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The "S" Word: (Stewardship…) by The Rev. Hartshorn Murphy Over the years, I've noticed how word use has shifted. Aware that we are in a "post-Christian age," we in the Church have begun to use language that is intelligible to those who are not initiates into the Christian cult. For example, the word narthex is a perfectly good word with long historical usage, unless you want to communicate. And so, I often use the word "entranceway" to describe the anteroom at the front of the church. By the way, narthex means literally "little cave" and described the space where those who had been excommunicated were allowed to sit and listen to worship but not be admitted until their penance for sins against God and the community was up. Maybe entranceway is, after all, a better image. These days, the only ones ex-communicated are screaming children and their parents, and that by choice, not mandate! But change of language can be seen as loss as well when we lose the concepts such words portray. Every discipline has its own jargon which practitioners are expected to master (science and medicine come to mind). And so it is with the concept of stewardship. The biblical concept of the good and bad, responsible and irresponsible, steward is a valued one which is lost when we use such words as "giver" or "donor." The steward gives back a proportionate gift in thanksgiving. The donor gives out of charity from that which remains. The ancient people of the Hebrew and Christian traditions accepted the fact that what they had came from a loving and providential God and that a portion of that needed to be given back to God. Such offerings, in Jewish tradition, were not optional. Indeed, the concept of "first fruits" mandated that a portion of the first and early crop needed to be offered in the Temple as a thank offering. There was no guarantee of a full and second crop and so such offering carried with it a measure of risk and of trust. Similarly, for those who raised animals, the best and unblemished lamb was to be offered, not the sickly or diseased (leftover) ones. Herders were to give of their best. Offerings of grain or of animals were in part used to support the temple priesthood to be sure, but only a portion. The majority of the offering was burned as a sacrifice, its fragrant smoke rising up as a testimony and prayer to God. With the destruction of the Temple, such sacrifices passed into history. For the early Christian communities, believers gave of their wealth for the support of the whole community. The language from Acts sounds, if anything, like radical communitarianism as those with means gave to support those without. (See the story of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5.) With the advent of non-agrarian society, people became removed from the land and from the direct goods-compensation for their labors. Today we are paid, in a sense, symbolically rather than in a concrete way. The only cultural memory of direct compensation of goods for services is the stereotype of the rural country doctor paid for his home visits with chickens or fruit pies. Today, we get money. Or to be more accurate, we get checks which represent money. And whereas pre-modern man knew that he was dependent on the mercy of God who provided abundant rain to bring the crops and the sustained mysterious fecundity of his herds to reproduce, modern men and women are less sure of how God is involved in their work. Thus we think that it is our creativity and cleverness, divorced from God, for which we are being (somewhat poorly) compensated. And so, talk of giving back to God is heard more as marketing than a reasonable expectation for people of faith. What does "stewardship" mean in our context? What is needed is a new orientation. When we go to our places of work, our desk is our farm land and our computers and telephones are our harvesting tools; our meetings and conversations are much like planting seed which will bear fruit in their time. Unless we work strictly on commission, the time and mental energy we give to our work is an exchange of life force/energy for which we are given money irregardless of whether those seeds well planted come to the fruition we'd like. The effort/labor is the thing and those hours and minutes, once expended, do not come back to us. They are gone forever in the same way as the failed harvest of last season is but memory and disappointment. Is it reasonable for people of faith to acknowledge that it is God which gives us the talent, wisdom, skill and patience to do our work? Is it reasonable for people of faith to stop, before and after work, to prayerfully acknowledge God's presence in the labor of our minds and imaginations? If so, then in gratitude, we ought; as people of faith, give thanks to God by giving back a portion of that expended time and energy. When we spend money, we are in very truth, expending past energy for present need. (The new shoes I buy today are paid for by the life force (time, energy, frustration…) I expended during the last pay period.) How much spent time and energy should I rightfully give back in thanksgiving for the ability to have and do my work? You see, the "good steward" is the one who acknowledges that he or she is a recipient of God's bounty (intelligence, talent, charm, wisdom etc.) and in gratitude commits to offer back to God a portion of those gifts expended in working; in praise. The naughty (bad) steward lives in idolatry (i.e. believes that it is her skills, gifts, abilities, intelligence etc., independent of God, that makes their labor possible and profitable). Where is God for you in your work? In your life? Our life's orientation makes all the difference. The stewardship decision is about looking at one's life and deciding whether or not to commit a portion - or simply give a donation, a tip - of that back to God through God's church. And yet know this: that one can change their orientation by a change of behavior, which most often precedes a change of attitude or heart. Jesus said: "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." When we acknowledge the centrality of God to our lives by acting as if God is central to our lives, God becomes (surprise) more central to our lives and that new outlook, that new lens by which we see the world and ourselves, changes everything. Copyright © 2007 St. Augustine by-the-Sea
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