A number of people spoke about different aspects of Stewardship:
The experience of Stewardship; Gift; Treasure; Prayer; Talents and Time. The content of each talk is given so far is available below.
An Invitation
Day of Prayer and Reflection on Stewardship
being held on 1st November 2008
from 10 am at St Bede’s School
concluding with Mass at 3pm in St Bede’s Church.
Please come for the whole day and sign up to bring something for lunch. If you cannot come for the whole day, Prayer stations will be set up in the Church, so come and pray in your own time about Stewardship and what it means to each one of us.
Mass for All Saints will be at 3pm and all are welcome but please arrive 5 minutes before Mass is due to start.
Try these aids to brief meditations about various aspects of the theme:
• bread taste • clay pot • egg timer • fruit • fruit scripture • gift tags • gift tag station
• grapes taste • hands images • incense • masks • oil • pearl of great price • slinky
• spirit gifts • time • water
GRATITUDE
Gratitude is one of the fundamental characteristics of the Christian Steward according to the U.S. Bishops 1992 pastoral letter “Stewardship : a Disciples Response”. Christian Stewardship involves being grateful to God for our many gifts.
We all live very busy lives. The very necessary day-to-day business of work, home, family and leisure can leave little time to stop and appreciate the many gifts we have been given, and question where they might have come from.
Gratitude enfolds the understanding that everything we have is a gift from God. This appreciation can only come when we realise we have received God’s gifts - we didn’t do it ourselves. This is an important component of Gratitude.
An “Attitude of Gratitude” helps us to be grateful for what we have been given as opposed to feeling sorry for ourselves, and coveting what appears to be our neighbours much more desirable gifts.
Gratitude takes nothing for granted. To be grateful is to recognise the love of God in everything – and he has given us everything – and to see the hand of God in all creation. He has given us life, our family and friends, our lifestyle and freedom. Gratitude is the joyful appreciation of the God-given beauty and wonder of nature – a rainbow, a sunset, an autumn leaf, a beautiful flower, sunshine, rain, a snow scene. He has given us our busy lives. What is worse than being busy? Having nothing to occupy our days. He has given us our material possessions, our special talents, skills, abilities and traits.
The word “Eucharist” is derived from the Greek meaning thankfulness, gratitude, giving thanks. In the liturgy of the Eucharist, the Eucharist Prayer and its Preface all highlight the need to, and importance of, giving thanks :
“We do well always and everywhere to give you thanks”
“Let us give thanks to the Lord our God”
A good way to start the new day is to list 5 things to be grateful for. “Thanks” turns what we have into enough. It is the difference between “having what we want” and “wanting what we have”.
As Christian Stewards if we live our lives with an “Attitude of Gratitude” and recognise that everything we have are gifts from God, our lives will be richer in the things that matter, leading to a sense of contentment and hope.
Maureen Reid
GIFTS
One of the ways of looking at Stewardship is to think of it as being about gifts. There are many different types of gifts. We give presents at Christmas just as the Magi did. We give presents to celebrate birthdays and other occasions such as retirements, weddings or people moving into new homes.
Gifts are also those talents and abilities that one person may have that others do not. Gifts can also be about helping or assisting others through prayer, by volunteering and charity work or through sponsorship.
The many and wonderful gifts of the Holy Spirit (wisdom, knowledge, understanding, piety, courage, counsel and fear of the Lord) reflect our understanding that gifts are about our abilities and therefore when we are giving our time, or sharing our talents or giving a present, we are giving something of ourselves.
Stewardship encourages us to think about how we go about doing this. How do we use our time, our talents, our treasures as a gift for others? Stewardship also challenges us to reflect on how we receive gifts. Do we always realise when we’ve received a gift? Are we always generous in our response to the giver? Are we always grateful?
A compliment or a thank you can be a gift. A “how are you” said with genuine meaning and concern can be a gift. Making time to truly listen to someone is a gift to them. Meeting someone and getting to know them is a gift. Teaching someone how to do something new for the first time is a gift just as seeing their delight and pleasure in their achievements is a gift for their teacher.
The gifts of the Holy Spirit include all the time that people have given to listen to our problems and worries. They include the kind words, the 'thank you's, the compliments we have received. They include the Mass, the singing of hymns, the Prayers we share. They include perhaps the greatest gift of them all, the gift of God’s love.
Therefore ask yourself this question “When did I last give a gift and how did I react when I last received a gift from someone else?” I think you may be pleasantly surprised at how loving and giving we already are, and can be.
Sue Beavil
TREASURE
Stewardship is not a programme or a pattern of behaviour that we can adopt for a while before something better or more interesting comes along. Much more than this, stewardship is a way by which we recognise our discipleship of Jesus, and acknowledge that everything we are and that we possess is a gift of God, entrusted to us for a while for us to use, and then to be returned to God - and accounted for.
At one level, it is easy to see how Treasure fits into this line of approach - everyone can give money to the Church. Money is Treasure, and therefore everyone is - to a greater or lesser extent - sharing their Treasure with the dispossessed.
This is wholly true. To give any money at all to the Church is truly a work of Christian charity, which will bring its own reward. But if we are going to be stewards - real steward - is there any more that we can do? If we recognise that the gifts we have been given are for a purpose, to be used, developed and strengthened, then perhaps we should look again at the use we make of them. I suggest that each of us is called to proclaim the mission of Jesus Christ - to bring the good news of the gospel to the world around us. Most of us, for whatever reason, do not make much of a show at doing this. but most of us can give money - our Treasure.
Every one of us has something to contribute to the mission. It is, perhaps, unfortunate - though very understandable - that so many of us choose to give our money, rather than our time, our care or our love, but at least we are giving, which is the important factor. And yet, if we are to be real stewards we need to give our very selves to the Lord. That means, not that we don't need to give Treasure, but that we need to give more; we need to commit ourselves.
One of the key definitions of the word 'treasure' is 'anything much valued'. By this token, when we give our time or our care, we are giving our treasure, just as much as when we give banknotes; in fact we are giving more, because we engage ourselves in the process.
If we take and give freely and gladly, thanking God the whole time, it will change our lives. It will make us grateful for everything we receive, for our lives, and for every breath we take. If the only prayer you say in your entire life is 'thank you', that is enough.
Richard Luker
TALENTS
God has given us the gift of life, each person, is unique, with the special gift of life, God gave us all talents, not only for ourselves but also to use for the benefit of others. We all have some form of talent that enriches our identity as we develop and grow. Although, we may not even realise that we have talents.
Talents come in many forms, kindness towards others, may be a simple smile can make a great difference to someone’s day, visiting the sick, caring, a kind word to someone, who perhaps is feeling very low could make all the difference, spending time with the lonely, calling in on your elderly neighbour could make a big difference to their life or a two minute telephone call could make some feel wanted, singers, musician, leaders, great talkers, writers, teachers, listeners, prayer, hospitality, artistic talents, athletes, the gift of cooking and many more as the gift is endless.
Our talents may be buried deep inside and we may not be aware that we have them or may not even realise that we are using them in our everyday life, like parents, teachers, doctors, carers, priests, nurses, nuns, all trades and professions that work to assist and benefit the lives of others. We have to learn to look into ourselves to be able to see what our talents are, sometimes you may not be able to see or know your talent, but your family and friends around may be able to point these out to you.
If we can all learn to use our talents to assist and help one another with love, Kindness not only when we attend Mass but also when we leave the Church we can take Gods love to the community outside our church. I believe by example in the way we act towards others is a way for others to follow this will enhance God’s work and increase Stewardship with Church and the whole community.
TIME
'Once upon a time'. 'Time after time'. 'In time'. 'On time'. 'Out of time'. So many phrases come to mind.
Time seems certain; we are born, we live and grow, we will die. We gradually learn the difference between day and night by about six months old. We hear our parents speak of times before us; grandparents hope babies may carry on their line. Teenagers hear: "It's just a phase they're going through". Time is taken for granted as a rhythm of our lives.
We are also born with an inner rhythm leading us to communicate with others. A baby's head and arms move, attract attention, and get a response. A blind baby girl, only two months old, waving her left arm before her mother sang a lullaby, was found to be conducting perfectly. Early 'talk' between baby and adult has a common musical rhythm. Even asleep, side by side, rhythms of heart and breath communicate.
Time management feels a world away from this. We sift, using levels of 'urgency' and 'importance'. Think of sorting mail: 'Quick and simple', 'Crisis', 'Planning' and 'Waste'. We make lists, mark calendars with appointments, keep blogs, and use electronic memories to jog our own.
I felt honoured to be invited to a Stewardship meeting, but also reluctant. It clashed with my Friday night swim. Nor do I like being talked to about the same old subjects of 'time, treasure, and talents'. Suddenly I heard:
"Good stewardship of time also means knowing when to say "No"."
I found being with others to talk, think and pray about what matters, a pearl without price. Regular meeting may not feel right for you just now. But, a chance to think about what you say "Yes" and "No" to each day could be. Is there '...no time to stand and stare'?† Such moments restore that healthy rhythm God breathes through us.
Richenda Power
† from W.H.Davies' poem 'Leisure'
