Here s Your Stewardship Toolkit for October 2017! Rev. Rob Blezard Lower Susquehanna Synod rblezard@lss-elca.org Good, thoughtful, consistent communication, education and action will help develop a healthy culture of stewardship and generosity in your congregation. This kit is designed to help get you there! Here s what you ll find below: -s: Put a every week in your Sunday bulletin! It s a quote from the week s Revised Common Lectionary lessons, followed by a brief reflection. Just cut and paste! -Newsletter Articles: Publish something in your newsletter every month on money and faith, or post it on your website. Keep your people thinking about stewardship. Just cut and paste! -Links to Resources: You ll find links to resources on the Web: -The think it resource Something thoughtful and insightful to get your mind turning and your soul fired up. Share it with your leadership, or use it for a temple talk. -The teach it resource Your youth and adult classes should be able to tackle a bible study on stewardship, or wrestle with some of the issues. The teach it resource will guide you. -The do it resource Talk, as they say, is cheap, so put your stewardship efforts into high gear. An action resource will give you some ideas. -The preach it resource Check out the weekly Lectionary Reflection written by Lower Susquehanna Synod pastor and synod staff person Sharron Blezard. -General Resource Websites: These are places you can go for great ideas! -Consultation and Coaching: Did you know there are experts willing to meet with your congregation? s Copy and paste into your bulletin! Source: Rob Blezard October 1, 2017 (17 th Sunday after Pentecost, Year A; Proper 21) Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Philippians 2:4 Stewardship as a way of life involves how we love our neighbor as ourselves in thought, word and deed. The world tells us to look out for No. 1, but Paul gives us a higher ideal: Look out for your neighbor. When we do, we pass along God s blessings, we form bonds, and we just may find that they will look out for us, too! October 8, 2017 (18 th Sunday after Pentecost, Year A; Proper 22)
Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Philippians 3:7-8 Jesus in our life turns our values upside down! What we used to treasure no longer holds sway over us. Instead of material possessions, we may prize our relationships, health and spiritual life. Faith works on us to make us stewards of all that is truly valuable. October 15, 2017 (19th Sunday after Pentecost, Year A, Proper 23) The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Psalm 23:1 In a world that encourages us to satisfy EVERY desire, this opening to the 23 rd Psalm declares bold defiance. The Holy Spirit transforms our heart and helps us understand that God -- and only God -- satisfies our deepest wants and true needs. The rest of the Psalm explains exactly how God takes care of us. October 22, 2017 (20th Sunday after Pentecost, Year A, Proper 24) Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's." Matthew 22:21B Jesus gave this answer to a question about paying taxes, but it has implications for how we use all that we have. We give to God the things that truly belong to God our hearts, our minds, our souls, and our very lives. When we do this, our priorities are in order and we ll know what to do with the OTHER stuff in our lives, such as our money. October 29, 2017 (21st Sunday after Pentecost, Year A, Proper 25) You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22:39 AND Leviticus 19:18 We get the commandment to love our neighbor TWICE today. But if you don t feel love, how can you love? How can God command us to love God and our neighbor? It s a perplexing problem until we understand that feeling love and acting in loving ways are not the same thing. Fulfilling the command, we treat all our neighbors with respect, compassion, understanding, patience and kindness just as we want to be treated.
Newsletter article Just copy and paste into your newsletter! Source: Rob Blezard, Lower Susquehanna Synod Stewardship 101 Our harvest of blessings I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. --1 Corinthians 3:6-7 Doesn t fall give your spirit a boost when you see the colorful fruits and vegetables in the farm stands and supermarkets? Orange pumpkins, red apples, green squash, yellow corn and purple eggplants are all tasty reminders of God s abundance. We bear in mind that although the farmers grow the harvest by carefully preparing the soil and planting in spring, then watering and nourishing all summer, it s God that produces the life in the seeds that sprout into fruitful plants. Farmers manage God s order of life by providing the ideal conditions for plants to grow abundantly. Yes, the plants would grow and produce fruit and vegetables if left wild, but their yield would not be as plentiful. The attentive, skillful work of farmers in cooperation with God s design for life ensures a harvest of plenty for all. Fall harvest provides a wonderful metaphor for how we are stewards of all the blessings that God gives us. We know that God has given us wonderful, amazing gifts, such as family, community, church, health, intelligence, time, and relationships. And we also know that we are responsible for caring for them and working hard to provide the ideal conditions under which they will benefit ourselves, our families and our communities. For instance: l Maintaining the gift of our bodies by eating right, exercising and getting plenty of sleep, we increase the likelihood we will live longer, healthier, robust and resilient lives. l Nourishing our gifts of intelligence and wisdom through education, reading, exploring, curiosity and continually learning, we will be best able to understand and improve the world around us. l Cultivating our gift of faith through prayer, worship, scripture, generosity, love and service, our lives bear fruits of the spirit -- love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). l Loving and tending to our spouses, children, parents, siblings and other relatives, we build strong, healthy families and develop caring, purposeful individuals who can make a difference.
Our farmers are stewards of the earth, not only understanding how to make the most of God s gift of plant life but also working tirelessly to achieve it. They are partners with God to create a bounty of blessings for our dinner table. We are stewards of our lives, not only understanding how to best use our gifts of time and talent and treasure but also faithfully striving to make the most of all with which we have been entrusted. We are partners with God to create a bounty of blessings for ourselves, our communities and our world. --Rob Blezard Copyright 2017, Rev. Robert Blezard. Used by permission. Pastor Blezard serves as an assistant to the bishop of the Lower Susquehanna Synod and also works as content editor for www.stewardshipoflife.org. Links to resources The think it resource The Christian and Money: Western culture is saturated with money far more than any other culture in history, and certainly much more than the people who heard Jesus. Struggling to walk faithfully in this wealth-marinated environment, modern Christians have found some distinct and different paths. This article from ChristianityToday looks at some of them, including the Simple Living and the Health and Wealth Gospel movements. The teach it resource The Bible s Faith & Money Lessons: This Bible study series will keep your adult Christian education classes busy for a month or just use the lessons individually. Amazingly simple, the studies ask participants to prayerfully read key Scripture passages organized around a weekly theme, and then discuss thought-provoking questions. From the United Methodist Stewardship Foundation. The do it resource From Stewardship to Generosity What s the difference between stewardship and generosity? Turns out the distinctions are many and profound, which is why many churches are switching their use of the term stewardship for generosity. Author and Methodist Bishop Robert Schnase reflects on the changes and offers a practical list of dos and don ts for churches that want to cultivate generosity. From Ministry Matters. The preach it resource Weekly Lectionary Stewardship Reflection Sharron Blezard, Lower Susquehanna Synod assistant to the bishop and pastor, takes a look at stewardship implications in the week s Revised Common Lectionary and Narrative Lectionary lessons.
General Stewardship Resource Websites Stewardship of Life Institute Headquartered at United Lutheran Seminary, this site has a trove of resources on stewardship in areas of congregational finance, individual finance, discipleship, education, preaching, creation care, and more. Center for Steward Leadership Luther Seminary s excellent website with lots of resources. The ELCA Foundation has resources at its website, as well as consultants who can meet with your congregational leaders to develop ideas and plans for long-term financial stability. Lower Susquehanna Synod Stewardship You ll find a selected group of great resources. Consultation and coaching If your congregation is looking for direction, we have experts who are ready to help. We can provide guidance by telephone or email, in one-on-one meetings, in workshops and seminars for your team. Give us a call. We re here to help. The Rev. Rob Blezard, Assistant to the Bishop rblezard@lss-elca.org 717-652-1852, Ext. 109 Pastor Blezard specializes in stewardship development for congregations. He can assist in communication, education, programming and planning. The Rev. Elizabeth Polanzke, Central Pennsylvania Gift Planner, ELCA Foundation 717-654-2334 Elizabeth.Polanzke@elca.org. Pastor Polanzke specializes in helping with legacy gifts, estate planning, endowment funds and other planned-gift topics. -end-