My Blog

Tag: Stewards

  • Creation Has Been Given Into Our Care

     


    During the next few weeks, we will be hearing a lot about faithful stewardship in preparation for Consecration Sunday, October 8. I thought it might be helpful at the outset to share my perspective on what I believe to be the foundation of Christian stewardship.

    Creation Has Been Given Into Our Care.

    In the very first chapter of the very first book of the Bible, we read that God created human beings in God’s own image. God blessed our species, entrusted the rest of creation into our hands, and gave us all the gifts we will need to fulfill our unique purpose.

    This ancient passage is the basis for our Christian theology of stewardship.

    • To be created in the “image” of God means to be a living witness to the Creator and to be an official representative of the Creator on planet earth.
    • To “subdue” the earth means to bring things under control and to manage them according to God’s purposes.
    • To have “dominion” means that human beings have been appointed as the rulers and protectors of all living things, serving under the ultimate sovereignty of God, their Creator.

    So, human beings have been entrusted with the vocation of stewardship, the call and commission to represent our Creator in caring for everything in the amazing universe that has been given to us to sustain all life.

    God doesn’t expect such things from other creatures nor has God equipped other creatures for such a role. Birds, for example, build essentially the same kind of nest every year. A robin builds a robin’s nest. A cardinal builds a cardinal’s nest. A hummingbird builds a hummingbird’s nest. From one generation to another, each kind of bird builds the kind of nest into which it came into this world.

    Humans, on the other hand, have the capacity to build an infinite variety of buildings for an infinite variety of purposes. We build houses, schools, hospitals, office buildings, convention centers, and churches. Every one of them can be different from the others and from those that we built a generation or a year ago.

    The vocation of stewardship is given uniquely to human beings. Therefore, it is one of the chief attributes that makes us human.

    Everything we have, whether spent, saved, or given away, is a sacred trust from God. We are stewards of all of it.

    Nothing pleases God more than for us to consciously live our lives as God envisioned. To understand ourselves as stewards of God’s bounty is the perfect way to do that. When we deliberately surrender to God a portion of our time, talent, gifts, and service, as a spiritual practice, we consecrate all the rest of our resources and declare our intention, with God’s help, to manage the rest in ways that please God. In that way, we become fully alive children of God.

    What a remarkable way to honor and glorify God.

    I'll see you in Church!

    Ron Short Blue Sig Cropped 17

     

     

     

    The Very Reverend Ron Pogue
    Interim Dean
    St. Andrew’s Episcopal Cathedral
    Jackson, Mississippi

     

    SAVE THE DATE
    CONSECRATION SUNDAY, OCTOBER 8
    A complimentary catered lunch for all will be served in the Parish Hall following the one 10:00 a.m. service. Since lunch will be provided, reservations are important. Please make your reservation online at standrews.ms/register.
     
     

     

  • Faithful Stewards

    A little over twenty years ago, a leading authority in the field of church administration advised clergy not to use the word “commitment” around baby boomers.  He warned that it would drive them away because commitment in any area of life frightens them.  Five years later, the same leading authority reported that baby boomers were attending high expectation, high commitment churches in disproportionately large numbers.  Those churches were growing. We discovered that low expectation, low commitment churches like The Episcopal Church were declining.  While we were soft-peddling commitment, our members were leaving us for churches where it is required.  I resolved at that time that I would never soft peddle commitment again.

    When George Rupp was President of Rice University, I heard him say, “There is no life without community and there is no community without commitment.”  Think about it.  Without commitment, families, organizations, athletic teams, work groups, companies, and nations fall apart.

    One task of an interim pastor is to challenge the church community in transition to clarify its present identity in preparation for a new pastor.  One way to foster that new sense of identity is to ask the members to measure their level of commitment in light of our Church’s teaching that, The duty of all Christians is to follow Christ; to come together week by week for corporate worship; and to work, pray, and give for the spread of the kingdom of God. (BCP, p.856)

    I realize that some people may be as allergic to the word “duty” as they are to the word “commitment.”  But most reasonable people will acknowledge that fulfilling our duties is a necessary aspect of keeping our commitments in daily life.  In fact, the phrase “relieved of duty” carries negative connotations.  And why would anyone think that duty to God is any less important than duty to family, team, country, etc.?  Throughout history, many people have expressed the conviction that duty to God made it possible for them to fulfill all the other duties of their lives.

    I invite you to examine your commitment to your Christian duty.  Make this an opportunity to take the next step in your faith journey.  Is there a way to follow Christ more closely?  Can you join your fellow Christians in worship more often?  Is there a place of service to which you are being called?  Is there room for improvement in your prayer life?  How about your giving? Is it time to move up another step toward the spiritual discipline of tithing?

    Do yourself and your church community a favor and reflect on those questions as you prepare for Commitment Sunday.  At The Church of the Good Shepherd, commitment cards will be distributed during the services.  We’ll complete them together and bring them to the Altar as an act of worship.  Make this time of transition a time of renewed and increased commitment.  Ask God to use you in new ways to help the Church be all God wants it to be.

    Ron Short Sig Blue