Grateful and Generous Hearts
A Pilgrim’s Stewardship Adventure
by
The Rev. Dr. John H. Westerhoff
“Moses said to all the congregation . . . the Lord has commanded: Take from among you an offering to the Lord; let whoever is of a grateful and generous heart bring the Lord’s offering . . .”
Exodus 35:4–5
A Note from the Author
Shortly after leaving the faculty of the Duke University Divinity School to return to my first love, the parish, I was encouraged to become the founding director of an Institute for Pastoral Studies whose purpose would be to serve the needs of the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Atlanta and throughout the country. Among our various projects was to be the publication of educational resources on a variety of subjects. I decided on a series of short monographs, the first being A People Called Episcopalians, to be used in inquirer classes and other programs for new and longtime Episcopalians. The second was Holy Baptism: A Guide for Parents and Godparents. Both have been popular, and recently I began to receive requests for a resource on stewardship for the use of vestries, stewardship committees, new members, stewardship programs and study groups. And so I wrote Grateful and Generous Hearts, with the hope that it will prove as useful as the others.
In the years ahead our publishing program will continue with: To Love and to Cherish, Till Death Do Us Part: Preparing for the Celebration and Blessing of a Marriage, Growing in Our Relationship with God: Spiritual Healing, Reconciliation, and Spiritual Friendship, and The Making of Christians: A New Look at Formation, Education and Instruction.
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I would like to express my gratitude to Marcia Murphy for design and production and to Sara Wood for her editorial assistance. |
A Reader’s Guide
The primary purpose of this short book is not to advocate a particular point of view or engage in a debate, although it will present a personal set of convictions and perhaps be controversial. Its primary purpose is to educate, that is, to offer a resource to stimulate reflection on what may be the church’s most important spiritual concern: stewardship. It is the culmination of a personal fifty years of struggle. My hope is that even those who find it unreasonable will take it seriously and not discard it without serious consideration.
Therefore, after you have read through this manuscript, I encourage you to go back and read it again and mark those places where you agree and disagree, those statements which left you with questions to consider, and those issues you would like to discuss.
Next, review your positive and negative reactions. What insights or learnings can you gain from them? Rather than arguing with my thoughts, what can you learn about your life as a believer in Jesus Christ and a member of his church, especially from those statements which made you uncomfortable or upset?
Having named your insights and learnings, what are their implications for your life and the life of your congregation?
Now join or form a group of persons who have also reflected on this manuscript and share your reactions, insights, and their implications. Also share and discuss the concerns and questions which surfaced during your reading of this tract on stewardship.
Perhaps there are statements you would like to share with others in some manner. Remember, my aim is to provide a resource for you to grow personally and to use in the development of a program of stewardship in your congregation.
And thank you now for giving this very personal polemic on stewardship as a spiritual issue a serious reading.
Opening Reflections
At our baptism each of us was made a Christian. However, insofar as Christianity is a way of life, each of us is called upon to live in community and enter upon a pilgrimage to become Christian, that is, to live into our baptism and become the person our baptism proclaims we are. This pilgrimage is an adventure and a difficult challenge, particularly in terms of becoming a faithful steward.
One of the major reasons that it is difficult for us either to understand or become faithful stewards is that we live in a functional era, a time in which our being is defined by our doing. In other words, we are what we do.
As followers of Jesus, however, we cannot separate who we are from how we behave. But neither can we begin with our behavior. We must begin always with whom God has made us, that is, with our being, who by God’s grace we really are.
Our identity is to be founded upon the fact that we have been incorporated into the body of Christ to the end that we might have Christlike characteristics, that is, be disposed to behave in Christlike ways. (I refer you to Calling: A Song for the Baptized, by Caroline Westerhoff, Cowley Publications.)
One of the difficulties in understanding stewardship in our functional era is that most people’s understanding focuses on action, trying to convince people to give of their time, talents, and treasures to the laudatory programs and faithful works of the church. Nevertheless, this essay is not concerned with raising money or gaining more volunteers for the church. Therefore, I invite you to put aside all your present understandings and all you have been taught about stewardship and consider an alternative.
What follows is about God’s invitation to enter upon a pilgrimage of living into your baptism, of acquiring a more grateful and generous heart, a heart like Jesus’.
Much Obliged, Dear Lord
Fulton Oursler, author of The Greatest Story Ever Told, 1 tells the story of Anna, the old black woman who raised him as a child. One day, he writes, he was sitting in the kitchen and heard her say, “Much obliged, dear Lord, for my vittles.”
“What’s a vittle?” he asked.
“It’s whatever I’ve got to eat and drink,” she responded.
“But you’d get your vittles whether you thanked God or not!” he continued.
“Sure,” she said, “but it makes everything taste better to be thankful. You know, it’s a game an old preacher taught me to play. It’s about looking for things to be thankful for. Like one day I was walking to the store to buy a loaf of bread. I look in all the windows. There are so many pretty clothes.”
“But Anna, you can’t afford to buy any of them!” he interjected.
“Oh, I know, but I can play dolls with them. I can imagine your mom and sister all dressed up in them and I’m thankful. Much obliged, dear Lord, for playing in an old lady’s mind.”
“Then,” she continued, “one day, I got caught in the rain. I had heard about people taking showers and I’ve seen the one you use, and I thought, now I have one too. You know, God is just giving away heaven every day. Much obliged, dear Lord.”
Oursler ends his story with these words: “The soul of long-dead Anna was a big soul, big enough to see God everywhere, and she taught me a great deal about life; for I will never forget when word came to me from the dingy street where she lived that Anna was dying. I remember driving in a cab and standing by her bedside; she was deep in pain and her old hands were knotted together in a desperate clutch. Poor old woman, what had she to be thankful for now?”
“She opened her eyes and looked at me. ‘Much obliged, dear Lord, for such fine friends.’ She