It was exciting to listen to the brief report that Dick Metzger, our stewardship chairperson, gave us this past Sunday. I am gratified at the way that you have responded to the needs of the church in so many ways. Stewardship is a multifaceted concept. At this time of the year, however, we tend to focus on finances.
We are blessed with many opportunities to help and serve at First Lutheran Church. The truth, however, is that few things in our own lives or in the life of the church “just happen.” Planning, prayer, commitment and material support are all essential ingredients for the success of any ministry. Stewardship is the way that we ensure successful ministry in the church at every level.
As we consider financial commitment, we tend to get caught up in picking numbers. We tend to settle on a dollar amount that “feels comfortable.” That’s how some of us decide our giving amount. Comfort is the key word and that comfort level seldom changes.
The issue with this is that the “pick a number” approach isn’t Biblical, theological or necessarily prayerful. It isn’t what God means by “sacrificial giving.”
Sacrifice doesn’t mean deprivation. Sacrifice simply implies the willingness to subordinate a felt need to a greater good. Moses, for example, had a felt need to live a quiet and fairly prosperous life in the fields. God, however, had other plans and the history of salvation unfolded because of his response. That was an act of stewardship.
That’s the call for us today. Like Moses, Abraham, Peter and Paul, we are called to take a step beyond our comfort zone into a growth zone. We are invited to faithfully entrust our gifts to the multiplying power of the gospel.
Stewardship, then, is never primarily about dollars and cents. Money is simply a symbol of our priorities. Stewardship is a faith statement more than a financial decision. It’s a response. It’s not necessarily how much we give, but what that gift represents…what that gift says about our response to God and His work in His world and in our lives.
At the moment of this writing, the budget is being finalized for presentation. I pray regularly for those of our number entrusted to mapping the way for ministry while making ends meet.
I’m not a gifted financial planner, but when it comes to stewardship, I doubt that most of us give simply to support a budget. My reading and experience lead me to believe that most of us give more willingly to vision than a simple budget. That makes me optimistic. These continue to be hard times for most, but our budget, I think, reflects a vision that affords opportunities for us to make a difference in lives at home and around the world. Our congregation, our synod and our church have exciting visions worth getting caught up in. I am sure that if we share the vision, the dollars and cents will happen.
Again, I thank you for your abiding love, involvement and support of the ministries of our beloved congregation. I’ll see you in church!
God’s Blessings,
Pastor Jim Christian