Stewardship Campaign

“We are a gifted people”….what does this mean to us as Christians? As Catholics? As members of our local parish?
We are well into our stewardship campaign for 2006, the time where we pay particular attention to what God is calling us to do. Every year there is a particular rhythm to the Stewardship campaign. We have reminders in the bulletin; we are sent letters in the mail asking us to renew our pledges, and we have a witness speak about stewardship.
If you feel like you missed “the call” this year; you are not alone. I was more than a little embarrassed when I asked our parish priest when we were having our "stewardship presentation this year", to which he replied, “we just had it, this past weekend…” I was at Mass; I was paying attention; I just didn’t “get it”.
This year, Father explained, instead of a distinct focal point, we are being called to reflect on the blessings we receive by sharing our gifts. The person who witnessed his call to stewardship in our parish focused on how God touched him through his experience in travelling to a village in El Salvador to help with a project, and how he was blessed because of giving of his time, talent and treasure.
Our heavenly Father has blessed each and every one of us with some kind of gift. In answering God’s call to give of our time and talent, we are able to witness first hand the Kingdom of God. What gifts can we share in order to experience God’s Kingdom? Stewardship is so much more than coming to church and putting an envelope in the basket. As Christians, we are called to action: “faith without works is nothing.” In the book of James we are invited to participate in the Kingdom of God by using our gifts to help others. Our churches need us! We are blessed with talents not to keep to ourselves or for our own enrichment, but to share with our community. If we want to experience the joy of God’s blessings on us, we must answer His call to give. This does not necessarily mean having to travel to a third world country to experience the Kingdom of God. We are all called in different ways: some are called to share their faith with children in the catechetic programme; some may be called to music ministry. Some may be called to give of their time with the Knights of Columbus or the Catholic Women's League. Some are called to work in the inner city with the poor. There are many, many areas of our community both in and outside of the parish that are in need of our gifts. In sharing the time, talent and treasure that God has blessed us with we are endlessly rewarded – this is God’s promise to us through His Son.
This time of reflection is for our renewal. It is why we are asked to renew our pledge to stewardship. This renewal, or “resurrection” of our commitment of sharing our time, talent and treasure affords us the blessings of God. We are a people gifted…to give.