Paying it forward ... Stewardship issues ...

I'm borrowing from myself here ... at the Blog I have over at United Online, I mused the other day about the Budget diliberations at our recent Conference AGM.

It seems that Conference Executive has come to the realization that we are in a need of an increase to our various assessments of about 17% ... the howls of protest began on the floor, with people standing up and noting that their various pastoral charges are simply struggling to survive.

I hear that concern, and I for one would not dismiss it. But, I also would recall something my Grandfather used to say to me when I would utter a comment that said - "so and so is a ..." Grandpa would cut me off and say - "Shawn when you point fingers at someone, there are always three fingers pointing back at you ..."

The Budget process is a good place to recall that ... We howl in protest and fight an increase because "our Pastoral Charge is just struggling to survive ..."

Wait a second ... the Pastoral Charge is us ... the givers to the budget are you and I ... the reason we are struggling to survive is because we're NOT taking seriously our commitment to the Church, or our stewardship of the rich and bountiful blessings that God has bestowed upon us ...

In short - and to be blunt - in the United Church of Canada we are doing a poor job at Stewardship. Our givings can and should be higher ... our donations to charity have ample room for improvement ...

I seldom hear any conversation in the UCC about titheing ... yet if we tithed, imagine how much we would have to work with:

If a family of four has a combined income of about 55 000 dollars per year (it's a low number for most of our urban families - but high for most of our rural families) ... a tithe would be a number between 4000 and 5500 dollars a year ... (even taking taxes into consideration). We can balk at that number and say it is too high - but then pick up today's newpaper and peruse the ads for the various electronics shops ... How much is that new flat screen 48" tv ??? How much is that new SUV in the driveway, even on a lease?? How much have you spent on hockey equipment this year alone??

It's all a matter of priorities ...

Admittedly, one of the issues is relevancy too. The Church is increasingly irrelevant to most of the people in today's society. It's time to let go of our preconcieved notions and let the Spirit flow over and through us as a Church ... We are the Body of Christ, not a social club. Our calling is to care for others, not to justify our new cars, our trips, our affluent lifestyles ...

When Jesus said the poor will always be with us, it wasn't a call to complacency - it was a call to action.

When we say - "someone should do something about that ..." there are three fingers pointing back at us ...

When we say - "this increase is outrageous, it's too much ..." there are three fingers pointing back at us ...

When we say - "the church needs to practise better stewardship ..." there are three fingers poitning back at us ...

I say we pay it forward. We are members of the wealthiest, most affluent society in the history of humanity - we have soooooo much, yet we are becoming more and more self-ish and more and more protective of our stuff ... When will we hear the whisper from our childhood that told us that good children learned to SHARE !!!!?????

We can turn this "crisis" around by starting to talk more about stewardship and worrying less about protecting what we have ...

Imagine if every man, woman and child in the United Church (there are apparently about 300 000 of us, give or take a few hundred) gave ONE dollar a day ... that's 300 000 dollars a day ... then you multiply that by 365 days in a year ...

It sounds complicated, it sounds hard, it sounds unattainable, until you step into a corner store or a coffee shop ... chocolate bars are a buck and a quarter ... bags of chips are 99 cents ... coffee is anywhere from a dollar to four dollars for a fancy latte ...

We can spend five bucks in a blink of an eye on stuff that's not good for us anyway ... but we will howl with rage when our Conference folks say we need to come up with a whooping $2 a year more (per identifiable giver) for the work of Conference ...

What's up with that???

Two dollars a year ???!!! Come on - I spend more then two dollars in a single visit to the coffee shop here in town ...

Stewardship demands we look at HOW we spend our money and what we use it for ... Faith demands good Stewardship ... Therefore, in finest high school logic process I can muster - faith therefore demands we look at how we spend our money. We've worked hard for it - why should we simply fritter it away on frivilous things???

Ah, perhaps that's the key ... we think that trips, new cars, gadgets and gizmos are non-frivilous things ... our fridges bulge with food, our deep freezers over flow ... our bellies roll over our belts ... perhaps a good look in the mirror and the simple question: "what's really important ??" Is a good place to start ...

Today - tomorrow and in the days that come - let's work at being good stewards, then next year our Conference will have more money and time to focus on what's really important - like caring for the people around us ...

Titheing is not a four letter word ... nor is stewardship ...

(from prairie preacher at United Online:)
If we spent as much money on the work and ministry of the Church as we so easily spend on ourselves, we could actually begin to do many of the things we talk about doing and we could truly make the world a better place ...

For the record - at Conference we were told that the annual cost of operating Conference is $12.60 per resident member and $17.84 per identifiable giver (I will leave the rant about the disconnect between the givings of members and givers for another day.). For that we get the staffing skills and resource pool that Conferences offer us as lay and clergy ... It's a tiny expense, particularly when you break it down to a weekly or daily donation ... Imagine what we could be doing if we doubled or tripled our donations??

I think this year I will send Conference Office a cheque for 100 dollars - it will be a donation of $20 per person in our home ... it will be sent to put towards the current deficit, and in the hopes that others have the courage to follow my lead and do the same ... imagine if next week every Conference Office in Canada opened the mail bag to find a donation of $20 dollars for EACH member of this United Church of Ours ... they'd be rolling in cash and we could actually fund many of the ministries that are struggling just to survive ...

Wow for $20 we CAN change the world ...

I say we try it and see what happens ...

Who's with me ????

May it be so ...