October 2007 Message from the Pastor

Stewards

You may be ready to stop reading--you may have decided that I am going in a direction all too familiar: Fall—budget time—stewardship appeal—get out the wallet! Not a bad guess but not the whole or most important part of the message. Giving money is but one dimension of the topic and not really the most essential part.

Let me put it this way: Stewards are people with distinct perspective about their possessions, their gifts and their time. If I think of myself as an independent operator then I make my decisions based on what’s best for me, what’s interesting for me, what fills my needs. But, if I see myself in even a small way as a steward, then my perspective changes. It’s no longer about me but about the owner, the boss, the ones to whom I am accountable. Now, I know this is not what we independent thinking people want or wish will be the permanent state of things. Don’t you get to retire from stewardship at some point?

The Biblical sense of stewardship, in my mind, is not one of disappointment or a “second class status.” It’s not about renting until you can own or always serving someone else other than yourself. Stewards are often respectable and have great responsibility. Look at Joseph in Egypt, for example. In a real sense, a steward is one who is blessed to enjoy the assets of the owner.

Could it be that stewardship becomes a blessing when we associate ourselves with the owner’s abundance? To put it another way, as you come to know how rich God’s gifts are, how merciful and kind God is, then it becomes a joy to be God’s stewards. To share of God’s bounty and to see the impact it has on other recipients is truly fulfilling. What we share from “our own” bounty is just adding to the bigger gift to the world that God provides. Isn’t it intriguing to think that we might actually lose track of “what’s our stuff” (which usually causes us a lot of grief anyway) and get caught up in distributing grace upon grace to needy souls and a broken world.

Consider how exciting it is to be a “steward of the mysteries of God” as Paul says in 1 Corinthians and Galatians. Consider what fulfillment there is to be had in being a steward of the creation, helping to perpetuate its beauty to generations still to come. Consider what it means to be rewarded as a “good and faithful steward.” Consider the joy of stewardship even as you open your wallet or calendar.

Blessings
Pastor Jim Friedrich