From the Pastor’s Study

November is traditionally the month when the church conducts its Stewardship Drive .  Of course, it is really a pledge campaign to help the leaders of the church plan the budget for next year.  Giving to the church is only one part of stewardship, albeit for those of us who have to pay the bills, an important part.  You will soon be getting your stewardship letters in the mail in which you will be asked to consider carefully what you will pledge to the church for 2009.   

With the stock market in free fall and the economy going into recession, it might be tempting to cut back on what you give.  And if your personal income is actually decreasing, then it might be necessary to do so, while maintaining the percentage you give.  However, most of us will not see an actual decrease in our personal income, so long as we keep our jobs or have pensions.  Those who have social security as part of their income will actually experience the largest increase in that portion in quite awhile.

As I said giving to the church is only a part of stewardship.  Stewardship is about what we do with the resources that God has given to us.  We are stewards because “The earth is the Lord’s” (Ps. 24:1).  As Christians we know that God is the Creator and we are God’s creatures, set in the midst of God’s good creation, “to till it and to keep it” (Gen. 2:15).  Our first responsibility is not to ourselves, but to the God who created us.   

But God did not simply create the world and then walk away.  God continues to care for the creation and for us.  When we humans turned against God and refused to acknowledge our creator, God, far from abandoning us, came to us in the person of the only Son of God, Jesus Christ.  From him we have received life and reconciliation.  In gratitude for God’s grace given to us in Christ, we, in turn, give of ourselves to God’s work in the world.   

Finally, it is through the Holy Spirit that we receive both the assurance of God’s care for us in Jesus Christ and the trust in God that allows us to remain faithful in trying times.  Our hope is in God’s promises, not in the stock market or the government.  Since God is for us, who or what can be against us?  Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  So as we face the year to come, let us face it not with fear, but with hope.   

Your pastor,  

John

For the most recent column go to October Column.

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Last updated: October 24, 2008.