We’ve been talking a lot about stewardship in our staff meetings lately. Pastor Kollmann has been leading us through a series of studies which have helped put some things in focus both for us as individuals and as members of a staff thinking about the future of the church.
I recently came across some pieces that I think are nice stewardship pices as well. The first is an excerpt from CS Lewis’ book, Screwtape letters, which are the words of a senior devil advising his nephew Wormwood, on how to best tempt people. The second a prayer related to money.
“The sense of ownership in general is always to be encouraged. The humans are always putting up claims to ownership which sound equally funny in Heaven and in Hell, and we must keep them doing so. . . .
We produce this sense of ownership not only by pride but by confusion. We teach them not to notice the different senses of the possessive pronoun- the finely graded diferences that run from “my boots” through “my dog,” “my servant,” “my wife,” “my father,” “my master,” and “my country,” to “my God.” They can be taught to reduce all these sense to that of “my boots,” the “my” of ownership. . . .
And all the time the joke is that the word “mine” in its fully possessive sense cannot be uttered by a human being about anything. In the long run either Our Father or the Enemy will say “mine” of each thing that exists, and specially of each man. They will find out in the end, never fear, to whom their time, their souls, and their bodies really belong- certainly not to them, whatever happens”
This is a piece which should make us a take a pause.
Finally, a prayer, one which is to be spoken as we look at money in our hands.
“Lord, see this note, it frightens me.
You know its secrets, you know its history. How heavy it is! It scares me, for it cannot speak. It will never tell all it hides in its creases. It will never reveal all the struggles and effots it represent, all the disillusionment and slighted dignity. It is stained with sweat and blood. It is laden with all the weight of the human toil which makes its worth.
It is heavy, heavy, Lord. It fills me with awe, it frightens me. For it has death on its conscience, All the poor fellows who killed themselves for it. . . To possess it for a few hours, To have through it a little pleasure, a little joy, a little life. . . Through how many hands has it passed, Lord?
It has offered white roses to the radiant fiancee. It has paid for the baptismal party, and fed the growing baby. It has provided bread for the family table. Becaue of it there was laughter among the young, and joy among the adults. It has paid for the saving visit of the doctor, It has bought the book that taught the youngster, It has clothed the young girl.
But it has sent the letter breaking the engagement. It has paid for the death of a child in its mother’s womb. It has bought the liquor that made the drunkard. It has produced the film unfit for children. And had recorded the indecent song. It has broken the morals of the adolscent and made of the adult a thief. It has bought for a few hours the body of a woman. It has paid for the weapons of the crime and for the wood of the coffin.
O Lord, I offer you this note with its joyous mysteries, and its sorrowful mysteries. I thank you for all the life and joy it has given. I ask your forgiveness for the harm it has done. Bu above all, Lord, I offer it to you as a symbol of all the labours of men, indestrucbtible money, which tomorrow will be changed into your eternal life. Amen.”
Michael Quoist
These are hard, but good words for us.
Tags: money, stewardship
Timely! See you on Sunday. Anita