Another Side of Stewardship

If you regularly attend a church in any form of Protestantism, chances are that your church has undergone what is generally called a "stewardship campaign" in the last couple of months. Unquestionably 'money' is one of the most touchy subjects in church because of the stereotype established (rightly or no) that "the church is out to get your money." Still, finances are necessary for the life of the church so that the lights can be on, there's sufficient space and seating, etc. for the people who congregate together in one place to worship. Accordingly, churches establish a theme to speak on the importance of giving. To do so in a way that is encouraging and not guilt-riding is a delicate line to walk. Sometimes I feel like the pastor (or whoever may be speaking during those services) are walking around on egg shells, trying to avoid the perception that they are giving a guilt trip. To be sure, guilt trips are no fun, but I'd rather run the risk of people incorrectly perceiving my motives in speaking the truth found in the adage of "gain all you can, save all you can, give all you can" than to tickle ears saying, "Just give whatever you want." In any case, it's fairly typical (from what I understand and have experienced first-hand) that this campaign takes place in the few weeks leading up to Advent because the finance committee needs to establish a budget for the coming year. The 'stewardship campaign' is consummated in some form or another where the congregants send in their pledges for what they will contribute in the coming year.

Moving along...as I've mentioned in a couple of other posts (and I'm only a few posts into this blog), John Wesley had A LOT to say about money, and particularly the use of/management of it in the life of Christians. With that in mind, I went back to his sermon 'The Good Steward' expecting to hear the same sort of stuff found elsewhere in Wesley's other sermons on the subject of money. Much to my surprise, the emphasis upon "giving" and finances was not as central to his homily, though it was certainly an important aspect of it.

The sermon was addressed to nobility (a rarity among the Wesley corpus), and accordingly it is one of the more erudite sermons he composed. Yet it was also one of the most deeply convicting of his sermons. Had he stuck to money and what it means to be a good steward of the "stuff" with which we are entrusted, that would have been convicting enough. But for Wesley, stewardship is not merely a discipline or management issue...it's about sanctification. He reaches back to his tutelage under William Law and spoke of the 'stewardship of life itself.' So the question is not simply "What have you done with the money and materials that God has entrusted to your care?" The question is much bigger: "What have you done with the whole life that God has entrusted to you?" In other words, to see this in light of the 'Parable of the Talents,' the talents God gives are more than just gifts, money, and other things that we may typically call "stuff." Talents are everything that make up who you are: your mind/thoughts, your tempers and affections, your actions, your relationships, your tongue/speech, your hands & feet, your soul/breath...everything, even (or perhaps I should say, "especially") the grace God bestows upon and in you. How is your stewardship of all of these, consisting both of tangibles and non-tangibles?

If you think about it, this really makes sense. All of life itself is a gift from God. What if we really treated all of life that way? That would drastically change not only what we do with our money, but also what we do with the things that enter or approach our mind ('hold them in obedience to Christ'), our time, our physical abilities, our words, our attitudes, our education...again, everything. It's only been a day since I've re-read this sermon, but I'm telling you that God's grace triumphed more in me today than in any day in recent memory, because I realized that I am called to be a steward for my whole life.

Now I close with tying this to the beginning of the post: What would a 'stewardship campaign' that emphasized all of this look like? Would it really be any different than a resounding call to sanctification?