Christ the King/Stewardship Sunday

November 21, 1999 Euclid/Gentilly

This Sunday at St. Mary/Peter’s is Stewardship Sunday. Our finance council told me that we picked the perfect Sunday to have our stewardship renewal. Thanksgiving time is a good time to think about the many ways our generous and loving God has blessed us. The gospel for the Feast of Christ the King, the last Sunday of our church year, reminds us that if we don’t share what we have with others we will go to hell. So this is the perfect time to tell people that if they don’t give more money to the Church they are going to hell. No, the finance council did not tell me that. And no, that is not what Christian Stewardship is about.

The first thing I want to say to you about your stewardship is thank you. I want to thank you for sharing your time, your talents and your treasure with your church community and with others who are in need. Even though many involved with farming are experiencing difficult financial times, our parish is financially solvent. Thank you. We are blessed with parishioners who do share their time and talent to minister in our community. Thank you.

Why, then are we talking about stewardship if we have people sharing their time and talents and the church doesn’t need money? Well, the finance council did remind me that sometimes it seems like we have too few people, trying to do too much and stewardship also about sharing our time and talent. Stewardship, however, is not about giving money to the church because the church needs money. We reflect upon stewardship because it is an indispensable part of our spiritual journey. This homily then is not about money. It is about our spiritual journey.

The principles of Christian stewardship remind us that every good thing we have in life is a gift from God. We are only stewards or caretakers of the many gifts and blessings that come from our incredibly generous God. One way we show our gratitude is to return to God a generous portion of what God has blessed us with. God has blessed us with time – time to live here on this earth. God has blessed us with talents and gifts. God has blessed us with financial resources. Being good stewards means that we are aware of God’s blessings in our lives and that we return to God a portion of our blessings by sharing our time, talent and treasure with those in need.

I invite each one of us to seriously reflect on two questions: How has God blessed me? How is God calling me to share my time, talent and treasure at this time in my life?

I have thought about those questions a lot this past week. God has blessed me with a wonderful life. I have been blessed with the gift of faith. I have been blessed with loving parents. I have been blessed with a wonderful, loving, wife. Cherry and I have been blessed three beautiful children. I have been blessed with a calling to be an ordained deacon in the church. I have been blessed with, not one, but three parish communities to worship with and minister with.

There are, however, times in my life when I really question how God is calling me to share my time, talent and treasure. One of those times of questioning for my family and me was 12 years ago when JC Penney decided to close their store in Crookston. I was the manager of that store. I had worked for JC Penney for over 20 years. JC Penney provided two options. They offered us a transfer to another store or they would provide a severance package and I could leave the company. The obvious, logical and the most financially feasible option for us was to take the transfer the company offered. As you can see, however, I am not standing before you today as a JC Penney store manager. God had other plans for us.

Cherry and I learned several things about stewardship as a result of this experience. We learned about the importance of prayer, discussion and discernment. We learned that stewardship requires sacrifice. We learned that being good stewards often requires a leap of faith. And we have learned how incredibly generous our loving God is.

Cherry and I prayed and discussed whether God might be calling me to share my time, talent and treasure in a different way. We talked with our families and friends about what to do. We talked with our pastor, Fr. Krebs, and with Bishop Balke about the possibility of me becoming a deacon and working full time in church ministry. After all this prayer, discernment and discussion we learned that if I wanted to work full time for the church I should go to graduate school. We learned that bishop might consider ordaining me as a deacon, if I could find a job somewhere in the Crookston Diocese. We learned that there were no guarantees of a job in this diocese when I finished school. We learned that if we if we stayed with Penney’s we would make more money than may ever be possible working for the church. But somehow in the midst of all this prayer, discernment and discussion we came to understand that this time of turmoil in our lives was really an invitation from God. If God was truly inviting me to share my time, talent and treasure in a whole new way, then our faith told Cherry and me that God would provide a way for it to happen. We began to see that with Cherry continuing to work, the severance pay, some financial aid, our savings and some sacrifices we could make it work out for me to return to school.

We took a leap of faith and trusted that God would provide me with a job when I finished school. I can tell you that leap of faith Cherry and I took has been richly rewarded. We have grown as a couple and family. I have been ordained as a deacon and I have a wonderful job working with you in full time church ministry.

With Cherry’s permission, I have shared with you a bit of our stewardship journey. You may or may not be at a crossroads in your life like Cherry and I were twelve years ago. We offer our story to you, however, as starting point for your reflections upon how God may be calling you to share your time, talent and treasure at this time in your life.

During this Thanksgiving week I invite each one of us to pray and seriously reflect on two questions: How has God blessed me? How is God calling me to share my time, talent and treasure at this time in my life?

I said earlier that stewardship is not about money, rather it is about our spiritual journey. You see, if each one of us truly spends time praying about those questions, if we are open to sacrifices God may be calling us to make and if we are willing to take a leap of faith and trust God, then we would have a community where all our parishioners willingly share their time, their talent and their treasure. We wouldn’t have to worry about having enough resources or having too few people doing too much.

To help you in your reflections you will receive in the mail this week a letter from Fr. Dave, a copy of this homily, a time and talent survey and an intention of giving card. We ask that you spend time this week in prayer and fill out the time and talent survey and intention of giving card. As a sign of our willingness to be good stewards, we are invited to place the card and survey in the collection at Mass next Sunday.

For your further reflection, I would like to close with St. Teresa’s Prayer

Christ has no body on earth but yours;

No hands but yours;

No feet but yours;

Yours are the eyes through which he will look out His compassion to the world;

Yours are the feet with which he is about doing good;

Yours the hands with which he is to bless now.

God calls us to be parents, church members etc. Do we give spouse kids etc enough time? How do we share with church practical egs. We had a wonderful opportunity to feed the hungry at deer hunter supper – we sure could have used more people sharing their time and talent cooking, serving, cleaning etc.

There are some things Sharing with others requires sacrifice. That is why being good Christian stewards is often referred to as sacrificial living. Stewardship is a way of life. It requires putting the needs of other’s before my own. So you see, we don’t give to the church just because the church needs money. We don’t feed the hungry only because they are hungry. We are goods stewards of God’s blessings in our lives because it is a necessary part of our spiritual journey.

God has blessed me with wife & kids – how much time do I give them, do I share my talents with them? Stewardship requires living a balanced life

This is also the last Sunday of our Church year – the Feast of Christ the King. Next Sunday is the First Sunday of Advent. The scene painted so vividly for us in today’s gospel is the last judgement. When the end comes, whether it is the end of our life, or the end of the world we will be judged. The gospel today reminds us that we will be judged according how we have shared what we have with those who are in need.

At that time the Diocese of Crookston was in the beginning stages of developing a training program for permanent deacons. I had attended a few meetings and was very interested. Before JC Penney announced the closing, my plan at that time was to go through a four year, part time Deacon Training Program. I would continue to work for Penney’s and after ordination I would volunteer a few hours a week to my parish as a deacon.

“Further Reflections” is a good story

St. Teresa prayer (#253 Bausch)

How has God gifted me? = Family, ministry, education, closing JCP, grad school, Cherry & family support, friends

We responded even though make less money, no assurance of job, we just knew in faith we were being lead to right place

Gifts = sacrament of marriage strength for parenting & to be good spouse.