Stewardship of Treasure

There was a little boy in Church who had just listened to a sermon about the time of tribulation when “the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky and the powers of heaven will be shaken.  He turned to his mother and whispered, ‘Mom will I get out of school then?’.” 

St. Mark’s gospel continues “and then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory, and then he will send out the angels and gather His elect from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of the sky.” Mark 13: 24-32

That scripture verse calls us to consider directly our relationship with the Son of Man, Christ.  Have we been such good stewards that Jesus will recognize us at the Second Coming and have we grown so close to Him, the Steward of our lives, that we would recognize Him?  Yes, it is a matter of trust in our relationship with God. Have we been willing to trust God with our lives by placing our lives in God’s hands?  Giving God our first fruits is a sign that we have taken a real step toward the Son of Man, Christ.  For when we are in relationship with our Savior we glimpse eternity, heaven, and those moments fill us with gratitude to know that everything we are and have is a gift from God.  It is in this spirit of thankfulness that we want to give back to God some of our blessings, tithing.  None of this makes sense unless we know we are truly in a love relationship with a God who loves us so much that He gave His life for us.  Thus, we are called to love as He has loved us, to give as He has given to us, Himself.  When we give, tithe, in this way we glimpse heaven and there is no greater joy.  God can truly not be outdone in generosity.  When we give from the substance of our lives we come to know the great joy of God giving to us and loving us.  There is no greater moment of satisfaction then to know God in our need to give back to God fulfilled.

Please pick up the Stewardship of Treasure commitment card in the pew or hold the one you brought from home in your hand.  Let’s pray the Stewardship prayer together.  I ask that while I am speaking, you will fill out the commitment card if you have not already done so.  You are asked to place your commitment card in the offertory collection today representing your tithe for 2010.

Stewardship of Treasure Prayer:  Lord God, you alone are the source of every good gift, of the vast array of our universe, and the mystery of each human life.  We praise you and thank you for your great power and tender, faithful love.  Everything we are and everything we have are your gifts, and after having created us you have given us into the keeping of your Son, Jesus Christ.  Fill our minds with His truth and our hearts with His love, and in His spirit may we be bonded together into a community of faith, a parish family, and a caring people.  In the name and spirit of Jesus, we commit ourselves to be good stewards of the gifts entrusted to us, to share our time, our talent and our material and spiritual gifts as an outward sign of the treasure we hold in Jesus.  Amen.

Let me speak now to each of the audiences as we await the coming of the Son of Man, Christ.

1.)   If you plan to give nothing I call you to prayer and the Word of God.  I want you to know that I am praying for you because whatever is an obstacle to your giving is also an obstacle in your relationship with God.  My prayers are with you.

2.)   If this is your first time giving today, I simply ask that you take a step and make a commitment.  Remember God cannot be outdone in generosity.

3.)   If you are making some attempt to tithe this year but you are afraid, I encourage you to start small and work your way up.  You might start by giving one hour of service a week to God and His Church and a 2.2% gift of treasure in thanksgiving for the many blessings that you have received from God.

4.)   If you feel as if the scales have fallen off your eyes and you are tithing for the first time, give thanks to God for the gift of the joy of giving.  And know that this is one of the best changes you have ever made in your life; for you have glimpsed eternity, heaven.

5.)   To my fellow tithers, how sweet it is for us to know the true joy of giving back to God our first fruits!  We have experienced first hand in our lives that God cannot be outdone in generosity.  It is in this spirit that I want to announce to you that with the recommendation and encouragement of our Parish Pastoral Council, our Parish Finance Committee, and our Parish Stewardship Committee, we will begin to tithe the tithe of our parish.  This means that we will no longer take up a special collection for 12 of the extra collections, but on the Sunday that these collections would have taken place we hope that you would place your tithe in the Sunday collection and we will give a tithe from the Sunday collection to these worthy causes.  We will tithe the tithe.  Our hope is to one day have only one Sunday collection for all collections.  For now, we will still take up the black bag collection for the poor of our parish (SVDP) on the first Sunday of the month and the special collections for World Mission Sunday and Retirement Fund collections for Religious and Diocesan Priests.  The Church envelope that you receive monthly at home will reflect this change beginning January 2010.

With most of the nuts and bolts of our Stewardship of Treasure campaign out of the way, you are asked to place your 2010 commitment in the Sunday collection.  For we remember this Sunday’s scripture “and then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory, and then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of the sky.”  Mark 13: 26-27