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Entries categorized as ‘Economic Life’

from the Cafe

May 13, 2009 · Leave a Comment

A really great post from the Cafe site (a resource of WELCA and Thrivent).

Can you afford to be generous? By Susan Greeley

Small children know what to do when they touch a hot stove—they jump back and jerk their hands away. The response is automatic and sensible. That’s the image that comes to mind when I think about being generous in times like these.

Whether the economic downturn has touched us directly or not, we all seem to feel the need to pull back, be cautious, and prepare for the worst. In short, we think we need to protect what we have. Times like these don’t inspire us to generosity.

But living a generous life is not an option for Christians; it is a requirement. This was the commandment Christ gave to us on Maundy Thursday: that we love one another. And loving one another leads to generosity.

For those people of faith who have already adopted a lifestyle of generosity, giving is an expression of love and gratitude; it is a natural response. But for many of us, a deep-seated love of giving is not automatic. It is more logical to believe that we will have more if we keep to ourselves whatever money or things we have gained. We think that we can give later—when we have “enough,” or maybe when we’re older, or better yet, in our wills.

Continued …

Categories: Economic Life · Stewardship
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Sermon Starters – Week 4

March 28, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Ed Kruse - Stewardship DirectorPastor Heather Hammond
Bishop’s Associate
Minneapolis

March 29, 2009

Fifth Sunday in Lent
John 12: 20-33
We wish to see Jesus

The Passover festival drew to Jerusalem people from all over the world. When people heard that someone called Jesus raised up a dead man named Lazarus (ch. 11), the crowd multiplied. But when certain Greeks found Philip to tell him, respectfully, “… we wish to see Jesus,” the story shifted dramatically.

Peter told Andrew, and Andrew told Jesus, and Jesus said it was now time to die. Whoa! That seems like a pretty big leap, doesn’t it? What was there about a few expatriates wanting to make his acquaintance that Jesus heard as his own death sentence?

Last week’s reading included the well-used words, “God so loved the world.” For most of his ministry as described in the Gospel of John the non-Jewish “world” largely ignored Jesus, until those Greeks asked to see him. Now that the “world” was turning to him too, Jesus seemed to understand that the purpose of his living had been fulfilled; the time had come to begin the purposeful dying he referred to as being “glorified.” He would die for the same purpose he lived, “to draw all people to myself.” (12:32) There would be no reprieve, his death was a given.

Linda Burturian, writing for Theolog, the blog of Christian Century, http://theolog.org/ recalled her sister once advising her, “Prefer the given.” Confronted by the limits of time, resources, and others’ demands, we easily wear ourselves out with such struggling that fuels resentment. When we learn to “prefer the given,” Burturian writes, “it is like letting out the breath I didn’t know I was holding.” Accepting what is, when it cannot be changed, trusting that even the worst of times will become an avenue for the grace of God.

Jesus said as much when he told his hearers that a grain of wheat, in falling to the earth and dying, opens the way to an abundant harvest. Suffering cruel injustice, as Jesus did, or enduring the various agonies of body or spirit common to us all is not “good.” It’s terrible. The Christian witness is that there is no evil which God cannot bend to serve his gracious will, not illness, or heartache, or death, even death on a cross. When injustice or suffering bedevil our path, preventing us from pursuing things that feel essential to our survival, we have the option of preferring acceptance over resentment. To “prefer the given” throws open the gates of grace so that we have courage to live the Jesus life. That life, Jesus said, is one in which “Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also.” (12:26) The servant’s post is at the side of the Master, even when that is at the foot of the cross.

Download a hard copy PDF Word

Categories: Economic Life · Stewardship

Giving in Tough Times

February 5, 2009 · Leave a Comment

You know, google is a powerful tool. This morning I realized it has been a while since we’ve posted some interesting words and resources for you to chew on. So, off I went this morning to look for something. I typed into the google search “giving in tough times” and stumbled into a short, wonderful post/reflection from Heather Koerner.

At the end of her post she reflects:

There’s a real temptation in financially skittish times to hold tighter to our money and give less. But, I have to ask myself, what will holding onto it accomplish? More than likely it will cultivate my love of it and send the world a very powerful testimony that I don’t believe the Gospel is true. That I don’t believe my God can fulfill His promise.

That would be a shame.

Go, read it. Follow the links. What do you think?

Categories: Economic Life · Stewardship

Stewardship of Money in Marriage

November 19, 2008 · Leave a Comment

In 2007, the Journal of Marriage and the Family published a longitudinal study in which issues over money ranked only second to infidelity as a leading cause of divorce.2 In our own national survey of fifty thousand married couples who took ENRICH, 72 percent of respondents agreed with the statement, “I wish my partner was more careful in spending money”, and 56 percent agreed with the statement, “Major debts are a problem for us”.1

A newsletter from Prepare/Enrich, a counseling aid used by many if not most ELCA pastors in the area, offers Financial Tips for Couples. It can help congregation leaders serve and support couples as they work to manage finances together in their marriage. Clink on this link to go to the article:

http://image.exct.net/lib/ff3117737366/d/1/financial%20tips.pdf

Categories: Economic Life · Stewardship
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A Message to God’s Stewards in Times of Uncertainty

November 7, 2008 · Leave a Comment

Fear and finance seem all wound up together.  The following links (in bullet points below) take you to words of guidance and encouragement from the Bishops of the ELCA, and from Mr. Ed Kruse, the Director for Stewardship in the ELCA.   Fear can do funny things to the way we feel and act about money. But the still greater danger is that fear (the opposite of trust) can actually undermine a believer’s capacity for trust in God. We do not stop being stewards when times are bad. We ARE stewards, sometimes better, sometimes worse, but always stewards of the wholeness of life, for Jesus’ sake.

Download these messages and please share them in whatever way makes sense with your congregation.

Blessings to you.

Categories: Economic Life · Share a story · Stewardship
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