by Jordan Haynie
“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” If Jesus were looking at me, he’d probably think my heart was in textbooks, chips and salsa, and gas for trips to my internship parish. But it’s not about the amount of money we give to the church, necessarily. Even if I gave the traditional 10% of my income (and I’ll admit I’m not quite there), it wouldn’t be more than a drop in the bucket of St. Martin’s needs. It’s about a principle of generosity, and an open heart that doesn’t try to hold on to what we have as though it were ours alone. It’s about loving our neighbors as ourselves, and knowing that if one member of the Body of Christ suffers, we all suffer with it. It’s about prioritizing, and loving God, our neighbors, and our church more than ourselves (even when we would look really cute in those shoes).
And it’s about accepting that there’s more that we can give than money. We can pray for St. Martin’s, and for the people on our parish prayer list. We can be present in our neighborhoods, sharing the good news of Christ with our neighbors, showing up on their doorsteps with casseroles when they need it, listening to their concerns when they worry, and being a shoulder to cry on when they mourn. We can stand up against injustice, giving up our reputations to fight against bullies. And we can serve our church – on the Green Teams, in the choir, or just helping to clean up after Coffee Hour.
Stewardship is about recognizing that we’re all in this together, and that none of us can succeed without our faith community surrounding us. Whatever we give, let us give joyfully, with thanks and praise to our God who gives us all that we have.
Stewardship Reflection- Where your treasure is