SOLI/Update - Oct. 10, 2005

Stewardship of your life - now more than ever

"I think we're living in the end times," a friend said with an earnestness that was alarming even over the phone. As proof, he ticked off all the disasters the world has endured recently, beginning with the Dec. 26 tsunami, on through Katrina and Rita, past the mudslides and floods in Central America, and ending with the horrific earthquake in Asia. (See this week's Gleanings.)

I'm no fan of the "end-times" craze, which seems more hype and fear-mongering than Gospel and trust-in-God, but I have to admit the disasters sure have been piling up like cars in a rush-hour collision. Maybe we are living in the end times? Maybe we are not living in the end times? But that's never the big question for a Christian. The big question we each must ask is, "If Christ came tomorrow, would I be ready?"

Throughout the Gospels, Jesus teaches us that we are to live as if Jesus would return any moment. That means that daily, hourly, minute-by-minute and second-by-second we are consciously to love God with all our being and to love our neighbor as ourselves.

For too many of Jesus's followers, the end-times hype promotes a kind of fatalistic hunkering down, a disengagement from the world and all its problems. Why care for the poor? Why fight injustice? Why look for an end to war? Why worry about global warming? All those problems count for nothing if God's big clock is about to run out anyway.

"Left Behind" devotees subscribe to the dubious notion that just before the world decays into a final state of sin and chaos, God will scoop up faithful people and ferry them to paradise. This lulls many of God's people into thinking of their lives as a sort of cosmic waiting room, where they will read a magazine or watch TV until the time of God's rescue.

In fact, Jesus calls us not to disengage from the world, but to embrace it as Jesus embraced it. We are saved by faith through grace not so that we can live insular, protected and privileged lives in our safe and comfortable waiting rooms, but rather that we leave our comfort zones and walk this earth with confidence and boldness and strength and vision and service and love, just as Christ did.

The past year's spate of disasters may, indeed, signal the end times, but that's not the issue. Whether the earth lasts another year or another ten thousand years, our instructions are exactly the same: Be vigilant, be ready, be fearless, be generous; enjoy free lives of service and love and caring. In other words, be good stewards of your life.

--Rob Blezard, editor and webmaster

New this week:

Best stewardship practices of congregations

Wouldn't you love to know what makes congregations successful at stewardship? If so, this resource is for you. The ELCA surveyed experts from around the country and distilled their wisdom into a concise guide. Click here for "Best stewardship." From The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. (PDF download requires Adobe Reader. Click here for free download of Adobe Reader.)

Signs of faith in red ink

"I see a deficit budget as a sign of faith. It means that the church is stretching itself to do what it feels called by God to do and it knows that God will be with them and help them to grow in numbers and grow in their generosity in response to all that God has given them." Click here for Pastor Dana Reardon's weekly column.

Look pastor, no checks!
More and more churches around the nation have found electronic giving a great way to regularize cash flow and increase donations, and yet others are still unconvinced. This article will help congregations decide if electronic giving is right for them. Click here for "Look pastor, no checks!," from Church Executive magazine.