{"id":990,"date":"2010-02-06T10:08:47","date_gmt":"2010-02-06T10:08:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/bibleandculture\/2010\/02\/on-stewardship--god-is-green-and-so-should-you-but-its-not-easy-being-green.html"},"modified":"2010-02-06T10:08:47","modified_gmt":"2010-02-06T10:08:47","slug":"on-stewardship-god-is-green-and-so-should-you-but-its-not-easy-being-green","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/02\/on-stewardship-god-is-green-and-so-should-you-but-its-not-easy-being-green.html","title":{"rendered":"On Stewardship– God is Green and So Should You (But it’s not Easy Being Green)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"glory.jpg\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

James Howell is the minister of my home church in Charlotte. Here is a
\nthoughtful two part post he has sent out recently (used by permission).<\/p>\n

Stewardship is a spiritual
\npractice?  It feels more like the inevitable business side of the Church,
\nbills to pay, budgets to meet… and yet with a personal edge:  How
\nmuch do they really need?  Is there enough transparency for me to feel my
\nmoney is put to good use?  Do I support what they are doing with the
\nmoney?<\/span><\/p>\n

   Jesus seems to have thought up
\nthe idea of stewardship, and he didn’t manage a budget or provide
\npayroll.  When he taught, he stood outside and pointed to real vineyards
\nhis listeners could see, in which many of them worked.  Every vineyard was
\nowned by some rich person who didn’t do manual labor.  He hired a
\nsteward, someone to be sure the vineyard was productive.  The steward
\ndidn’t own the vineyard, but his task was to prosper the owner, and to be
\nsure all the workers had enough food to eat to keep working; his delight was in
\nthe good of the owner, and for those who needed the vineyard to survive.<\/span><\/p>\n

   This is what stewardship
\nreally is.  God owns the vineyard:  the earth, all the stuff you come
\ninto contact with, your money, house, talents, time.  You exist to
\nprosper, not yourself, but God, and those who need what’s in the vineyard
\nGod owns in order to survive.<\/span><\/p>\n

   Our society, unquestionably,
\nlifts up money<\/a>
\nas its ultimate idol.  We really do believe money is the fullness of life,
\nthat problems are solved best with money, that more money would make whatever
\nsituation better.  Money is a powerful instrument, and much good can be
\ndone with it! – but money is God’s most arrogant rival, and so when
\nwe part with it for God, and for those in dire need, we actually shed layers of
\ninsulation between ourselves and God.  Generosity gives birth to a more
\nspiritual heart; greed, or clinging, or the thought that I am cool or secure or
\nin control because of my money, actually digs out an unbridgeable canyon
\nbetween ourselves and God.<\/span><\/p>\n

   So we give to the Church, not
\nto pay bills, or because they need some money (which we do!), but because we
\nneed to grow closer to God; we recognize that the hollowness we bear in the
\nsoul is there because we have let money usurp the role God desires to fill in
\nour lives.  Generosity<\/a>
\nmatters for the needy whose plight breaks God’s heart, for those eager to
\nlearn about God, for the hurting and hopeful who look to the Church for solace.<\/span><\/p>\n

   Methodists have always taught
\n“tithing,” giving 10% of whatever we earn to the Church. 
\nSounds manipulative, I know – so it’s worth mentioning that John
\nWesley<\/a>, our founder, was opposed to tithing.  He thought 10% was
\nsimply too little to give to the work of God – and might create the
\nfoolish illusion that 90% of my money is mine!  It all belongs to
\nGod:  how we spend it all, whether my spirituality lowers the temperature
\non my feelings about money, how we invest, or give, or even speak about
\nmoney.  It is a spiritual practice, and an attentiveness to its place in
\nour heart is perhaps the key to growth in faith.<\/span><\/p>\n

James<\/span><\/p>\n

james@mpumc.org<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The complete eGrowthInFaith<\/i> series
\nis archived here<\/a>,
\nand you can find other
\nresources on our web site<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

When Jesus spoke of a steward who was
\nresponsible for the owner’s vineyard, he was thinking of someone who
\nworked out of doors, with his hands in the earth, tending to things that grow. 
\nChristians grow in their faith as they grow in their appreciation for
\nGod’s world, as they take responsibility for the things God has made.<\/span><\/p>\n

   The environment, global warming, and
\nindustry policies stir much political debate.  But for Christians, we care for
\nthe earth because God made it.  Step away from the computer and go outside: 
\nlook up, look down, look all around, not at the manmade stuff but at what God
\nmade – if you can find any!  This is the theater of God’s glory,
\nthe testament to the grandeur and power of God, to the tenderness and sheer
\ndelight God takes in making and sustaining life.  The best preachers on TV are
\nthose cameramen who show us the haunts of an eagle or undersea mountain ranges,
\na nebula whose light has been streaming our way for a few thousand years and
\namazing 7500 mile migration of the bar-tailed Godwit from Alaska to New Zealand
\n(and back) each year.  God did that.<\/span><\/p>\n

   St.
\nFrancis<\/a> wouldn’t step on a bug, and he thought about the way a bird
\nor a flower give praise to God simply by being.  St. Francis was “green<\/span>,” not for any political reason, or
\neven because he wanted to save planet earth; rather, he loved and adored God so
\nmuch that he loved and adored and was tender with all God made – perhaps
\nthe way a parent doesn’t take a child’s coloring and just toss it
\nin the trash.  You gasp over the beauty, you frame it, and pay the coloring
\n(and the colorer) many compliments. <\/span><\/p>\n

   To grow in your faith, get out of the
\ncity, look up at night, pet a dog, read Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim
\nat Tinker Creek<\/a><\/i>, giggle like a child if you see a hummingbird or a
\nworm; notice God’s craftsmanship, protect it when you can, and give
\npraise to the Creator.<\/span><\/p>\n

James<\/span><\/p>\n

james@mpumc.org<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Stewardship is about money,
\nbut it is also about how we think about and treat the world – and the
\npeople in it, including ourselves.  God created humanity and told them to
\n“have dominion” over what had been made (Genesis 1:31).  How
\ndo we begin by exercising “dominion” over our own selves?  And
\nsince the word “dominion” is related to the way we’ve spoken
\nover the centuries about Christ the Lord (as in A.D., anno domini<\/i>?), could
\nit be that stewardship of my self means I treat myself in the ways our Lord
\ntreats us?<\/span><\/p>\n

   Jesus encouraged care for the
\nbody; Paul declared that your body is the temple
\nof the Holy Spirit<\/a> (1 Corinthians 6:19).  So healthy habits and
\nexercise help us grow in our faith.  God has crafted each one of us with
\ncertain abilities, passions, quirks, and fascinations:  so how do we let
\nthem be for God?  Years ago I wrote
\nthese words<\/a>:  “The Holy Spirit must have terrific fun while
\nworking in that secret factory where people are created, smiling over yet one
\nmore unique individual, creasing each fingerprint at a never before seen
\ncurvature, devising a maddeningly new personality, even between so-called
\nidentical twins.  A passion for Mozart, mixed in with a head for numbers,
\nsobered by a mental block with foreign languages, yet a flair for pastry
\ncrusts, a smile no one has ever anticipated, laughably surprising permutations,
\nthe Spirit strewing gifts and talents all over like that sower Jesus told us
\nabout (Mark 4).  If we want to be close to God, if we crave fulfillment in
\nlife, then we must first look to whatever little or big skill we have, lift our
\nheads in gratitude to the Spirit, and then confess ‘My life is not my
\nown.  Use me as you will.'”<\/span><\/p>\n

   Stewardship is about who you
\nare and the way you are wired<\/a>, and a
\ngenerous availability to God.  Stewardship therefore is about time. 
\nThe racing clock seems to strangle our spirituality; but the only way to grow
\ncloser to God is to engage in a careful inventory of time, how it is consumed,
\nwhat really matters – and to adamantly block out time for God, for the
\nlife of faith and service – and when we do we discover the bolstering
\npresence of God in all our other hours and days, and we grow.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

James Howell is the minister of my home church in Charlotte. Here is a thoughtful two part post he has sent out recently (used by permission). Stewardship is a spiritual practice?  It feels more like the inevitable business side of the Church, bills to pay, budgets to meet… and yet with a personal edge:  How…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":199,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nOn Stewardship- God is Green and So Should You (But it's not Easy Being Green) - The Bible and Culture<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/02\/on-stewardship-god-is-green-and-so-should-you-but-its-not-easy-being-green.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"On Stewardship- God is Green and So Should You (But it's not Easy Being Green) - The Bible and Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"James Howell is the minister of my home church in Charlotte. 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He also writes for many church and scholarly publications, and is a frequent contributor to the Beliefnet website. Along with many interviews on radio networks across the country, Witherington has been seen on the History Channel, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, The Discovery Channel, A&E, and the PAX Network.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/author\/bwitherington"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/199"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/990\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}