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In Chicago, Thinking About Stewardship & Spiritual Depth
Listening to the Rev. Charles LaFond (a good friend from seminary) speak about "organic stewardship". He serves as a canon on the staff of the Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson, Bishop of New Hampshire. Some notes:
Difficult to talk about money, pushing buttons (shame, grief). Living in a soup of shame and grief, with an awareness that our wealth comes at the price of poverty and suffering for others.
Effective + kind - nice = the best leadership
The difference between charming and changing lives.
Younger generations are not going to give to clubs, etc. They are going to give where they think a difference is being made, where lives are being changed. An institutional suspicion.
People are not greedy; they are scared. Greed is their screen.
We're terrified that our standard of living might change.
Middle ground between being pastor and being prophet. We must be a pastor first.
nhepiscopal.org Under "Stewardship". "No Gimmics."
Fall campaign to raise money; spring campaign to raise people. And both involve pledge cards.
Through all of human history there was room for silence in our lives; but not so since, say, World War II.
If the Devil's old strategy was to get us to sin a lot; the strategy now is to get us to do too much of ANYTHING.
What's the one thing we can do to improve stewardship? Deepen spiritual life.
We receive so much horrible input--TV, Internet, etc.--and so little good, deep input. That's the context we are working in. And then we offer a 12-minute response in the sermon.
The amygdala, the reptilian brain, the size of a kidney bean: it kicks in and overwhelms rationality and, for that matter, spirituality.
A cult of choice for people under 50: they want to keep their options open (delaying marriage; not pledging).
Spirituality: a relentless pursuit of the truth.
Before you speak: is it kind? Is it true? Does it improve on the silence?
Don't tip God.
Having compassion for those who might be/become givers.
"Jesus stared at him and warmed to him," from the story of the Rich Young Ruler.
If we focus on spiritual depth, we will open up the possibility that people will hear God say "I love you," and, further, "I like you." Sabbath, silence, simplicity make room for this. Until people know that they are loved, they will not give as they could.
The prophetic call out of the wilderness, the wilderness in which we are working is a wilderness of words, of exhaustion.
We must offer something better than overwork, etc, something for people to grab a hold of, in place of the overwork, etc. Sabbath, silence, simplicity.
Stewardship is not a logistical matter with pastoral/spiritual implications. It is a pastoral/spiritual matter with logistical implications.
Conversion of life and stewardship must be woven together.
People give because of guilt; or because God has inspired them; or because of the charisma of the leader; or because of the effects your church is having on the world, on the marginalized.
In Ware, New Hampshire, the sign in front of Holy Cross Episcopal Church, says "Ware Community Center," with "Holy Cross Episcopal Church" written underneath in smaller letters. To live, your church must be an outreach center, also with a place to worship.
The choices we are not making are still choices. Most of our sins are things left undone.
Tags: organic stewardship, rev. charles lafond, spirituality
