Good morning, my name is Steven Ford and I am here to talk about stewardship.
Stewardship at its heart is giving some of our time, talent, and treasure back to God in appreciation for all the blessings that He has given us. I would like to share with you a little bit of my journey into stewardship.
As some of you may know I am currently in Diaconal Formation. If this is God’s will for me I will be ordained as a Permanent Deacon in about a year and a half.
Before I was moved to answer a call to the Diaconate, there was an earlier call: a call to Stewardship. This call to stewardship was facilitated by my wife Deb. Deb was the one who would volunteer and I would come along – I think that I’m like a lot of husbands, I needed a little nudge. Around this time events in our lives were pushing me to realize that everything I had was truly a gift from God.
When Deb was diagnosed with cancer 16 years ago, we discovered that we were not really in control of our lives. When we buried my Dad the day before 9-11 I realized that my life will one day end and if I kept saying later, later may be too late. I needed to think more in terms of now. It was events such as these that drew me closer to God. I realized in these tough times that God was with me, I have a wife who loves me, I have three wonderful children … well most of the time; all in all I am truly blessed.
What grew and is still growing is a sense of gratitude to God. What few talents I possess, what little treasure I have are not because of me, what time that I have left on this earth is nothing that I control – this realization of gift was changing me. I knew that I needed to give back to God, not because of anything I would gain from it, but out of gratitude for the blessings in my life.
If you want to get your priorities right, there is a simple acronym that will help.
J – O – Y. Joy stands for JESUS, OTHERS, then, YOURSELF. This should be the priority of our lives. If we put Christ first in our lives and try to emulate him, we will desire to serve others, our brothers and sisters in Christ, and when we do this we receive more than we give. In this light stewardship will not be a have to, but a want to.
Some of the stewardship activities that I have been blessed to participate in are:
· Being part of the RCIA team.
· Co- leading Bible Studies.
· Being a Sacristan.
· Serving as an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion.
· Being a reader at Mass.
· Helping at the Fall Festival.
· Last summer I was privileged to co-lead Bible Studies at the Linn County Jail with a fellow Formation classmate.
· As part of Diaconal Formation I am currently involved in Hospital Ministry.
There are many, many opportunities to practice stewardship in our Parish and in our Cluster.
What opened the door for us was an invitation from another Parishioner. Please consider this your invitation to enter into stewardship. Think about where God has blessed you in your life and reflect on ways to thank Him for those blessings.
In closing I would like to leave you with a quote from Mother Teresa that I think sums up the spirit of stewardship very well:
“God does not command that we do great things, only little things with great love.”
Thank you
Good morning, my name is Steven Ford and I am here to talk about stewardship.
Stewardship at its heart is giving some of our time, talent, and treasure back to God in appreciation for all the blessings that He has given us. I would like to share with you a little bit of my journey into stewardship.
As some of you may know I am currently in Diaconal Formation. If this is God’s will for me I will be ordained as a Permanent Deacon in about a year and a half.
Before I was moved to answer a call to the Diaconate, there was an earlier call: a call to Stewardship. This call to stewardship was facilitated by my wife Deb. Deb was the one who would volunteer and I would come along – I think that I’m like a lot of husbands, I needed a little nudge. Around this time events in our lives were pushing me to realize that everything I had was truly a gift from God.
When Deb was diagnosed with cancer 16 years ago, we discovered that we were not really in control of our lives. When we buried my Dad the day before 9-11 I realized that my life will one day end and if I kept saying later, later may be too late. I needed to think more in terms of now. It was events such as these that drew me closer to God. I realized in these tough times that God was with me, I have a wife who loves me, I have three wonderful children … well most of the time; all in all I am truly blessed.
What grew and is still growing is a sense of gratitude to God. What few talents I possess, what little treasure I have are not because of me, what time that I have left on this earth is nothing that I control – this realization of gift was changing me. I knew that I needed to give back to God, not because of anything I would gain from it, but out of gratitude for the blessings in my life.
If you want to get your priorities right, there is a simple acronym that will help.
J – O – Y. Joy stands for JESUS, OTHERS, then, YOURSELF. This should be the priority of our lives. If we put Christ first in our lives and try to emulate him, we will desire to serve others, our brothers and sisters in Christ, and when we do this we receive more than we give. In this light stewardship will not be a have to, but a want to.
Some of the stewardship activities that I have been blessed to participate in are:
· Being part of the RCIA team.
· Co- leading Bible Studies.
· Being a Sacristan.
· Serving as an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion.
· Being a reader at Mass.
· Helping at the Fall Festival.
· Last summer I was privileged to co-lead Bible Studies at the Linn County Jail with a fellow Formation classmate.
· As part of Diaconal Formation I am currently involved in Hospital Ministry.
There are many, many opportunities to practice stewardship in our Parish and in our Cluster.
What opened the door for us was an invitation from another Parishioner. Please consider this your invitation to enter into stewardship. Think about where God has blessed you in your life and reflect on ways to thank Him for those blessings.
In closing I would like to leave you with a quote from Mother Teresa that I think sums up the spirit of stewardship very well:
“God does not command that we do great things, only little things with great love.”
Thank you
