​Stewardship Teaching # 1

Stewardship is not fund-raising and it's not a program. It's a different spirituality about why we give anything to God. The word steward means to administer things belonging to someone else. A steward manages someone else's stuff, so stewardship changes our understanding of what we think we own.

God created the world and everything in the world, and it's God who constantly keeps things existing. We're just taking care of it for a while. We're administering things that belong to someone else. When we die, God will ask, "How did you do administer the things that I entrusted to you?" Imagine how we'd feel before God if we had spent our whole life thinking those things were ours.  Laws about ownership are just to keep good order in society. But in relation to God, no one actually "owns" anything. Let's get specific. The real owner of the homes we live in. Of the money in our savings. Of the clothing in our closet. Of the hours in our week. Stewardship, ladies and gentlemen, is having the understanding that all of these things belong to God and he's just entrusting them to us for the brief time that we're on earth.

Stewardship, therefore, is not a money thing; it's a spirituality thing. Stewardship sometimes starts slow in a parish because Catholics are suspicious that it's just a secret way of talking about money and they have bad memories of priests doing that all the time. Well, no one can say that about me; I've hardly ever mentioned money. The homilies are online; you can check. In the past, many priests talked about money a lot and often used guilt. I know, because I've heard the heartbreaking stories, and I want to formally apologize to anyone who had guilt used on them about giving. Stewardship doesn't focus on money and it doesn't use guilt; it uses gratitude. When we realize how much we've been given by God, we're thankful, and we give back. So, stewardship isn't driven by the bills we have; it's driven by the beliefs we have.

The words steward and stewardship are used in the New Testament 87 times, and the Lord speaks of it twice in Luke's gospel. Because it's so Scriptural, most Protestant congregations have a big head-start on us when it comes to stewardship. Only in the past 50 years have Catholics been really getting into Scripture. Think of all the parables where the Lord talks about the "master" of the harvest or the "owner" of the vineyard. We have a gospel like that today. You and I have been in God's vineyard from the day we were born. The time we have on this earth, the things in our possession, and the skills we have... all come to us from God. We're just taking care of them for a while. As stewards. As people who administer things that belong to someone else.
Next week, we'll start looking at the three main parts of stewardship.

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Stewardship Teaching #2

There are three main parts of stewardship. Three things that we give to God: our time, our talents, and our treasure. Years ago, the hardest of these things to give to God might have been our treasure. Our money. But these days, with Americans being so over­ scheduled, giving our time to God at a parish might be the hardest thing. For example, does everyone know the real reason we stopped having coffee and donuts on Sundays? It wasn't because of the cost. It's because we couldn't get enough people to DO the coffee and donuts. What's the reason we sometimes have the Blood of Christ only in one or two aisles? We couldn't find enough people to distribute it. It therefore goes without saying how thankful we are for the many people who do give of their time for any ministry on the weekend. We couldn't do it without them.

The time we have on this earth is a very precious gift, but unlike money we can't store it up. I know that people like to say that God should come first. Shouldn't that affect the way we prioritize giving our time to things? Let's be honest, which is harder: to take out our debit card or checkbook and give God some of our money, or to take out our calendar and give God some of our time? So, with everyone being so busy, how DO we act as good stewards of time at a parish?

Well, part of stewardship is re-adjusting how we give things to God. Instead of giving to God because we have extra, stewardship means we give differently. We give from the get­ go. When it comes to giving our time, we don't do it because we happen to have some time left over. Instead, we carve out time for God up front, off the top, and we say, "This is a priority, and this is how I'm going to show it." If you want to see what's important in someone's life, watch what they spend their time doing.

At the end of this month, we'll be sending everyone a little booklet of all the ways for people to give of their time at Blessed Trinity. It'll include ministries during Mass, ministries with children and youth, behind the scenes activities (we have lots of those) and even commissions and committees. A whole list of everything. It'll be mailed out, but we'll also have some at church because a number of people are still not registered and are not on our mailing list. But remember, this wouldn't be something to look at and think, "Well, I've got some time left over and I suppose I could help out." Stewardship-giving is done up front, off the top. In the eyes of the Lord, a parish is not just one more thing people can get involved with. This is where we access God. Besides, if you were Christ, would you want your disciples to give you their time only when they had some left over?

We know from looking across the country that parishes that embrace stewardship end up with thriving ministries, and find new ministries developing. So if you've ever wondered, "Why doesn't our parish have... this anymore? The answer is undoubtedly stewardship and giving our time up front, off the top.
Next week, we'll look at the second part of stewardship.

Stewardship Teaching #3

Last week we identified the three things that a steward gives to God: our time, our talents, and our treasure. Today we examine the second of those three: giving our talents, our abilities to God. You might be thinking, "That's the same as giving our time." Not really. Compare the abilities needed to put on coffee and donuts after Mass to the abilities needed to play an instrument during Mass, or to be at the cantor's stand singing into the microphone, or to teach 2nd graders the sacraments. Different things require different abilities. So, let's state a couple basic truths about stewardship and abilities.
First off, everyone in here has been given abilities by God, whether they're aware of it or not. That's because we've all been given the Holy Spirit. St. Paul was correct: There are different forms of service, but the same Lord. There are different workings, but the same God. And here's Paul's best line about this: "To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit." We've ALL been given abilities, by God, through the Holy Spirit. This is actually a big part of stewardship: realizing that we all have abilities.

Remember, stewardship is a spirituality.
Second, the abilities we've been given are not primarily for our own personal use; they're for enriching the lives of others. That's straight out of the Gospel. Didn't Jesus say that our light must shine and not be put under a bushel basket? But a lot of Catholics didn't grow up being taught that. Catholics basically went to Mass and put in their envelope, and priests and nuns did the rest. Those days are over. We're all called, by God, to step up and say, "Yes, I'll get involved in my parish, because I've been given abilities." It makes a bigger difference than you think. For example, we've often struggled to have three Ministers of Hospitality at Mass. Three. Needless to say, we're deeply grateful for those who have gotten involved at the parish, whether on the weekend or during the week.

Blessed Trinity would wither on the vine without them.
What's the most common thought keeping Catholics from getting involved during Mass? "Oh, Father, I could never do that in front of people." Sure, you could. Know how I know? Because I see people do it at funerals all the time who've never done it before, and they're carrying the additional burden of grief.  What's another thought keeping Catholics from getting involved during Mass? "Oh, Father, I'm not worthy to do that."  I know; neither am I. We give of our abilities during Mass not because we're worthy, but because we've been gifted.

We've put together a time, talent, and treasure booklet that'll be mailed out at the end of the month, and in it are 55 ways that people can get involved at Blessed Trinity. All of the ministries and activities have been given an identifying number and there's something for everyone. Simply write down the corresponding number of the activity that you're willing to be part of. If you're already involved, note it again to indicate your continued service. You can use the form for yourself as well as for all members of your family. I'll also include a letter with all the details of how to do it.
Next week we'll look at the third and final part of stewardship.
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Stewardship Teaching #4
 
Today we have our final teaching on stewardship, and we look at the third thing that we give to God: our treasure. Our money. Do you remember when the money basket first started being brought up at Mass with the bread and wine? At first, a lot of people in parishes didn't like that. But the book I use on the altar actually says that even money, or other gifts for the poor, brought forward at Mass, are acceptable. True, it might be hard seeing the collection as a holy undertaking, so let's clarify that.

Making a religious offering of money at Mass is not primarily a financial act; it's primarily a spiritual act. That's different from what many Catholics had been taught. Some were told to give money because the parish had bills to pay. There's nothing very spiritual with that kind of approach. Others were guilted into giving money. And still others gave or withheld money based on whether they liked what was happening in the Church. Money is important because it connects us to other important things: security, safety, education, and even retirement. But it also connects us to the welfare of other people, especially the poor and those who are really struggling. This means that the money basket connects the Mass to daily life in a unique way. But whether we worked for the money or inherited it, money is still a product of the earth and it therefore belongs to God. Remember, at Mass everything we bring to the altar gets redistributed. The money goes to meet the needs of the Church and the needs of the poor. In fact, bringing forward at Mass gifts for the poor is a practice that goes back over 17 centuries.

So, as you reflect on giving of your time, and giving of your talents, reflect also on giving of your treasure. It'll be different for everybody, of course. In every parish, there are people on a fixed income, people barely getting by, but also people whose religious offerings have not been adjusted in many years. That's understandable; people forget. The one thing to avoid would be the withholding of offerings as a protest about something going on in the Church, because that ends up hurting only the parish, not the Diocese of Saginaw or the Vatican. It goes without saying that we appreciate so much the generosity of the people of the parish and those who give from the depths of their hearts. Here at Blessed Trinity, we've been talking for a few years about constructing a storage building on the grounds, but Covid put that on hold. We'd still like to do it, and this leads to some important questions. Should parishes that have no debt follow the path of stewardship? Yes. Should parishes that have no big projects going on follow stewardship? Yes. Stewardship doesn't depend on the projects a parish has going on.  It's not project-based; it's faith-based.

Stewardship makes us think deep thoughts about what we spend our time on and spend our money on. It helps us appreciate what we've been given, and the resulting gratitude helps us give back: from our time, our talents, and our treasure. So, what now? Well, we'll be mailing out a Time, Talent, and Treasure booklet to all registered parishioners, and we'll also have some here at church for people to look through the 55 different ways to get involved in the parish, and to do additional thinking about stewardship in general. There are even things in the booklet for kids, and I'll include a letter as well.

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