Like it or not, we are all stewards. We all practice stewardship in one form or another. In all aspects of our lives we practice stewardship in varying degrees and with varying results.
BASIC DEFINITION OF STEWARDSHIP
The basic definition found in most dictionaries is essentially this. It is the responsible overseeing and protection of something considered worth caring for and preserving.
THEOLOGICAL DEFINITION OF STEWARDSHIP
Stewardship is a theological belief that humans are responsible for the world, and should take care of it. Many religions and denominations have various degrees of support for environmental stewardship. It can have political implications, such as Christian political lobby groups, or the Knights of Columbus. It can have social peace and development purposes like the international Catholic food and poverty relief agencies. Or it could be something as small and local as the parish, the children's liturgy program and yes even the choir.
JUDEO-CHRISTIAN ASPECTS OF STEWARDSHIP
Catholics, Protestants and evangelicals all see stewardship as the glue that holds everything together. In Jewish and Christian traditions, stewardship refers to the way time, talents, and TREASURE (material possessions, or wealth) are used or given for the service of God.
But for the purposes of this presentation we will focus on the aspects of stewardship that are the basis of a Catholic community:
SCRIPTURAL BASIS
A biblical world view of stewardship can be defined as: "Utilizing and managing all resources God provides for the glory of God and the betterment of His creation."[2] The central essence of biblical stewardship is managing everything God brings into the believers' life in a manner that honors God or at the very least doesn't insult God.
All of the teachings of stewardship come directly from the Gospels, the Old Testament and the letters of the New Testament. Don't look for the actual word anywhere. You will be disappointed if you do. But it's pervasive an easily understood when I quote the following passages:
"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End." (Revelation 22:13)
"The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it." (Psalm 24:1)
"To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it." (Deuteronomy 10:14)
"The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants." (Leviticus 25:23)
"Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me." (Job 41:11)
Stewardship begins and ends with the understanding of God's ownership of everything...
DEPENDENCE ON GOD
Stewardship is recognizing that everything we have is a gift from God. We can take credit for nothing. Everything we have and everything we do is a result of some gift that God has placed into our hands whether it be for an hour, a month or a lifetime.
GRATITUDE
Stewardship is living a life of gratitude – taking the time every day to recognize in prayer the gifts that God has given and to be grateful for them.
GIVING BACK
Stewardship is returning a portion of our gifts to God. Once again, the gifts we return are our time, our talent and our treasure. We return these gifts not because God or our Church needs them but because we feel an overwhelming need to show our love and gratitude to God.
TRANSFORMATIVE
Stewardship is transformative. Once we embrace the stewardship message it changes the way we look at every decision we make. Stewardship becomes a total way of life.
A LOVE RESPONSE
Once we allow God to truly take up residence in our hearts we become so overwhelmed by His abundant love for us that we just naturally feel the need to join our lives with Him and dedicate our time, talent and treasure to carrying out God’s work here on earth. Our generosity comes from within and not from any external pressure or reward.
PROPORTIONAL GIVING
Stewardship calls us to realize that each of us is called to give as God has given to us. We no longer base our giving on what others are giving. We no longer excuse ourselves from giving because we do not see others giving. Rather we give in proportion to all that God has given to us. I shake my head when I think about the announcement made by the UN last week that the richest 1% will own half of the world's wealth by 2016. Clearly these mega rich dudes didn't get the memo on stewardship.
SPENDING TIME WITH GOD
Stewardship involves spending time with God. Recognizing that every day is a gift from God, we strive to spend some of each day with God, through prayer, Mass, Eucharistic Adoration, scripture reading, quiet time, meditation and other spiritual activities.
SHARING TALENT
Stewardship involves sharing talent. Recognizing that God has given each individual unique skills and talents so that together we can do the work of Our Lord, we strive to share our own talents and to encourage and welcome others to also use their talents to carry out the mission and ministry of the Church. Being a total klutz, I stand in awe when men of this parish get their tools from the trunk of their car and fix things without fuss, stuff that would cost us a fortune if we had to call a plumber or electrician each time. And this has been going on for as long as those doors have been open.
GIVING TREASURE
Stewardship involves giving treasure. Giving time and talent does not excuse us from giving treasure. We know that throughout the Gospels, Jesus challenged us to give as it has been given to us. Recognizing the tremendous financial blessings that abound in our country, we strive to give at least 10% of our resources back to God, to support the building up of God’s kingdom. That 10% tithing (or tenth) BTW has biblical references throughout the Old Testament. (Especially in Deuteronomy, Numbers and Leviticus). Although this level of giving may not be immediately possible, we should be aware of what percentage we are giving back and regularly strive to increase the amount, taking small incremental steps toward giving a full tithe.
ACCOUNTABILITY
Stewardship calls us to recognize that just as in the Parable of the Talents, each of us will someday be asked by God to give an accounting of all that we have done with the gifts that have been given to us. Likewise, parish communities that embrace stewardship must be accountable to the community for the way in which the parish uses the gifts entrusted to it. It is the same accountability that is asked of our Wardens, our Parish Pastoral Council and all our other Parish volunteers.
COUNTER-CULTURAL
Stewardship is counter-cultural....meaning to say it's not popular. Think about it. When was the last time you heard of banks giving information sessions on stewardship. While our consumer driven society encourages us to continually strive to buy more and more, stewardship helps us to recognize that we already have more than enough. In fact, we even have enough to share. Time for decluttering?
BASIC DEFINITION OF STEWARDSHIP
The basic definition found in most dictionaries is essentially this. It is the responsible overseeing and protection of something considered worth caring for and preserving.
THEOLOGICAL DEFINITION OF STEWARDSHIP
Stewardship is a theological belief that humans are responsible for the world, and should take care of it. Many religions and denominations have various degrees of support for environmental stewardship. It can have political implications, such as Christian political lobby groups, or the Knights of Columbus. It can have social peace and development purposes like the international Catholic food and poverty relief agencies. Or it could be something as small and local as the parish, the children's liturgy program and yes even the choir.
JUDEO-CHRISTIAN ASPECTS OF STEWARDSHIP
Catholics, Protestants and evangelicals all see stewardship as the glue that holds everything together. In Jewish and Christian traditions, stewardship refers to the way time, talents, and TREASURE (material possessions, or wealth) are used or given for the service of God.
But for the purposes of this presentation we will focus on the aspects of stewardship that are the basis of a Catholic community:
SCRIPTURAL BASIS
A biblical world view of stewardship can be defined as: "Utilizing and managing all resources God provides for the glory of God and the betterment of His creation."[2] The central essence of biblical stewardship is managing everything God brings into the believers' life in a manner that honors God or at the very least doesn't insult God.
All of the teachings of stewardship come directly from the Gospels, the Old Testament and the letters of the New Testament. Don't look for the actual word anywhere. You will be disappointed if you do. But it's pervasive an easily understood when I quote the following passages:
"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End." (Revelation 22:13)
"The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it." (Psalm 24:1)
"To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it." (Deuteronomy 10:14)
"The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants." (Leviticus 25:23)
"Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me." (Job 41:11)
Stewardship begins and ends with the understanding of God's ownership of everything...
DEPENDENCE ON GOD
Stewardship is recognizing that everything we have is a gift from God. We can take credit for nothing. Everything we have and everything we do is a result of some gift that God has placed into our hands whether it be for an hour, a month or a lifetime.
GRATITUDE
Stewardship is living a life of gratitude – taking the time every day to recognize in prayer the gifts that God has given and to be grateful for them.
GIVING BACK
Stewardship is returning a portion of our gifts to God. Once again, the gifts we return are our time, our talent and our treasure. We return these gifts not because God or our Church needs them but because we feel an overwhelming need to show our love and gratitude to God.
TRANSFORMATIVE
Stewardship is transformative. Once we embrace the stewardship message it changes the way we look at every decision we make. Stewardship becomes a total way of life.
A LOVE RESPONSE
Once we allow God to truly take up residence in our hearts we become so overwhelmed by His abundant love for us that we just naturally feel the need to join our lives with Him and dedicate our time, talent and treasure to carrying out God’s work here on earth. Our generosity comes from within and not from any external pressure or reward.
PROPORTIONAL GIVING
Stewardship calls us to realize that each of us is called to give as God has given to us. We no longer base our giving on what others are giving. We no longer excuse ourselves from giving because we do not see others giving. Rather we give in proportion to all that God has given to us. I shake my head when I think about the announcement made by the UN last week that the richest 1% will own half of the world's wealth by 2016. Clearly these mega rich dudes didn't get the memo on stewardship.
SPENDING TIME WITH GOD
Stewardship involves spending time with God. Recognizing that every day is a gift from God, we strive to spend some of each day with God, through prayer, Mass, Eucharistic Adoration, scripture reading, quiet time, meditation and other spiritual activities.
SHARING TALENT
Stewardship involves sharing talent. Recognizing that God has given each individual unique skills and talents so that together we can do the work of Our Lord, we strive to share our own talents and to encourage and welcome others to also use their talents to carry out the mission and ministry of the Church. Being a total klutz, I stand in awe when men of this parish get their tools from the trunk of their car and fix things without fuss, stuff that would cost us a fortune if we had to call a plumber or electrician each time. And this has been going on for as long as those doors have been open.
GIVING TREASURE
Stewardship involves giving treasure. Giving time and talent does not excuse us from giving treasure. We know that throughout the Gospels, Jesus challenged us to give as it has been given to us. Recognizing the tremendous financial blessings that abound in our country, we strive to give at least 10% of our resources back to God, to support the building up of God’s kingdom. That 10% tithing (or tenth) BTW has biblical references throughout the Old Testament. (Especially in Deuteronomy, Numbers and Leviticus). Although this level of giving may not be immediately possible, we should be aware of what percentage we are giving back and regularly strive to increase the amount, taking small incremental steps toward giving a full tithe.
ACCOUNTABILITY
Stewardship calls us to recognize that just as in the Parable of the Talents, each of us will someday be asked by God to give an accounting of all that we have done with the gifts that have been given to us. Likewise, parish communities that embrace stewardship must be accountable to the community for the way in which the parish uses the gifts entrusted to it. It is the same accountability that is asked of our Wardens, our Parish Pastoral Council and all our other Parish volunteers.
COUNTER-CULTURAL
Stewardship is counter-cultural....meaning to say it's not popular. Think about it. When was the last time you heard of banks giving information sessions on stewardship. While our consumer driven society encourages us to continually strive to buy more and more, stewardship helps us to recognize that we already have more than enough. In fact, we even have enough to share. Time for decluttering?
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