Stewardship Tips September 2009

Stewardship of relationships – at church and at home

From the hospitality ministers who greet us at the church door to accurate and up-to-date maintenance of the parish database, the parish is full of opportunities to be good stewards of our relationships. Welcoming visitors before Mass and inviting them to coffee and conversation afterwards are hallmarks of a stewardship parish.

Thanking those who give to the parish – and inviting those who give, but who are not yet on the parish database, to consider registering – is good stewardship, too. Are visitors to the parish or school office greeted warmly and attended to promptly? Are they invited to wait in a pleasant spot and offered something to read and/or something to drink, if they’ll have to wait more than a few minutes? Is your website up-to-date so that anyone searching for Mass times, directions, or the telephone number of a staff person has accurate information immediately available? It’s good stewardship – and may lead to yet more parish relationships to tend and cherish!

And what about our personal relationships? Our primary relationship as Christians is with God. And spending time in prayer is good stewardship of that primary relationship. If those prayers are intercessory prayers – prayers for the health and well-being of others – it’s good stewardship of our relationships with those we’re praying for as well. The people who love us – past, present, and future – are gifts of God for which we should be grateful, careful to tend and protect them, share them as life gives us opportunity, and bring them in prayer to the Lord. A note, a card, an e-mail, a phone call or a heart-felt voicemail message on a birthday or an anniversary can strengthen those relationships -- and is good stewardship. Being the first to forgive, seeking to mend a broken relationship, supporting a neighbor or friend in a time of crisis or grief, celebrating with a co-worker who’s been promoted, and “going the extra mile” even when it’s burdensome or inconvenient are all ways to be good stewards of our relationships. And God rewards us abundantly when we do those things. The poet, Edwin Markham, puts it this way:

There is a destiny that makes us brothers;
None goes his way alone:
All that we send into the lives of others
Comes back into our own.

In how many ways – and in how many places – are you a good steward of the relationships with which God has blessed you?

Stewardship Tips September 2009

Stewardship of relationships – at church and at home

There is a destiny that makes us brothers;
None goes his way alone:
All that we send into the lives of others
Comes back into our own.

In how many ways – and in how many places – are you a good steward of the relationships with which God has blessed you?