The Three-legged Stool

In the past two writings, I have suggested that we consider the use of our time and of our talents in responding to God’s call to be the stewards of His Church. These are the first two of the three areas commonly identified with stewardship. The third? Time, Talent and — Treasure.

It is noteworthy that treasure (money) comes last in this traditional grouping. The effect is to focus our attention on the two aspects of stewardship that involve a personal, intimate commitment of ourselves — what we are — before bringing up an extension of ourselves — that is, the external resources available to us. Why bring this very worldly, non-spiritual thing (money) into picture at all? Well, it’s the third leg of the stool, so to speak.

In order to fulfill its role as a stable, useable seat, a stool must have a minimum of three legs…potentially more, but certainly no less. For the Church to accomplish its work in the world, functioning as a stable institution for the nurture of its members and the fulfillment of its mission to evangelize, the time, talent, AND treasure of its members are required.

Why does the Church need to concern itself with money? For two reasons: 1) the Church exists IN the world and the bills must be paid; 2) we, both individually as well as corporately, can’t do everything everywhere but can support others in carrying out vital ministries. How does your money get used? Well, the bills are pretty obvious — water, electricity, gas, property tax, repairs, supplies, travel, &c., &c. — everything it takes to maintain a facility for corporate worship and to sustain ongoing Parish programs. Often our support of other ministries is less obvious. There are the various ministries within our Parish and community. There are those within our Diocese and the National Church. There’s the support that goes towards theological education (seminaries) and the Presiding Bishop’s Fund, used to provide humanitarian relief in areas throughout the world.

However, it is more than just for the needs of the Church that we, in our stewardship, are called to give of our treasure. This act of giving is part of our duty and our spiritual discipline. It is our duty because we are only giving back to God for His work on Earth the things that, ultimately, belong to Him anyway, putting into proper perspective the relationship between God and us, His creatures. It is a spiritual discipline because, done regularly and "gracefully", it can help us grow in generosity, humility, and love of others.

In the biblical tradition, a portion (tithe) of everything grown or raised was offered back to God (Lev. 27:30). Tithing (giving one-tenth of our income) is still an appropriate goal for giving. However, the amount one gives is a personal decision. Pledging (filling out and signing a pledge card, available from the Parish Office) is our opportunity to make a commitment to regular giving. Have you filled out a pledge card? Do you give, gracefully, of your time, talent, AND treasure? How sturdy is your (spiritual) stool?

Faithfully,

Rob Simas, Sr. Warden

Stewards of the Word

In giving his disciples the Great Commission, Jesus was, of course, speaking to each and every one of us. This represents our call to evangelism. However, what does evangelism have to do with stewardship? They're obviously two different things. Or are they?

Matthew's version of the parable of the Talents (Mt. 25:14-30) speaks directly to us of stewardship. There are the "good and faithful" servants, who took what was entrusted to them, worked with it, and made it grow. On the other hand, there is the "wicked, lazy" servant, who took what was given and buried it in the ground -- maintaining it and keeping it safe, yet profiting his master nothing. One lesson that can be drawn is to risk using what we have been given. To what end? To the profit of our Master. What is this "profit"? The growth of His Kingdom. "The use of 'talents' (originally a sum of money, now signifying abilities) is stewardship, to be sure," you may be thinking, "but how does this fit in with evangelism?"

The talents we have been given are the Word of God Himself, the Good News, the Hope of Salvation, the Gifts of the Spirit. What are we doing with these? Are we using them to profit our Master, to make His Kingdom grow? After all, this IS the work of the Church -- OUR work. This is the whole point of stewardship: the right use of the gifts God has given us to accomplish the tasks He sets for us to do.

Now, I may date myself by recounting the following, but I'll risk it. When I was in high school and college, a standard farewell comment to friends was "Keep the faith!" This, of course, referred to maintaining the ideals that we shared (such as, equality, justice, and peace) during a time of unsettling national turmoil and social upheaval. Almost as quickly as this saying suffused through the popular culture, there arose a counter saying: "Spread the faith!" I guess this might have developed with the realization that keeping something to ourselves wasn't going to accomplish much. It was only by creating a critical mass of like-minded people that true change could come about.

I believe this relates to our roles as stewards in the Church. We have been entrusted with something very special. We are stewards of the Word, of the Good News. Keeping (maintaining) the Faith is not enough; we are called to spread it (evangelize)…by whatever gifts we've been given, using whatever opportunities are presented. Where should we spread the Faith? How can we help the Kingdom grow? First, we can look into ourselves. Are we growing? Is our Faith spreading within every aspect of our life? What about our parish? What are we doing to help deepen the Faith and Love within our own worship community? How about our local community? We all strive to be "good and faithful" not "wicked and lazy" servants. How can we know if we're, in deed, making it? We might ask ourselves: "How grows the Kingdom?"

In His Service,

Rob Simas, Senior Warden   6/1/00