Making It Real
FROM THE RECTOR
Growing up, our family never missed a Sunday or Wednesday at church, and I can only recall a few times when I spent Saturday night with a friend whose family worshipped in a different congregation. Nevertheless, looking back, it felt like, every time I went to another church, the pastor was always talking about money. I am sure that they had other things to preach about, but my experience of those stewardship sermons gave me a negative impression not only of those churches and their pastors but of talking about money in church in general.
You may be relieved that we do not talk about money very much at St. Paul’s, but I suspect that we need to talk about it more—not because our congregation needs more money but because stewardship is as integral to our spiritual lives as prayer, study, worship, and sacrament. When we decide to use the resources God has given us in a way that reflects what we believe about God, our faith grows. Our confidence in God deepens. Our gratitude for God’s gifts expands. And our participation in the love that our congregation seeks to share with the world intensifies.
Stewardship is one of many spiritual practices that helps us grow in faith. We read the Bible to learn the stories of God’s faithfulness among God’s people. We pray to deepen our experience of God’s presence in our lives and in the world. We say the words of the Nicene Creed and the Baptismal Covenant to invite our hearts to trust in God’s promise of salvation. And we devote some of our time, talent, and treasure to God’s work in the world to strengthen our relationship with God and to offer ourselves to the work of sharing God’s love with the world.
How you spend your money today is usually a reflection of the values you already hold, but adopting an intentional practice of how you want to spend your money in the future is a way to have those values shaped through stewardship. As Jesus taught, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” When we move from putting a little money in the plate each week to building our financial plans around the gifts we will share, we learn what it means for God to be the first priority in our lives and, thus, to have our hearts shaped into God’s heart of love.
As with any spiritual practice, the benefits we receive through financial stewardship reflect the intention we bring to it. We believe that stewardship is the sacrificial, proportional, first-fruits gift of our financial resources to God’s work in the world. When we give to God a meaningful amount—the kind that would require us to give up some of the comforts we enjoy—and it represents a specific percentage of our income—a gift that reenforces our belief that all good gifts come from God—and we begin our financial plans around that gift instead of handing to God whatever is left over when everything else has been paid, we learn in our hearts and minds what we proclaim in our faith. Through stewardship, we discover anew that God’s love has no limits and that a life built on that love is worth celebrating.
Stewardship helps make our faith real to us. As we begin to make our financial plans for the coming year, each of us is asked to consider what portion of our income we will devote to God’s work in the world. I invite you to begin praying about how you will use your resources both to support what God is doing through our church and to invite God to shape your life in a way that grows your faith and makes it real. On October 29, we will have the opportunity to place on the altar our financial commitment for the coming year, and I hope you will experience that as a way to deepen your experience of God’s love in your life and in the world.
Before I understood the spiritual benefits of sharing my resources with the church, I heard every stewardship sermon as a way for congregations to raise money for their ministries. I may have welcomed that message in my own church, where it felt like I was supposed to contribute, but I found it off-putting when sitting in another congregation. Now, I understand that the invitation to stewardship is not a request for money but an offer for spiritual growth. Giving back to God is one way we learn to trust in God, grow in that relationship, and become the children of God we hope to be.
Yours Faithfully,
Evan D. Garner