Dec. 29 - Resolve To Revise Priorities in
2004. "Stewardship demands a constant
reexamination of what we are given and what we need and what our
church and those around us need. God has given us
plenty. It is just a matter of how we share it."
Dec. 22
- Mary's Glimpse into God's Kingdom. "Filled with the Holy Spirit and carrying the
hope of the world, Mary gets a glimpse of God's intention for
creation. And it looks startlingly different from human
vision. And we who have been sealed by this same Holy Spirit
and marked by the cross of that same Hope for the world are
offered that same glimpse of God's intention for
creation."
Dec. 15 - Repent, and Turn Outward. "When we start on the quest to learn
how to love God properly, sometimes it leads us too far inward. We
start worrying if we are doing it right. We start worrying too
much about our own spiritual well being. We start thinking, 'Have I
done enough?' 'Have I loved enough?' And then we get
lost in the hall of mirrors of our own making."
Dec. 8 - This Christmas Make A Different Kind of
List. "In a time when we
should be counting our blessings, we are asked to come up with
things we don't need so people can know what to get us. To me
this is counterproductive to the meaning of Christmas."
Dec. 1 - Gratitude for God's Blessings is Enough. "As I sit between
Thanksgiving and the Advent of our God, I plan to just sit and
contemplate how selflessly God gives, without any strings and
without any obligations. It is on the silence of that thought
that true thankfulness arises."
Nov. 23 - Give Thanks This Week -- And Always "When I
was in India, I saw that the people had so much less and yet I heard
so many more expressions of thanksgiving and praise for the God who
they knew was taking care of them."
Nov. 17 - Ask God -- the Answer May Surprise You "I have decided not to think that I know the mind of
God. One of the greatest gifts God has already given me is
God's son who taught us to pray for the things that we need.
And then I will let God do the answering."
Nov. 10 - The Impulse To Give -- or To Ignore. "What
is your first impulse when you see someone in need? Before the
rationalizations kick in. Before even you worry about who else
is watching or even whether the person you think needs help may take
it the wrong way?"
Nov. 3 - Listening for God's Voice - "This is
how we become better stewards of the mysteries of God. By our
willingness to see ourselves as God's people and how we might touch
others with our lives and love and faith."
Oct. 28 - Overwhelmed by Temptations All Around -
"Our message ought to be about changing lives and not just about
getting a little more of the money that is usually going to movies
and CDs and faster cars and bigger houses. If our message is
just like theirs, if we are just doing another commercial that vies
for a piece of the pie then we are lost. We have become the
tempter."
Oct. 20 - What's Your Story With Money? "Jesus knew
that we needed to be clear about our relationship with money.
That is why two-thirds of everything he had to say was about
money. Telling someone to sell everything he has and
give away his money is a fast way to help him come to terms with his
feelings about money."
Oct. 13 - Prescription for a Life of Joy - "We make
all kinds of bargains with God to get what we want, but God has
already given much more than we can ever repay. And God continues to
give us good things as if our bank account were not already
overdrawn."
Oct. 6 - The Simple Simplicity Solution - "Jesus
didn't call us to sell our possessions and give alms because He
wanted us to have less. Jesus calls us to give it all away, to
travel light so that we might have more. So that we might have
it all. So that we might possess the kingdom."
Sept. 29 - Jesus' Hard Words About Money - "If we speak for Jesus and ignore money we
have lost a good share of His message. But more than that we
have forgotten the power of God to transform and to heal that Jesus
came to bring us."
Sept. 22 - Relish, Embrace, Use Silence. "The silence
between activity gives meaning to all of it. Think
about it for a minute. Every new and creative thought comes
out of the silence and not out of the constant stream of commentary
in your brain. God breaks into the silence to talk to
us."
Sept. 15 - The Compassion Reflex. "Jesus didn't say, I
was hungry and you thought about it while you carefully examined
your budget for the year and considered what you could give."
Sept.
9 - One Lesson We All Need."Sure, our
children need to learn that they don't need everything they think
they do. But first we need to learn that same lesson.
But if we do it by depriving them and us, something else will take
its place. But if we do it by offering ourselves in place of
what is not essential then they will have gained
something."
Sept. 1 - Finding Kairos in Our Kronos "If we
are
living in God's kingdom, then how we plan out our days and what we
commit ourselves to depends on what will serve to usher in the
kingdom of God. ... Too often we don't plan our time and evaluate
our priorities. We let the tides of time push us along and get
us involved in too many activities."
Aug. 24 - 'Found Money' Can Give You a Start.
Freedom is what Jesus' had in mind when he urged us to give it
all away. He had in mind the freedom to follow. The more that
what we own ties us to this world, the harder it gets to follow
Jesus into the kingdom.
Aug. 18 - Pray Over Your Finances. "Pray before
you decide if that big house is what you need or that you need to
give more money for other things including you church. Or
maybe that house will be a welcoming place for friends and strangers
and is exactly where God wants you to put some of your
money."
Aug. 11 - Listen to God Afresh Every
Day. Maybe stewardship is not about maintaining the status quo,
but about keeping up with a God who is always creating
anew.
Aug. 4 - Fund
Raisers? Try Spirit Raisers. "The gospel is all about inviting others in to share the joy
that we have been given. The gospel is all about inviting them
to be a part of what we are about."
July 28 - What's Precious
in Your Eyes? "Before we can truly learn to give and to be truly generous,
we have to learn what has value. Then we need to learn how to
give away what we value to others."
July
21 - Jesus'
Words To Live By. "If it's hard for someone from
outside of our faith to see the words of Jesus lived out in our
lives, then maybe we have some thinking to do about what it means to
follow Jesus."
July
13 - The
Blessings of Receiving. "Sometimes God gives us gifts through other people, so we
need to be open to those gifts too. We learn to say, 'Thank
you,' and not 'You shouldn't have.' "
July 6 - When Christ's Fullness
HIts You. "When we look at the world
we see what Christ sees. We see the hunger and the pain and we
reach out as Christ would. When we see those who are lost we
want to share the good news."
June
29 - God's Generous Undo Button. "The people I know who
are the most loving and forgiving are also the most generous.
They don't worry that the one who receives it might not spend it
wisely."
June
8 - Dare To Tell the Truth, the Whole Truth.
"Jesus talked about 100 percent. He said sell all your
possessions and give alms. He said deny yourself. He
said take up your cross and follow me."
June 1 - God Calls Us to Make a
Difference. "All that we have been given in this
world is a
trust. It should be treated with the same sense of
responsibility."
May 25 - Giving: A Matter of
Priorities - "We are touched by the generosity of God and
feel moved to give, but unless we reorganize our pocketbooks to make
room to give, we will never actually do it."
May 18 - Stewardship Has Its
Consequences -" In stewardship it is easy to become
unpopular. When you live a generous life in a selfish world
you may be lucky if you win even a consolation prize."
May 11 - God Gives Enough for
Everyone - "Give
thanks for what God has given and receive it with gladness and know
it is not about deserving but about your being loved."
May 4 - The World Needs
Superheroes: Saints Like You -- "We find ourselves called to be
saints to the world. We are called to be people empowered by
the Holy Spirit."
April 27 - Do Your Gifts and
Talents Meet Real Needs? -- Most of us in the church are trying
to be faithful to what God has called us to. It is just
that some of us haven't listened lately. We need to listen
anew every day.
April 20 - Dark Thoughts for
Easter Saturday -- "All of us have these thoughts in the dark
Easter Saturdays of our lives when it all seems hopeless; when it
seems as if their is not God and no one but ourselves to trust
in."
April 13 - Thank God for April 15 -- "In a free society we can argue about what should be included
in the government's responsibility and how taxes should be
distributed.
April 6 - Spend Boldly, But
Believe Even More Boldly -- "We will make mistakes in the way we
spend our money. But we will make as many mistakes in
hoarding money."
March 30 - Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread -- "When we pray for our daily bread it
makes us community whether we like it or not. And what we
receive is not singularly ours.
March 23 - Put Your Heart Where
Your Treasure Is -- "In a rich suburb it is sometimes possible
to believe in the power of money. In poor urban churches they
have to rely on God's vision."
March 16 - Give Generally, Spend
Prayerfully -- "Would you like to pay for the snow
plowing? Or the electricity bill? Or maybe you would like to
contribute to the pastor's salary?
March 9 - Tithing is Just the
Jumping-Off Place -- "God gives us abundantly, and stewardship
is about how we spend all of what we have. Is what we do with
our time and our treasures life-affirming?"
March 2 - Yes, It's About Money,
Too! - Often people will say to me that stewardship is not all
about money. Whenever someone gives me that line, I get a little
suspicious that they are looking for some kind of absolution for
their guilty feelings of not giving enough.
Feb. 23 - Mourn, Pray and Give
Blood -- About Pastor Izzo's response to the R.I. nightclub
fire. "People have asked how you cope with such tragedy. You
cope by finding a way to help. And that is what so many people
have done."
Feb. 16 - Send a Valentine of
God's Love -- "I know people who carry the weight of every hurt
that they have ever felt. "
Feb. 9 - Sharing Our Struggles Is
A True Gift -- "Authentic witness is not about how great we are
or how far we have come. It is about how great God is and how
much God has given us."
Feb. 3 - Here's a Tip: Value Those
Who Serve -- "Do you see the others who may be peripheral to
your life as people or just as bit characters in the story of your
life?"
Jan. 26 - Share Your Stories of
Love and Blessing -- "That may be part of what real sainthood is
about -- seeing the blessings around you."
Jan. 19 - Is Gambling a From of
Stealing? -- "You don't help someone keep what is theirs by
winning their money, even if you give it all away."
Jan 13 - God's free weight-loss
program -- "Lose the weight of the burdens you carry for
the mistakes you have made and the hurts you have caused and the
sins you have committed."
Jan. 6 - The Practical Side of
Extravagance -- "Sometimes a gift that lifts the heart or
soul can change a life. And sometimes it is the life of the
giver that is changed."
2002
Dec. 30 - Do We Give First Fruits
or Gleanings? -- "People's giving is a spiritual matter and
something the pastor should know."
Dec. 23 - Time for the Perfect
Gift -- "We all need to be listened to. In the hustle and
bustle of gift buying, sometimes we run out of this
gift."
Dec. 16 - Be a Link in the Chain
of Giving -- "The chain starts with God. God has given us
so much. God gives abundantly all year long."
Dec. 9 - Guides for the Lost
Soul -- "Everyone is looking for love and grace and forgiveness.
And that is what we are offering because God offered it to
us."
Dec. 2 - Just Preach the Gospel;
Leave the 'Feeding' to God -- "We want to beat people over the
head with God and tell them how they ought to feel and
act."
Nov. 25 - Let the Children Lead
Us -- "We talk a lot about teaching children to share and be
generous. People are always asking me how to teach stewardship to
children."
Nov. 18 - The Therapeutic Touch of
Stewardship -- "We start at a place of thankfulness for the love
and care God gives us -- for the tangible ways that God showers us
with love." |
