This weekend we turn our focus to stewardship.
Our focus is always on Stewardship in some form or other. We are always talking about taking our faith out into the world and sharing it. Last week, we heard about the conniving steward who was going to be fired and how he secured his place. We heard about the prodigal son the week before and the woman who lost her coin and God’s mercy on us. Before that, Jesus told us that we have to renounce our possessions in order to be His disciple. That’s what stewardship is about. How are we sharing our faith, or strengthening our faith in order to share it?
We have the four pillars of Stewardship in our Gathering Area and in Church. You can’t miss them! Prayer, Formation, Service and Hospitality. How are we using our time, talent and treasure in these areas?
Our songs this weekend show us and help us in these ways. The opening song, “He is the Lord”, speaks of giving praise to God and serving Him. That kind of embodies all of the pillars – we’re praying; being formed in our faith by prayer; and serving Him takes on both Service and Hospitality. We serve Him by serving our neighbor, helping out at our parish, using our gifts and talents to the best of our ability in honor of God.
At offertory, we sing “With One Voice”, once again a song about steward- ship – going out into the world and using our gifts, bringing others to God, showing justice in the world: “may our actions and our deeds bring comfort to their needs... may the witness of our lives transform the world anew.”
Our first Communion song may be new to some. It was written in 2015 and ties into the Gospel message as well as Stewardship. Granted, most of the Gospel messages that we hear deal directly with stewardship any- way. “From this communion, in one heart and mind, out into mission we go... Here in your presence the greatest are least, the burdened find rest and the hungry can feast.” The second Communion song, “Vine and Branches”, reminds us of Christ’s teachings in the verses as they are di- rectly taken from scripture; kind of a recap of His important messages if you will: “as I have loved you, now love one another... if you eat this bread, you will live forever... as I have washed your feet, so you must do just as I have done.” Yes, stewardship again. How are we loving our neighbor or washing the feet of our fellow parishioners?
We close with “We Are Called”. “We are called to act with justice, we are called to love tenderly, we are called to serve one another; to walk humbly with God.”
And there you have it, almost beaten over the head with the message this week: stewardship and what are you doing about it? How are you answering Christ’s call?