A message from the Stewardship Team
This year we will be looking at four different aspects of stewardship: Stewarding Relationships, Stewarding Wealth, Stewarding Power, and Stewarding Courage.
On Sunday, our Stewardship theme was Stewarding Power. The disciples were vying for a position of power in Jesus’ kingdom to which He responded that they must be servants to others in order to be great. We all have the power to make our own choices and the choices we make determine how we share God’s love with the world.
Stewardship week #3
So often when members hear ‘stewardship season’ they automatically think about congregation and personal finances. Perhaps this is because congregations typically address stewardship in the fall as the congregation council prepares the annual budget, or perhaps it is because ‘money’ is frequently synonymous with ‘stewardship’ in the minds of many. Whatever the reason, Sharing the Good News is a holistic stewardship resource that, following the Revised Common Lectionary, takes a deeper look into stewardship of the whole self. With this 4-week series we will be invited to explore how stewarding all aspects of our lives is a way of living our faith and sharing the good news with the world.
Stewarding Power
Isaiah 53:4-12
Psalm 91:9-16
Hebrews 5:1-10
Mark 10:35-45
With great power comes great responsibility.
~ The Peter Parker Principle from Spiderman by Stan Lee
Well, almost. While the phrase was made popular after the success of the Spiderman franchise, its roots are biblical, most notably from Luke 12. However there are tones of this in the gospel from Mark 10. “Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.” Jesus is responding to the disciples who have been arguing about who is greatest and vying for the seat of power and glory at Jesus’ right hand in the Kingdom of God.
It is not necessarily every day that you assess your position of power in the world, but every person has power: power to make choices, power to be present to God’s love and presence in the world, etc. How you choose to steward the power you have is a testimony to God’s love in the world. It is sometimes difficult to even perceive the power we have, because it has been granted from birth and is not the result of any work ethic or drive within us. It is easy to see how the CEO of a multi-national company worked to achieve the power they yield, and it is easy to see how they steward that power: do the employees have a living wage? Does the company prioritize lowering their carbon footprint? What is the work culture like and is it one of kindness and compassion or bullying and vying for position?
But not very many of us become this CEO (nor do we want to!). Our power is held in our everyday decisions: how do you stand up for and amplify the voices of those the world ignores? How do you choose to live a more simple, clean life (reduction of single-use plastics is a great example of this)? How do you form intentional relationships with communities who have been disenfranchised? Your power comes most in service of neighbor, having been set free from the one whose power was made clear in dying and in doing so has set you free to live a life of love.
How we steward our power is how we share the Good News: that the power of the cross – Jesus’ death and resurrection – is more powerful than the empty power of the world, and this power empowers us to serve our neighbor.
Questions for Reflection
- Take a moment and reflect on the power you have. What surprises you? Do you notice this power in your day-to-day interactions?
- How have you seen power used well? How have you seen power abused?
- What power does your faith community have? What are the power dynamics like within your own faith community?
Excerpt used from “Sharing the Good News” – Southeastern Iowa Synod