The Generous Steward ResourcesHelping your hands touch God's world
The Parable of the Talents [PDF file]
by Ched Meyers and Eric Debode
"The Parables of Jesus have been spiritualized and their subversive content tamed. Can we bring them back to earth?" Excerpts from an article in "The Other Side" Magazine.
The Widow's Mite: Praise or Lament?—A Matter of Context by ADDISON G. WRIGHT, S.S. [PDF file]
This article first appeared in 1982 in The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 44. It is reproduced with the permission of the author and The Catholic Biblical Quarterly. Reproduced by permission of the author on Dr. Robert Wood Lynn's website - www.visionsofgiving.org.
Hedging Bets: A Theological Reading of Acts 4:32-5:11
Ananias and Sapphira are famous for lieing about their pledge to the church and suffering the consequences. In His article, Kevin Beck, Senior Minister of Brookwood Way Church of Christ in Mansfield, Ohio argues that this passage is less about lieing and greed than it is about faith in Jesus Christ. This article first appeared in the Summer 2004 issue of Living Presence Journal, Volume 14, Issue 3.
"The Question Jesus Never Answered!",[PDF file] Rev. Dr. Bill Enright, 2004 PEER Conference Address. (unpublished)
"The Liturgy of Abundance and the Myth of Scarcity :Consumerism and Religious Life", [PDF file]
Excerpts from article originally published in The Christian Century Magazine, March 24, 1999, by Walter Bruggeman with study questions from the Confident Steward CD resource from PC(USA).
Preaching and Liturgical Resources
Season of Creation
The Uniting Church of Australia has created a month-long season in the liturgical calendar as a sub-set of the season of Pentecost for the purpose of emphasizing our call as stewards of creation. You will find worship and theological resources which have been developed as well as other materials. http://www.seasonofcreation.com/
"Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace",
Rev. Dr. Miraslov Volf’s Video sermon at Trinity Wallstreet Episcopal Church based on his book of the same title. Paste the following address in your browser and watch a webcast of the sermon:
http://www.trinitywallstreet.org/calendar/index.php?event_id=24279
"A Cloud of Witnesses" [PDF] The Stewardship of Church Music
Sermon by Rev. Dr. James Roghair on Hebrews 12:1-2a, 2006 issue of Stewardship Magazine, PC(USA)
"Choosing Jesus in a Starbucks World"
Sermon by The Rev. Karl Travis, - Preached at the PC(USA) Stewardship Conference, March, 2008
Order of Worship [PDF]based on Hebrews 12:1-2a
2006 issue of Stewardship Magazine, PC(USA)
The Stewardship of the Church Musician. “Living in Abundance,” Lessons on Generous Living from Luther Seminary Faculty as part of Stewardship for the 21st Century, A Luther Seminary Ministry.
By Paul Westermeyer
Session 1. General Consideration
"Stewards have the responsibility for a gift entrusted to their care. So it is with the church musician. Music is a very powerful gift. Musicians can easily turn it to less than positive ends and betray their trust. They can use it for their own glorification. They can use it to manipulate people. They can use it to amass money or gifts or praise. They can do any number of things which call attention to themselves, to their technical prowess, their skills, or their voices. These temptations are as great, or greater, than those associated with other vocations. Christian teaching tells us that we are called to refuse such temptations. We are to use the gifts with which we have been entrusted for the glory of God and the well-being ofothers. . . http://www.luthersem.edu/stewardship/resource_detail.asp?resource_id=968
Session 2 - Broken to the Word
What the church does at worship is not fundamentally about music. Music may figure quite heavily in worship, but music is not the central thing. The central thing at worship is God meeting the people. If music gets in the way of that encounter, it has overstepped its bounds and tried to take the place of God. We call this idolatry. Part of the musician's stewarding role is to guard against this danger.
The author then proceeds to identify music's proper role in worship. http://www.luthersem.edu/stewardship/resource_detail.asp?resource_id=969
Session 3 - Broken to the Sacrements
"This is a point at which the musician faces one of the church's most acute temptations, namely, to think the prayer or the sacrifice – in this case the musical sacrifice – has merit and can gain favor with God. . . But no matter what we bring or how well or poorly we bring it . . . our goodness or lack of goodness cannot get us into God's presence. God chooses to come to us. We are so curved in on ourselves that we cannot even choose God, let alone do anything worthy of God's presence no matter how good we think it is. And just here is yet another amazing thing. God turns everything around and graces us. We speak and sing poor human words, but God turns them around and gives us the Word. We bring our bread and wine, but God turns them around and gives us Christ's body and blood. It appears that worship is our giving. God freely turns it into our receiving." http://www.luthersem.edu/stewardship/resource_detail.asp?resource_id=970
Links:
www.luthersem.edu/stewardship
www.calvin.edu/worship
www.reformedworship.org
www.arlw.org