So, just what is Stewardship anyway?
Many people think “Stewardship” is just a code word that means ‘give your money to the church’. But that’s not what stewardship is about! One definition of stewardship I like is: Stewardship is what I do, with all I have, after I say, "I believe." Another is: Using the gifts God has given us, to do the work God is calling us to do.
Stewardship reminds us that all that we are and all that we have, including our intelligence, our abilities and our very life itself, are gifts from God. So, stewardship means the grateful and responsible use of God's gifts in the light of God's purpose, as revealed in Jesus Christ. Stewardship is not something we can think about once a year and then ignore – it’s lived out in ongoing conscious, purposeful decisions about the actions of our lives. While many of us would like to pretend that what we do with our time and money is not part of our faith life, regularly giving our time, abilities, energy, and money is a deeply spiritual matter.
While stewardship is about a lot more than money, money is an important aspect of it. Jesus has a lot to say about our use of money! While most of us probably don’t feel ‘wealthy,’ even those of us who are barely ‘middle class’ by Canadian standards are among the top 10% in income on a world-wide basis. So, the challenge facing us is to live in a way that shows thankfulness to God for the many gifts we’ve received. And the best way to do that is by living a life of generosity - sharing our material resources generously in proportion to how much we have. The actual amount you can give is not as important as whether it is generous in relation to what you have. And, of course, giving our time and money to support the mission and ministry of the church is a very important aspect of living as a Christian. When we give our time and money to St. Mary’s, we are sharing in everything the church accomplishes and all the lives that are touched through our ministry. But none of this should be a joyless duty –stewardship is a joyful act for the sake of God's world. At its heart, stewardship means living a grateful, generous and joy-filled life in thanksgiving for God’s gifts!
~ Rev. Roberta Fraser, Associate Priest