Stewardship Beyond Survival

Have you read any materials on annual financial campaigns written by Dr. Leo B. Waynick Jr.? He is a retired United Methodist pastor living in Florida.  Leo and I served on the Northern Illinois Conference Program Staff in the eighties.  His portfolio emphasized stewardship.  Mine focused on ethnic ministries, social justice and spiritual formation.  On staff, Leo coined and/or developed a phrase about stewardship that always appealed to me.  “Stewardship beyond Survival,” he called it.  Upbeat, it accentuated faith over fear.  “What we possess, earn, receive is a gift from God to be used in ministry and mission in the church and the world,” it stressed.  Congregations and pastors were inspired to be faithful stewards during “the best and worst of times.”  Because “people of faith” are so uncertain about today’s economy, we need to be reminded that there is Stewardship Beyond Survival.  Be assured, if the gates of Hades can’t prevail against the church, an uncertain economy doesn’t stand a ghost of a chance.

 

I am not naïve.  To no small degree, members of our local churches and our neighbors are suffering.  Articles in Tuesday’s December 30, 2008 USA TODAY bolster that claim.  For example:

 

a. It seems like everybody wants a bailout.  But who will it really help?  

 

b. Last month, the nation’s unemployment rate was the highest in 15 years.

 

c. Retail stores like Sears, Talbots and Circuit City are closing some stores. 

 

d. 2008 is the worst holiday season for retailers in 40 years.  

 

Neither Santa Claus, Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer nor Jolly Old St. Nicolas persuaded countless owners of billfolds and pocketbooks to spend and/or charge things with “reckless abandon.”  

 

God’s church has had the same kind of trouble.  In some places, “the worst of times,” has reconfigured the stewardship intentions of numerous givers.  Self-preservation has removed or reversed stewardship from their list of priorities, i.e., survival first, stewardship second.

 

For the widow at a temple service in Luke 21:1-4 or Mark 12: 41-44; this was not so.  Stewardship beyond survival remained at the heart of her life and witness.  She was a cheerful giver.  What belonged to God was her first priority.  Some of us might question the depth of her stewardship.  Had she faced as tough times as we do today?  I think so.  Had her circumstances made it easier to give of her best to the master via prayers, presence and service not just gifts?  I don’t think so.

 

This Jewish widow knew “the best and worst of times.”  When her husband lived, she received love, care, support and protection as his wife.  When he died, it disappeared.  “A widow had no inheritance rights-often lacked the basic necessities-and was exposed to harsh treatment or exploitation (often by members of the cloth, Luke 23:45-47.) That’s the way it was.  Widows were so destitute that the disciples organized an order of deacons to feed and care for them.  See Acts 6:1-6.  Where were the extended families and /or the children to whom they gave birth and succor?  

 

Nevertheless, this widow-unfettered by her poverty or the worst of times steps forward boldly and drops her two pennies in the treasury.  Inspired by her example, Jesus the Christ paid her the highest compliment.  The widow gave more than the rich givers.  They gave out of their abundance; she gave out of her scarcity.  To be candid, Jesus affirms faithful stewardship.  And, Jesus confirms that neither “the best of times nor the worst of times” i.e., abundance or poverty should limit faithful stewardship.”  Herein lays the best expression of Stewardship beyond Survival by a disciple of Jesus Christ.  Dare we follow her lead?       

 

NOTE: Kudos to Editor Ann Whiting and the staff of the Michigan Christian Advocate.  MCA was recognized as the BEST IN DIVISION as a magazine telling the story of annual conferences and Episcopal areas.  Across the connection, people have made the same comments to me.  Well done Ann Whiting!

 

Bishop Keaton

By: Bishop Jonathan D. Keaton On 2/1/2009
Topics: Bishop