A memory that is rich in my mind and I suspect that comes easily to you is that of the priest or lay reader rising from his or her knees to read “the Comfortable Words” following the confession and absolution in the Book of Common Prayer Communion service. Most of us have those biblical sentences committed to memory and they easily roll off our lips: “Come unto me…. God so loved…. This is a true saying…” Those words are beautiful, peaceful. They were intended bring a sense of comfort to the penitent.
I have always thought that there is another set of “Uncomfortable Words” – words that are also part of our church. For some, words like “evangelism” or “witnessing” strike a difficult chord while for others, incense, Sanctus bells and vestments are enough to provoke indignation. Then there are words that cross all liturgical and political stripe and are almost painful to speak: “fund raising,” “stewardship” and other words that describe the need for money come to mind. We find ourselves uncomfortable because parishioner Smith or Jones has money, the church needs money and the issue then becomes how to get it from him or her?
As long as the church's approach to raising money it needs for ministry is to find ways to pry it out of people, we will have stewardship issues in the church.
This issue of MinistryMatters is about those unspeakable words that cause us discomfort. As you see from the variety of articles it contains, the issues are critical and the timing could not be better. For many of us, the struggle with stewardship, money and fundraising goes right back to seminary days. We came into ordained ministry with a sense of arrogance about these things. We assumed that our parish would respond so well to our ministry that “stewardship” would not be necessary. I want to share two key principles that hopefully can begin to change our thinking about the use of all God's gifts in ministry.
The first is the importance of you and I taking seriously the stewardship of our own resources. We frequently offer excuses – low stipends, inadequate travel allowances time demands and poor rectories – as reasons why we do not examine our own sense of giving to the church. All of those factors may be valid but the biblical concept of stewardship does not allow for excuses. It only allows for honesty. I do not believe that we can have any integrity in our preaching about this subject unless we are prepared to practice it ourselves.
“The gift is an expression of our joy over the birth of Jesus and our friendship for each other.”
The second principle comes from a recent workshop on prayer. The leader of the workshop, in encouraging people to develop the prayer ministry in their parishes, made the point that prayer needs to permeate the life of the parish. To have an occasional prayer group or a once-a-year sermon on the subject simply tells people that it is not an important part of the parish life. In a similar way, stewardship and the need for adequate funding for the church needs to be before people in a regular and consistent way. It is not so much a matter of jamming it down people's throats as it is in week-by-week reminders to people of their responsibility.
I was recently in St. John's Cathedral in Saskatoon and part of the announcements included “A moment for stewardship” done beautifully by a lay person. Another valuable resource is the weekly stewardship reflections done by Archdeacon Michael Pollesel of the diocese of Ontario (See www.ontario.anglican.ca.)
There is a story which you have probably heard before and which you may even have told yourselves that bears repeating as we begin to think about the need for giving, sharing and stewardship.
An African boy listened carefully as the teacher explained why it is that Christians give presents to each other at Christmas. “The gift is an expression of our joy over the birth of Jesus and our friendship for each other,” she said. When Christmas day came, the boy brought the teacher a seashell of lustrous beauty. “Where did you ever find such a beautiful shell?” the teacher asked. The boy told her that there was only one spot where such extraordinary shells could be found – a certain bay several miles away. “Why it's gorgeous,” said the teacher. “But you shouldn't have gone all that way to get a gift for me.” His eyes brightening, the boy answered, “Long walk part of the gift.”
I commend this issue of MinistryMatters to you. There are, as I begin my primacy and as we begin a life together in the context of the Framework, very real financial challenges before the church at every level. My hope is that stewardship may grow in your understanding and in importance, enabling you and the people of your community to become both the walk and the gift.
