November 2007

From the Pastor

     A couple of months ago, I attended a workshop entitled “Faith & Money.”  The goal of the workshop was to help us understand (or re-understand as the case may be) that stewardship is as much a spiritual discipline as prayer, reading the Bible, or worship. 

     Stewardship doesn’t have to be a scary word.  At its best, it simply means the wise use of the resources we’ve been given.  Whether it’s time (c.f. p3), relationships, money, or any other gift, all of us have been truly blessed.  We give because we want to share our blessings and to make a difference.

     Money is just like any other gift we’ve been given.  The problem isn’t really the lack of money; it’s really lack of faith. 

   That reality was also brought home to me at the workshop.  During one of the presentations, one man raised his hand and talked about how his church was the poorest church in town.  Then he tossed out that old chestnut, “you can’t get blood out of a turnip.”

     Perhaps, I thought, that’s the problem.  His church is full of turnips.  It also got me to thinking about what an odd expression that is, and how it says much more than it intends.  It implies not only that people are vegetables (with all of the implications of that belief), it also says that what is expected is some kind of unrealistic expectation: blood.  God doesn’t expect blood from us; God expects faithfulness.

     Later on, I had the opportunity to speak to this man’s pastor, who told me that the worst part is that this man belongs to a very wealthy yacht club, which will be going through some rather expensive renovations.  His reaction to those renovations?  “It’s expensive, but we’ll find some way to do it.”  As his pastor said to me, “I only wish he had that kind of faith when it comes to his church.”

     Our annual financial stewardship campaign will be the Sunday before Thanksgiving, Nov. 18.  When we complete our pledge cards, I pray that we will do so not out of a belief that we’re turnips and that God (or the church) is trying to squeeze blood out of us, but that we will do so as a response to God’s goodness to us.

Pastor Tony