Your Money and Your God

Your Money and Your God:  They are not the same – but they are related!

I love to talk about money.  Especially in church.  Don’t you?  Some people find it uncom­fort­able.  Some people prefer to treat money as a private matter –to give it the silent treatment.  I can’t understand this.  Can you?  Incredible as it may sound, the job of Stewardship Chair is not the very first position clamored for at Vestry meetings.  Go figure.

True, “stewardship” is sometimes confused with “fundraising,” and some people find fundraising a bore.  (I don’t.  What could possibly be more satisfying, more rewarding, than offering people the opportunity to feel good by doing right?) 

Fundraising is a part of stewardship.  Pledges must be gathered in order for the vestry to lead the parish.  Those who give their support need to be informed about parish finances in order to exercise diligence in their giving.  A large and active parish with a fine building and an outstanding staff will always require significant funding.  And any parish worth its salt will always be stretching itself, trying to do more in ministry every year – and needing more money to do it.  That is as it should be. 

But stewardship is much more than a means of balancing the parish budget.  Stewardship for each of us is a path to God, a response to God, and a witness to God. 

The course of our life in Christ traces a deepening cycle:  We respond to Christ’s call:  “Follow me…” (Mk. 1:17).  We obey Christ’s command:  “Love one another…” (Jn. 15:12).  We fulfill Christ’s commission:  “Go, baptize and teach…” (Mt. 28:19-20). 

The call of God claims each us totally, in body, mind and spirit.  In our relationship with God – as in a marriage – we commit all that we are and all that we have, including our money.  As in any relationship of love, in giving we receive.  Enjoyment comes not from grasping, but from sharing.   

God’s great desire is that we should enjoy to the fullest the many blessings, spiritual and material, that God rains upon us.  As disciples of Jesus, we enjoy our material blessings most fully when we enjoy them for his sake and in accordance with his teaching and example.  Jesus loved a good feast (Lk. 7:34) like any of us, and he gave us the greatest feast of all:  bread broken and wine shared, more than enough for all.  When our money, like our lives, becomes something broken and shared in love, it becomes something sacred – literally, a sacrifice.  It becomes a means of God’s grace, as well as an instrument for doing God’s work.  It becomes a witness of God’s love. 

How to do this?  It is not easy, but it is simple: give.  How much should one give?  Well, how good do you want to feel?  The church commends the biblical guideline:  give in proportion to your means, i.e., as a percentage of your income, off the top.  Ten is the traditional number:  10%, the tenth part, the tithe.  Give it all to the church, if you like, or spread it around.  Let it do God’s work in the world, wherever you see that work to be done.  Then sit back and feel the joy.   

We have all been fortunate to receive so many blessings in so many aspects of our lives. Please help by sharing just a small portion of what you have been provided in your pledge for the 2005 Stewardship Campaign “Our New Beginning”.

Please help us make Stewardship successful.  Make a pledge to support the Redeemer.