Stewardship 101*
#1 Stewardship
Who made me?
God made me.
Why did God make me?
God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him in heaven.
Anytime is a marvelous time to consider Stewardship; another name for stewardship is responsibility. If we are made stewards of something, then we are responsible for that something. So who has made us stewards? God, of course, and he even tells us how easily the job can be done.
First we have to learn to know Him. If we know Him then we will love Him. If we love Him, then we will serve Him in this world. Our reward is to be happy with Him in heaven. Of course we are free not to accept the job, especially if the idea of responsibility is unappealing.
If we think of Lent as one long journey along the Via Delarosa filled with fasting and abstinence and self-denial, a time to confess our sins, and the only thing at the end the pain is crucifixion, then the idea of responsibility, of carrying our cross to follow Him, might not be attractive. But if we only think of that painful journey, and not of all that led up to the cross, then we miss the true beauty of Lent.
The beauty is in the wandering path that led to the choice to accept pain: the wonder of Baptism, and Transfiguration, of multiplication of loaves and fish; the beauty in the miracles: the blind were able to see, the deaf were able to hear the Good News, and the lame were able to walk. Along the way their sins were forgiven, and the dead were given life. Even the Sermons were filled with blessings-not “thou shalt not,” but “Blessed are those who…”
Jesus said “My burden is light,” and it is.
We only have to get to know Him, so we and love Him and serve Him. In the next few weeks we will examine our call to stewardship, our call to responsibility. The rewards are great, the journey exciting, and filled with marvelous miracles!
* Paper Copy of all Stewardship 101 entries
available for $5. Includes shipping and handling. e-mail Kathy
@chickadeehillinc.com
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
2. Where to Begin
Stewardship 101*
Where to Begin?
Let’s assume we have chosen Stewardship. We will be responsible for knowing, loving and serving God. So where do we begin? First, with regular attendance at Mass and partaking of the Eucharist. With Christ within us we can attempt anything.
We learned the rudiments of the Catechism as we prepared for First Communion and Confirmation. As we attended Mass we heard parts of the Bible, something from the Old Testament, something from a Psalm, something from the Apostles, and something from the Life of Christ. Over a three year period, we probably have heard most of the Bible, and heard each Sunday’s lesson, or teaching.
If that is all we do, then we will only have a glimpse of the whole. We can’t really know God if we don’t know who He is, so how do we learn? He has given us a book that chronicles His relationship with humans, Men and Women, and through their failures and successes we can learn of the forgiveness and great love He has for us.
One way is to choose a Gospel to read, and since this is the year of Matthew, Matthew would be a great choice. But, we don’t want to sit down and read Matthew all at once, rather we could read a chapter or part of a chapter at any one sitting. And, just to read Matthew is probably not enough, remember we are reading with a purpose- to know God, so we can love and serve Him.
We could keep a small notebook or spiral or even some stapled sheets of paper with our Bible, and write down what Jesus says and does in each selection as we read it. Then, we could review what we’ve discovered each day and think about what that means about who God is. We could also take our notebook to Mass on Sunday, and jot down one idea that comes to us.
This isn’t the time for full note taking or even thinking about what we’ve read, our focus should be on the Mass itself, but it would be a shame to forget our “aha moment”. After Mass we can read over our insight and think about what this tells us about God. Now, we are learning about God all over again or maybe for the time in our adult life. We are really being Stewards. How marvelous!
* Paper Copy of all Stewardship 101 entries available for $5. Includes shipping and handling. e-mail Kathy @chickadeehillinc.com
Let’s assume we have chosen Stewardship. We will be responsible for knowing, loving and serving God. So where do we begin? First, with regular attendance at Mass and partaking of the Eucharist. With Christ within us we can attempt anything.
We learned the rudiments of the Catechism as we prepared for First Communion and Confirmation. As we attended Mass we heard parts of the Bible, something from the Old Testament, something from a Psalm, something from the Apostles, and something from the Life of Christ. Over a three year period, we probably have heard most of the Bible, and heard each Sunday’s lesson, or teaching.
If that is all we do, then we will only have a glimpse of the whole. We can’t really know God if we don’t know who He is, so how do we learn? He has given us a book that chronicles His relationship with humans, Men and Women, and through their failures and successes we can learn of the forgiveness and great love He has for us.
One way is to choose a Gospel to read, and since this is the year of Matthew, Matthew would be a great choice. But, we don’t want to sit down and read Matthew all at once, rather we could read a chapter or part of a chapter at any one sitting. And, just to read Matthew is probably not enough, remember we are reading with a purpose- to know God, so we can love and serve Him.
We could keep a small notebook or spiral or even some stapled sheets of paper with our Bible, and write down what Jesus says and does in each selection as we read it. Then, we could review what we’ve discovered each day and think about what that means about who God is. We could also take our notebook to Mass on Sunday, and jot down one idea that comes to us.
This isn’t the time for full note taking or even thinking about what we’ve read, our focus should be on the Mass itself, but it would be a shame to forget our “aha moment”. After Mass we can read over our insight and think about what this tells us about God. Now, we are learning about God all over again or maybe for the time in our adult life. We are really being Stewards. How marvelous!
* Paper Copy of all Stewardship 101 entries available for $5. Includes shipping and handling. e-mail Kathy @chickadeehillinc.com
Lent 1
Stewardship 101*
Lent: 1
Who made me?
Lent: 1
Who made me?
God
made me.
Why did God make
me?
God
made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be
happy with Him in heaven.
Lent is a marvelous time to consider Stewardship;
another name for stewardship is responsibility.
If we are made stewards of something, then we are responsible for that
something. So who has made us
stewards? God, of course, and he even
tells us how easily the job can be done.
First we have to learn to know Him.
If we know Him then we will love Him.
If we love Him, then we will serve Him in this world. Our reward is to be happy with Him in
heaven. Of course we are free not to
accept the job, especially if the idea of responsibility is unappealing.
If we think of Lent as one long journey
along the Via Delarosa filled with
fasting and abstinence and self-denial, a time to confess our sins, and the only thing
at the end the pain is crucifixion, then the idea of responsibility, of
carrying our cross to follow Him,
might not be attractive. But if we only
think of that painful journey, and
not of all that led up to the cross, then we miss the true beauty of Lent. The beauty is in the wandering path that led to the choice to accept pain: the wonder of Baptism, and Transfiguration, of multiplication of loaves and fish; the beauty in the miracles: the blind were able to see, the deaf were able to hear the Good News, and the lame were able to walk. Along the way their sins were forgiven, and the dead were given life. Even the Sermons were filled with blessings-not “thou shalt not,” but “Blessed are those who…”
Jesus said “My burden is light,” and it
is. We only have to get to know Him, so
we and love Him and serve Him. In the
next few weeks we will examine our call to stewardship, our call to
responsibility. The rewards are great,
the journey exciting, and filled with marvelous miracles!
* Paper Copy of all Stewardship 101 entries available for $5. Includes shipping and handling. e-mail Kathy @chickadeehillinc.com
* Paper Copy of all Stewardship 101 entries available for $5. Includes shipping and handling. e-mail Kathy @chickadeehillinc.com
2. In the Beginning
Stewardship 101*
#2 In the Beginning
* Paper Copy of all Stewardship 101 entries available for $5. Includes shipping and handling. e-mail Kathy @chickadeehillinc.com
#2 In the Beginning
As we discussed last week,
stewardship is about responsibility:
Responsibility to whom?
Responsibility to God.
“OK. I have to be responsible, but what about Him? Where is His responsibility? He could wave His hand, or just think, and all this pollution and global warming could disappear. What about drunk drivers, and cancer, and gun violence, and insanity, and war, and poverty…”
Deep down we too would rather be God than His created creature. Something in us rebels against His Love because we aren’t equals. Self-loving, how can we really love anyone else? We look at our parents, children, friends and see their faults. And, to be truthful, we think even God has faults. The “sun and rain fall on the just and unjust alike,” but that’s the only way we are alike. Why did He make us if we were only going to be unhappy?
If we consider “In the beginning,” we see that God created the world from nothing in six days. At the end of each day of creation He looked at what He had created and said, “It is good.” In the beginning it was all “good”. He created Man from the good earth, and woman with a rib from Man’s side, so she too was created from good. There were no drunk drivers, or pollution, or cancer, or insanity in the beginning. All that came later, after Woman and Man chose not to believe. There was no death in their world, no evil, until the tempter came.”? Remember they walked and talked with Him each day, yet they were so easily swayed from their stewardship, their responsibility. Their only job was to name the creatures, and avoid the fruit of one tree, but they weren’t God.
Why was he so easily able to tempt these “friends of God, because he knew the weakness first hand. Lucifer, the Light Bearer, too wanted to be God, so he rebelled, and lost. So he knew the perfect line, “You shall not die, God knows well that the moment you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and evil.”
The first Woman and Man made their choice. No stewardship. And they changed the world. Could we change the world if we chose differently? Would we change ourselves? All we have to do is “know Him, love Him and serve Him in this world.” Can we be humble enough to be God’s Stewards, or must we insist on being God?
“OK. I have to be responsible, but what about Him? Where is His responsibility? He could wave His hand, or just think, and all this pollution and global warming could disappear. What about drunk drivers, and cancer, and gun violence, and insanity, and war, and poverty…”
Deep down we too would rather be God than His created creature. Something in us rebels against His Love because we aren’t equals. Self-loving, how can we really love anyone else? We look at our parents, children, friends and see their faults. And, to be truthful, we think even God has faults. The “sun and rain fall on the just and unjust alike,” but that’s the only way we are alike. Why did He make us if we were only going to be unhappy?
If we consider “In the beginning,” we see that God created the world from nothing in six days. At the end of each day of creation He looked at what He had created and said, “It is good.” In the beginning it was all “good”. He created Man from the good earth, and woman with a rib from Man’s side, so she too was created from good. There were no drunk drivers, or pollution, or cancer, or insanity in the beginning. All that came later, after Woman and Man chose not to believe. There was no death in their world, no evil, until the tempter came.”? Remember they walked and talked with Him each day, yet they were so easily swayed from their stewardship, their responsibility. Their only job was to name the creatures, and avoid the fruit of one tree, but they weren’t God.
Why was he so easily able to tempt these “friends of God, because he knew the weakness first hand. Lucifer, the Light Bearer, too wanted to be God, so he rebelled, and lost. So he knew the perfect line, “You shall not die, God knows well that the moment you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and evil.”
The first Woman and Man made their choice. No stewardship. And they changed the world. Could we change the world if we chose differently? Would we change ourselves? All we have to do is “know Him, love Him and serve Him in this world.” Can we be humble enough to be God’s Stewards, or must we insist on being God?
* Paper Copy of all Stewardship 101 entries available for $5. Includes shipping and handling. e-mail Kathy @chickadeehillinc.com
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