Stewardship

Last Sunday my pastor asked me to speak about Stewardship and as I sometimes do, I waited until the last second and was up bright and early Sunday morning, actually dark and early as the sun had not come up yet, to finalize my thoughts on how to address Stewardship. Well, thankfully the night before, my wife, who is typically a bit more prepared than me, had offered this definition….

“The careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care” – stewardship…“

So, this is where I started. Breaking down the definition into its parts I discovered that I have a strong belief that God has entrusted me with the careful care of my church, and everything about it – the clergy, the congregation, the choir, the actual building, the failing air conditioner, the landscape, and also, ultimately, what’s outside the doors of the church, the world, which of course includes all of you who are reading this. But how can I take care of all of these things and the whole world? But then, it hit me. I realized I can’t, but a pot-luck can…. Let me explain.

The week before I was asked to present a minute for stewardship we had a pot-luck at the church. As I sat in the Choir loft that Sunday, looking out at the congregation I had a feeling of satisfaction. There were so many people in the pews. More than weeks past. So, I was happy to see that, but then as my mind does, it wandered and I started asking questions as to why they were all here, was it a random occurrence, was it the Thanksgiving holiday, was it the food from the potluck, maybe it was because word leaked about about our pastors sermon topic and everyone couldn’t wait to get here. It was probably a combination of all of the above. In any case the pews were filled and I was thankful.

But as I thought more about it, the idea of a potluck just kept presenting itself so I went with it and started, again, with the process of defining my topic. So, what was a pot-luck? Well, by definition a pot-luck is:

“A meal or party to which each of the guests contributes a dish.

Simple, and delicious, right? But after reading that definition I realized something, I realized that God has been inviting me to a pot-luck from the very first time I met him. And since that realization I have started to prepare by thinking about what I am going to bring to the feast.

So, today or tomorrow or the next day and the day after that, I encourage you all to plan a pot-luck. But in this pot-luck, what everyone has to bring is everything they have just like the disciples did in Matthew 14:13-21 where Jesus fed five thousand with five loaves and two fish. How can this be? Well, I suggest it was a potluck and after Jesus blessed the loaves everyone in the crowed brought everything they had to the table and shared and sacrificed in order to satisfy everyone. For, me a clear example of “treat your neighbor as yourself”, the realization and example of hope of what is possible if we all come together under Christ.

Because it will take everything we have to take careful care of what God has entrusted to us.

So, I encourage you to think of stewardship as a pot-luck and give of everything you have been given. But I want to clarify one more point, note that I did not say “give everything you have”, but rather I said “give of everything you have”. The “of” designates a portion of what you have, just like God asks us to do. Give some of your time, give someone a shoulder to cry on or to rest their head, lend someone your ear and just listen to them to make them feel that they have a voice that needs to be heard and that they are valued, open your arms and invite someone in for a hug to make them feel cared for, give a portion of your money for the church to use to help the world and together we will all enjoy the pot-luck that God has invited us to.