Across the Pastor’s Desk by Mike Ellis

In this month of November we take time to focus on the theme of stewardship.

Understanding stewardship is helping us as Christian live a certain way of life. This way of life is centered on prayer, helping our faith communities meet the needs of all the people who attend the faith community and assist the community at large and the world to assist those who need the most help.

Let us look at these principles of stewardship.

Being a steward means as Christians we are people of prayer. November is a month that resonates with prayer. It is a month where we all take time to thank God for the blessings received in life.

Here in honor of this month of thanksgiving is a prayer: Gracious and loving God, as the autumn season continues its transformation; and the days become shorter, the earth cooler; as we anticipate joining family and friends in joyful celebration on Thanksgiving Day, we pause to give You thanks and praise for the abundant blessings You have bestowed upon us: For life and health, safety and comfort, food and nourishment, we are sincerely grateful. Through your Spirit, open our hearts so that we may be even better stewards of these rich and unmerited gifts. Show us how to be a blessing for the poor, sick, lonely and all who suffer. And help us nurture the gift of faith, revealed to us by your Son, Jesus Christ, our greatest gift, who reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen. Jesus calls us stewards to be people of prayer.

As stewards we are challenged to be people who help our faith communities meet the needs of our faith communities and other needs throughout our communities and world.

Sacrificial giving begins with the personal need each one of us has to return to God a grateful portion of our income in thanksgiving for all His blessings. Gifts are meant to be shared. God takes our gifts of stewardship and changes us into more loving and grateful people capable of sharing his love with our neighbor.

Sacrificial giving takes faith and trust. For Christians, it is a way of life. The tradition of biblical stewardship is that each household tithe 10 percent of its yearly gross income — 5 percent to the faith community and 5 percent to other charities.

A man was sitting in church. It was obvious he was a visitor. He sat next to a parishioner and they greeted each other. It was time for the collection and the man took out his wallet. The woman noticed he had lots of bills in his wallet. He started to pull out one of the bills when she leaned over and whispered, “Give it all.” The man stared at the woman and emptied his wallet.

Stewardship challenges us to give it all. Why? God will provide us with all that we need.

As we gather in our faith communities and with our families this month of November let us be Christians who practice being stewards. We are stewards when we center our lives on prayer and we practice biblical stewardship.

 

Mike Ellis is a deacon at St. Theodore Catholic Church in Albert Lea and St. James Catholic Church in Twin Lakes.