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The Presentation of Christ in the Temple
(Candlemas) Stewardship Sunday
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the
living God Hebrews 10. 31
It is a fearful thing for
a parish priest to have to preach about stewardship. As soon as he
mentions the word, people assume he is going to talk about money.
And money isn’t an easy thing to talk about!.
St Paul wrote
Woe to me, if I do not preach the gospel!
1 Corinthians 9.16
Parish clergy surely have
to preach about stewardship; it’s part and parcel of the Gospel.
Besides the need to keep
faith with you and with my calling, we all need to keep faith with
the people who manage the finances of the church. If we are to keep
faith with John, John and members of the PCC, we must all bear
responsibility for resourcing the mission of the church. This is
what it means to be good and faithful stewards.
Above all, were we not to
consider seriously the notion of stewardship we would be failing to
keep faith with God. Our faith teaches us that everything we have,
we have on trust from God. Stewardship has to do with the use we
make of what God has given us.
One of the best-known
passages in the Bible on the theme of stewardship is The parable
of the talents,
Matthew 25.14-30.
A man going on a journey, who
called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold,
to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his
ability. The man who had received five
bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five
bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more.
But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the
ground and hid his master’s money.
The parable then tells of the return
of the master of those servants to settle accounts with them.
The man who had received five
bags of gold brought the other five. “Master,” he said, “you
entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.”
His master replied, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have
been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many
things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” His master likewise
commended the man with two bags of gold as he had gained two more.
But the man who had received one bag of gold explained that his fear
of his Master had led him to go out and bury his bag of gold in the
ground.
Mr ‘One Bag’ would probably not have been expecting to feel
the full force of his master’s anger.
“You wicked, lazy servant!
or to be thrown
outside, into the darkness,
where there will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth.
Where Mr ‘One Bag’ went
wrong was that he failed to make best use of what had been entrusted
to him. No “Well done, good and faithful servant” for him –
something he would forever regret. The message of the parable would
seem to be that the use we make of what God entrusts to us has
eternal consequences.
Stewardship is simply too important not
to consider seriously.
One of the duties of
church membership is that we should all – each in his own way – give
of our time, our talents and our treasure to the Church. Today I am
charged by the PCC Finance Group with inviting you all to consider
reviewing your giving to the church if you haven’t already done so
for 2008. As you will remember, we devised the so-called Angel
Appeal in December in order to try and ensure that the gap
between expenditure and income was narrowed, if not closed. It was
very heart-warming that so many responded positively to this appeal.
Thankfully, our Parish
contribution – our share of the amount the Diocese looks to be
provided from the Deanery of Arundel and Bognor, has not increased
by very much in 2008. But John Hawkin’s role as Treasurer would be
considerably easier if each month he knew for sure that we would be
able to cover current expenditure – something he was unable to do
throughout 2007.
The Diocesan Vision
document, Life Together, envisages the church being freed up
from the worry as to whether it will be able to maintain and
hopefully expand its ministry, and promote its mission. Of course
everybody’s circumstances are different, but the level of personal
giving to and through the church here in Rustington is below the
average in the Deanery, which itself is below the average level
across the Diocese – and that in turn is below the national average.
I’m neither clever enough nor brave enough to speculate about the
reasons why this might be so; but I don’t think its something we can
be proud of.
The biblical standard for
the level of individual Christian giving is 10% of income. Ever
since the Church of England began to encourage its members to take
the issue of stewardship seriously 50 years ago, the recommended
level of personal financial giving to and through the church has
been 5% of income, net of tax and national insurance. For some such
a proportion might be difficult to afford; for others – perhaps at a
different stage of life – 5% would still leave them more than they
need.
On Wednesday, I returned
from a week in The Gambia where I met people whose monthly wage was
between 600 and 800 Dalassis – £15 - £20. OK it seemed to be assumed
that waiters, chambermaids and other hotel staff would either
receive tips or find other ways of enhancing their basic wage. But
whilst its true that basic commodities cost less in The Gambia than
here, a monthly salary of 600-800 dalassi might buy enough rice to
feed a family of 4 for a month, but it would leave nothing for
anything else – not even the rent.
Whilst there I realized I
could well do without some of the clothes I’d taken. At the end of
my holiday I gave them away – the delight of
the recipients reminded of Jesus words
It is more blessed to give than to receive
However, on the way home,
I did wonder whether in fact I could have done more. Did I really
need that extra tee-shirt, that second pair of shoes when I had seen
people who probably had only one threadbare shirt and no
shoes.
My point here is that
our thinking about Christian Stewardship largely focuses on what we
choose to give away. But last year I heard one of the most
thought-provoking sayings I think I’ve ever heard on the subject of
stewardship. It came from Clive Dilloway, Chairman of the Diocesan
Board of Finance. Clive told me that – as a young man – he’d heard a
sermon on stewardship in which the preacher suggested that perhaps
we will be judged not so much on what we have given away, as
on what it was we decided to keep. Hearing this made me
wonder whether, one day, I may hear Jesus gently questioning why I
felt the need to hang on to what I hung on to when, actually I knew
full well the proportion of my treasure I’d chosen to retain was way
more than sufficient for my needs, and could have done so much to
help promote the sharing of the Gospel, or alleviate the plight of
those in need.
So think about whether
your stewardship is likely to lead to Jesus being able to commend
you with those words
“Well done, good and faithful servant!
If you haven’t done so
already, please consider – thoughtfully and prayerfully – reviewing
how much you feel you’d like to give to and through the church. And
remember the title of one of the many resources provided ‘from the
centre’ to help us take stewardship seriously - ‘First … to
the Lord’! |
