Stewardship Reflection - Where All are Queens and Kings

Where All are Queens and Kings
By J. Davey Gerhard

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The Church designates the final Sunday of the Church year as the Feast of Christ the King, a day in which the united rule of Christ over all of the universe is celebrated. In many communities, it is a high feast, with altar guilds preparing white vestments, flower guilds celebrating God’s glory in elaborate displays, and hymns filled with alleluias. What a way to end the year, to celebrate stewardship, and to prepare for Advent! 

But before we get too carried away with the grandeur of it all, today’s Gospel tells a different story about kingship and leadership: It tells of service. Typical of Jesus, he begins with what we expect — in this case power and triumph – and turns it upside down and in doing so, reminds us that it is through our ministry that we increase the role of the Church in our community. True power doesn’t come through force or wealth or conquest, it is derived from generosity, charity, and love. We change the hearts and minds of our neighbors by loving them and serving them.

Throughout this stewardship season we have heard about the mission of our own churches. You have learned about the ways that your gifts impact the life of your church and your neighbors. Perhaps this year you met the challenges of a global pandemic by adapting your worship. Maybe you responded to the needs of your community by increasing your outreach or your ministry to serve your neighbors. What is certain is that you had the opportunity to express your love and your hope for the world through your annual gift to your church.

We seek and serve Christ in all people by serving our neighbors. This is the great commandment of Jesus to his followers and it is one of the promises we make at our Baptism. When we are asked by those we meet on the street or those to whom we minister in our communities if we will offer them drink when they thirst, or visit them when they are lonely, or give them food when they hunger, our answer will be yes! Through our generosity and our faith, we are called to that same royal line as Jesus, leaders in our communities. Now that is a feast worth celebrating!

J. Davey Gerhard is the Executive Director of The Episcopal Network for Stewardship, and lives and teaches his faith in San Francisco, California.

Stewardship Reflection - Risking Our Lives to Find Them

Risking our Lives to Find Them
By The Rev. Chris Harris

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How do I find greater meaning and purpose in my life? Why is happiness so fleeting and a lasting joy so elusive? Who am I and what am I supposed to do with the rest of my life?

These are some of the big questions of life, and many of us begin to wrestle with them as we reach middle age and beyond. The best-selling book The Second Mountain, by David Brooks, suggests that we come to these questions most urgently when the “first mountain” of our life fails us either because we discover it to be ultimately unfulfilling (such as a life focused on financial success or career goals) or when it crumbles beneath our feet (as the result of a divorce or a life-changing health crisis).

According to Brooks, most of us don’t come looking for the “second mountain” of our lives until we’ve been thrown off the first somehow. Until then, when life is still going our way, we don’t have the eyes to see or the ears to hear. But when we finally are forced off our perches, we have the chance to discover for ourselves what Jesus has tried to tell us all along — that meaning and purpose come not from our accomplishments, our perfect families, or even perfect health, but by risking all that we are and all that we have for the sake of others.

If you are someone looking for the second mountain of your life, the question at the heart of our Gospel this week offers all the directions we need:

How will I risk the gifts I’ve been given, to do the work God is calling me to do?

Notice that the story turns on risk. Playing it safe, worrying about ourselves and what others will say about us, is the first mountain all over again. And a life of tepid generosity, one that is constrained by fear and our need for control, leaves us languishing in the valley.

Unless we are willing to risk it all for the sake of others – to take a leap into a Faith-Filled Generosity – we never reach the summit of a truly abundant life.

Chris Harris is Associate Rector of Christ Church Cranbrook in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. He serves on the board of The Episcopal Network for Stewardship and the steering team for Invite-Welcome-Connect, a national evangelism ministry, and is creator of Living Wi$ley, a faith and personal finance ministry.

Mr. Thomas Konieczny Reflects on Stewardship

Stewardship Reflection - The Gifts of Faith

The Gifts of Faith
By The Rev. Matthew Woodward

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The parable of the wise and foolish virgins brings back so many rector wedding memories. I have to say, virgins trimming wicks are few and far between in early 21st century Bay Area weddings; you are more likely to find mason jars liberally strewn around the barn venue and handwritten chalkboards offering tri-tip, which you can eat perched on a bale of hay. But the frenetic last-minute energy of things needing to be fixed is just the same today as in scripture.

If you get stuck in the anxiety, keeping company with the wedding planner and their staff, you are going to miss the point of the event.

Weddings confer the blessing of companionship. We can get stuck in the mechanics of delivery and all of the anxiety it generates. Or we can acknowledge that love is a great gift, and we should be grateful for it.

I once oversaw a wedding in which the couple forgot to get a license. I took a deep breath, made sure they had a wonderful day, and secretly remarried them a month or two later. Their love for each other was a gift. We found a way to fix the paperwork.

Faith is a gift, Christian community is a gift; worship, children’s choirs and that moment when teenagers suddenly make a profound connection with their faith: These are all gifts. We could get caught up in the anxiety of paying for it all, or we could just say thank you and write the pledge that shows how grateful we are for all we have received.

The Rev. Matthew Woodward is an Englishman on the West Coast of America and the Rector of Transfiguration Episcopal Church in San Mateo California. He is a recent puppy parent, and loves comics. He has also found stewardship ministry to be a real joy, rather than the other thing, in recent years.

Stewardship Reflection - Lives Shaped by The Beatitudes

Lives shaped by The Beatitudes
By Mary MacGregor

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Today’s Gospel recalls Jesus’ sermon on the mount, commonly referred to as The Beatitudes. In his usual manner, Jesus surprised his followers by uttering godly, countercultural truth. In essence, his teaching that day laid the foundation for what it means to live a Christian life.

What does it mean to be merciful, pure in heart, meek, poor in spirit, mournful, to be a peacemaker, to hunger and thirst for righteousness and be willing to be persecuted for it? The Beatitudes are a guide that, when studied, reveal layers of meaning for us as believers. They challenge many of our basic human desires and behaviors. Of ultimate importance, they clearly reveal what God seeks to bless.

Aren’t we fortunate that our God is forgiving and full of grace as we strive to be transformed by these teachings? Our journey of formation requires change and opening our eyes to see God in action all around us. Included in this change is seeing God’s endless blessings poured out upon us and developing a posture of gratitude in return.

Being thankful changes us for the better. Being thankful changes our perspective on life and can profoundly impact our understanding of God’s generosity. Being thankful can shape us to be stewards of all God has entrusted to us. Being thankful softens our fears. Being thankful turns fear of scarcity into joyful gratitude for God’s abundance.

We remember the saints who have gone before us on this All Saints Day. Some were revered as saints of old. Some were modern day saints. Some were simple folks like you and me. One distinguishing characteristic of saints is that we can see how they embodied and lived Jesus’ teachings, these very Beatitudes. They generously gave of their lives so much so that we remember them today. We are confident they were blessed by God for their faithfulness. May we be thankful for their witness and see in them lives shaped by The Beatitudes and be willing to do the same.

Canon Mary MacGregor is a member of the board of The Episcopal Network for Stewardship. She has been deeply involved in congregational development for over 25 years, and served as Canon for Congregational Vitality and Mission Amplification for the Diocese of Texas.

Mrs. Jean Burns Reflects on Stewardship (AND evangelism!)

Mrs. Jean Burns Reflects on Stewardship

Stewardship Reflection - Freely Giving our All to God

Freely Giving our All to God
By Rob Townes

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“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind’….
And … ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ” – Matthew 22:36-39

There’s a saying that the chicken who lays an egg makes a contribution, but the chicken who makes a sandwich offers a sacrifice. One could say that Jesus was alluding to the latter when he responded to the question as to which was the greatest commandment, “You shall love the Lord your God with all of who you are.” He was asking for more than a contribution; he was asking for the sacrifice of our all.

As the Latin root of the word suggests, a sacrifice — a sacrum facere — makes one holy. Giving generously of that of which you are a steward — your heart, soul, mind and all your possessions — is life giving. And it is countercultural. As the bumper sticker declares, “S/He who dies with the most toys wins.” That’s a powerfully seductive statement. Only with God’s help can we avoid being allured into thinking that it is in acquiring possessions that our life gains meaning. May we grow in the wisdom that a rich life results in trusting that it is in God we live and move and have our being. 

This reflection is written while visiting Green Bough House of Prayer in Scott, Georgia. Here the three residents, with the company of 77 associates, have dedicated their lives, their all, to God and have taken on a Rule of Life to embrace silence, prayer, simplicity and living in the present moment, and accept all as coming from God. Do all for God. Offer all to God. This to me is a beautiful example of Faith-Filled Generosity.

Very few members of the Church dedicate themselves to full-time contemplative living, but all of us are invited to learn to live Jesus’ greatest commandment, trusting that in so doing, Faith-Filled Generosity will flourish in our lives.

As we move back into our church buildings, remembering only too well the COVID-19-caused absence of normalcy, may we re-enter with a renewed commitment to freely giving our all to God and faithfully loving our neighbors as ourselves.

Rob Townes received his Master of Divinity degree from Emory University’s Candler School of Theology and has spent his professional career as a nonprofit and church fundraising consultant.

Stewardship Reflection - Give to God the Things that are God's

Give to God the Things that are God’s
By The Rt. Rev. Diane M. Jardine Bruce

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Once again in today’s gospel the Pharisees are trying to trip up Jesus. If Jesus supports the paying of the tax, his Jewish siblings who are rebelling against the Roman occupation will shun him. If Jesus says it’s unlawful to pay the tax, he’ll be in trouble with the Roman authorities. What does Jesus do? He asks them to look at the coin. It is a Roman coin. Pay the tax – meaning give the Emperor back his own coin! Then Jesus adds that wonderful line — give to God the things that are God’s.

What exactly IS God’s? Well, we are! Our Christian faith in God points us always to live a life of gratitude and generosity. God showed us how we are to live and how to give to God the things that are God’s: God gave us God’s son, God’s first fruit, and we are asked to do the same, remembering that everything we have, everything we do, everything we are is a gift from God — and it is a gift that is meant to be shared. When we share from our first fruits, as God shared God’s first fruit with us, we are modeling the same generosity God has shown us.

Remember, we have two sets of three legged-stools in our Episcopal Branch of the Jesus Movement: scripture, reason and tradition, and time, talent and treasure. The first shapes our faith; the second is how we use the gifts we have been given to live out our faith.

The Rt. Rev. Diane M. Jardine Bruce is the Bishop Suffragan in the Diocese of Los Angeles. Her ministry focuses heavily on stewardship, financial sustainability and New Community development.

Mrs. Sandra Provan Reflects on Stewardship