“All things come of thee, O Lord, and of thine own have we given thee.”
After reading the excellent article about stewardship in the Wheel, written by Jason Snape, I actually considered asking Father Jim if I couldn’t just give a “dramatic reading” of that - instead of writing my own talk for today.
I very quickly remembered, however, that stewardship, and responding to God is personal: each one of us must consider our relationship to God, our blessings received, and what stewardship means to us, and then make decisions about stewardship for ourselves. “Borrowing” someone else’s stewardship article just wouldn’t cut it. And so - while I truly loved what Jason had to say, and while I heartily commend his words to you - this talk is about my journey, and some of my beliefs, viewpoints, and outcomes.
“All things come of thee, O Lord, and of thine own have we given thee.”
It is not my intent or hope to convince you that I am “right” about my stewardship beliefs. It is my intent and hope that as you listen you will consider what YOU believe. Do you agree with me? Why? Do you disagree? Why?
I hope you make time over these next few weeks to take a journey of your own - to explore what stewardship, and giving back to God - means to YOU.
TREASURE
“All things come of thee, O Lord, and of thine own have we given thee.”
As a child growing up in Trinity Episcopal Church, Asheville, NC, each Sunday I would place my nickel in the plate when it was passed by the ushers, and then join the congregation in singing those words as the Reverend Tuton lifted the offering heavenward.
But as a child I wondered…. And I wondered…. And I wondered some more: In giving MONEY, had we really given to God, what He had given to us? It didn’t seem so to me - I didn’t understand. I knew God had given me many wonderful things - but I just didn’t see MONEY as one of them.
Now before the Stewardship Committee puts a permanent ban on Lay Talks based on that last comment, let me assure you that I grew up - and …
As an adult, I understand very clearly that part of my response to God’s blessings is to give MONEY for the furthering of the kingdom. And I am glad to do so. MONEY keeps the lights on, MONEY pays the staff, MONEY allows us to help brothers and sisters beyond our city, our state and our country. MONEY is an essential element of my returning to God, what He has blessed me with.
Let me share with you an area where giving MONEY has given me particular joy: the Faith Builds and Faithful Mission campaigns. I recognized in these campaigns the opportunity to create a place where a child such as I once was - could come and learn about God, and experience the love of a church family, and perhaps bring their friends, and much later - their children to worship and learn as well. Just as church members on the scene long before me had sacrificed and given money to build and expand Trinity Church, so I could help build and expand St. Catherine’s.
As I look far into the future, the vision of children running down these halls, shouting with laughter as they greet friends, and loving this space as much as we do today … well, it just makes me joyful.
MONEY is an important part of our stewardship.
“All things come of thee, O Lord, and of thine own have we given thee.”
TALENT
Money is necessary, and money is good - but what really gets me jazzed is all our talents.
No matter what our talents are, they come from God. In the mystery that is CREATION, each of us has been given a set of gifts, of talents - that can be used to glorify God and to further His Kingdom. How exciting! How wonderful! How like the God we worship to give us each these amazing and different gifts - abundantly.
I urge and encourage you - not just this day, this season, but always -
To find and develop your talents
To help others find and develop their talents
To use them to God’s glory
An important note on talents - it is so easy to focus on talents we DON”T have, or WISH we had more of - that we may miss entirely the talents God has given us and wants us to use.
As an example - I would love to have both the singing voice, and the hair of Dolly Parton. After all - we share a birthday (19-January] - why couldn’t we share even more? I would LOVE to be able to belt a song as she does, looking as she does. But what God gave me… is the ability to entertain folks in a different fashion. And so… several years ago one Sunday morning I put on a cow suit, and came galumphing down the aisle “moo-ing” in support of a Heifer Project initiative. It was effective - it was a use of my talent of making light of myself, and it raised some money for Heifer Project.
What are YOUR talents? How can you use them to God’s glory? And how can you encourage others’ in finding their talents?
“All things come of thee, O Lord, and of thine own have we given thee.”
TIME
Take a moment, and think of someone you enjoy spending time with:
Your spouse … Your child … Your parent …A friend …A co-worker … a neighbor
Now think just a moment longer about how you feel when you spend time with her or him …
Of all the gifts we have from God, perhaps none is so precious as Time, and I believe few things please God more than our returning this gift by spending some of that time with Him.
Giving TIME to God takes many different shapes and forms - and those ways are as unique as we are. I believe that our time with God needs to be somewhat deliberate - INTENTIONAL - as it were, and that we need to be open and willing to LISTEN to GOD when we are deliberately spending time with Him.
Our time with God can be in worship - in a small weekday morning service, or in a congregation numbering in the hundreds…
Our time with God can be in praise - a spoken or silent “Thank you, Lord” as the news we were hoping for comes, or in a song sung in the van on the way to New Orleans, or in family grace said before a meal.
Our time with God can come at the start of the day - taking 10 or 15 or 30 minutes to start the day in quiet prayer and meditation, or at the end of the day as we are drifting off to sleep...
Our time with God can be just the two of us: God and me, or God and you: a very intimate time - or it can come with our spouse, our children, our friends.
However, whenever, wherever we spend time with God - we are most assuredly returning to Him that which he has given us - and gaining so much more than we can ever fully understand in the process.
“All things come of thee, O Lord, and of thine own have we given thee.”
Treasure…
Talent…
Time…
All three are gifts from God. How will each of us respond to God’s many blessings?
Amen.