper and the
disciple. My belief is that the church can always use money for good things,
but, the real purpose of pledging and giving is for the person who is doing
it. The church has never needed money to survive – people need to
give their money in order to thrive!
This may sound counter intuitive in the time of an economic crises – but our
faith has never taught us to live out of fear or panic. Our salvation
depends upon something much more important than the dollar or the stock
market. Our salvation depends upon the abundance of God’s gifts to us. Our
gift to the church is symbolic of God’s gift to us. I wonder how secure we
would be if God told us something like: Well, I’ve just got too many other
people to give much to you this year or I’ll give something but I’m just not
sure how much I’ll be able to give, so I don’t want to actually tell you
I’ll give you anything. As our pledge card arrives in our mail take it as
a holy invitation not only to give but as an invitation to receive the gifts
that God has for all of us.
I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to
have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all
circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going
hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through
him who strengthens me.
Philippians 4: 11-13
--Mother LaRae+
