“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21).

Labor Pains (and Blessings)

Labor Day isn’t for a few more months, but my ancient ancestors, the Celts, would take May (the first month of summer in their wheel of time) to bless the laboring work that would happen over this season, when more time was spent outdoors than indoors. They would turn their sights toward the land and the seeds to be buried in hope and prayer.

They'd pull out their ploughs and pray that these instruments be sturdy to do the good work ahead of them, keeping their promise to help produce life-giving food for the land.

Though so many take vacations in these summer months, in agrarian cultures these were “hand at the plough” days.

How do we steward our labor, beloved?

Are we “Working for the Weekend,” as the band Loverboy sang (an iconic song if you haven’t heard it), or have we found work that, as poet Nayyirah Waheed pines, “is a relentless oasis”?

Perhaps work is now part of your history and you are currently in that third act of life in which we search for identity outside our past 9-to-5s.

Perhaps you’re searching frantically for work, or dreaming of other work, or working too many jobs at the moment in order to make life work.

In Genesis, humanity is charged with tending the land (2:15) and warned that this will not always be easy (3:19).

Labor can be a pain, and so both blessing it and stewarding it well is important. We are made to work but not made to only work. How do we find a blessing and a balance?

Just as we thank and bless veterans on Memorial Day and Veterans Day, what if we blessed those who work in taxes and finance in the frantic “tax season” of March and April? What if we blessed farmers and growers and pickers and processors in these hot summer months? What if the offering time in our liturgy were not just a moment to offer thanks for God’s grace in gifts given but also a time to bless and thank others for the gifts they offer in the way of labor?

Here's a piece of a modern Blessing of the Plough, adapted from an ancient blessing (it also happens to be a nice one for those preparing for Holy Trinity Sunday). Feel free to use it in these summering days, and adapt it to bless others who steward their work in this world:

Blessed be, God of all creation.
Give softness to the land.
Give us skill to work the land.
This plough is sign to us of Your blessing.
Give us softness of heart.
Give us skill to serve You.
Blessed be God—Creator, Christ, and Spirit,
Three of Glory, Three of Light, Three of Life.

—From Meg Llewellyn, The Celtic Wheel of the Year: Christian & Pagan Prayers & Practices for Each Turning (Anamchara Books, 2020)

Pax,

The Rev. Tim Brown
Director of Congregational Stewardship Support

P.S. Congregational Stewardship has a Vimeo Page! We encourage you to catch the livestreams of our webinars and presentations, but if you miss one, you might be able to find it on our ELCA Congregational Stewardship Vimeo page. These videos are perfect for stewardship teams that want some continuing education or for councils curious about what’s happening in the realm of stewardship.

UPCOMING EVENTS

“From Scarcity to Abundance”

In times when we are feeling that there is not enough, how do we find resources beyond the limits of what our church members and buildings can give? Most churches have currencies they don’t know they have, especially currencies of relationship and truth, that they can develop outside the boundaries of their church location and membership. During this time we will learn how to truly take stock of the gifts we have and discover an abundance of gifts beyond the usual suspects.

On Thursday, Aug. 14, at 6 p.m. Central time, we’ll hear from the folks from the Kaleidoscope Institute on how the various currencies our communities hold can be discovered and unleashed. There’s no need to register, just attend!

Mark your calendar:
“From Scarcity to Abundance”
Thursday, Aug. 14
6-7 p.m. Central time

Join the webinar here.

Meeting ID: 930 6063 1354
Passcode: 339508

One tap mobile
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Stewardship Conference: Stewardship Kaleidoscope — New Orleans!

In partnership with the Presbyterian Foundation of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the ELCA Stewardship and Generosity team is proud to present a three-day conference dedicated to digging deeply into stewardship and generosity, utilizing workshops and plenaries that highlight diverse and authoritative voices from across the PCUSA, ELCA and partner church bodies. This year, we’ll be in New Orleans, La., exploring how stewardship is a matter of “art and resilience” and hearing from voices engaged in both practical and cutting-edge thoughts around fueling ministry.

Stewardship Kaleidoscope offers real tools for real ministry and is perfect for both rostered and lay leaders. The mission of the conference is to ignite generosity, give practical tools for cultivating congregational generosity, expand leadership capacity for stewardship leaders, and cultivate adaptive approaches for funding Christ’s mission throughout the world. Limited partial scholarships are available! Contact the Rev. Tim Brown at [email protected] if you’re interested.

For information and registration, visit Annual Conference - Stewardship Kaleidoscope.

Mark your calendars:
Monday-Wednesday, Sept. 22-24
New Orleans, La.
Registration - Stewardship Kaleidoscope

STEWARDSHIP RESOURCES

Are you looking for stewardship resources to fuel your ministries and your imagination? This newsletter’s offerings are geared toward thinking through year-end giving.

Preaching on creation this summer? Mirroring the rebirth and greening growth around us, many churches take these summer months to preach through a creation lens. Lutherans Restoring Creation has a rotating number of preachers who help to frame sermons through a creation-stewardship lens. Its most recent offering focuses on June 1, the first day of meteorological summer in the United States. As stewards of the land, a creation lens offers us a different take on our summer texts. Check it out!

Harness the sun to empower the faith and community? Have you ever thought about putting solar panels on the roof of your house of faith? Could you imagine that this sort of move might not just provide for the energy needs of your community but also enable you to connect with your neighbors and work for justice. Read the February story from the Lake Institute on Faith & Giving’s Story Shelf series to learn about a faith community that, through its desire to steward the environment well, has done just that.

Have you said thank you? The upcoming summer months provide an opportunity for a slightly more relaxed schedule (or so we hope). They’re an ideal time to take advantage of the pen and paper at your desk to handwrite thank-you notes to generous people in your community who make a difference in the life of your ministry. A personalized thank-you note speaks volumes in our email-laden lives. If you make the goal of writing one personalized thank-you note a week all summer to someone who impacts your community and your mission, you’ll have thanked a dozen life-changers with a personalized message that embodies not only your gratitude but also their investment in what God is doing through your community. If your whole leadership team or even your whole council takes up the practice, the graceful thanks increase exponentially. Take up pen and paper, personalize your note, and take these longer days to linger in gratitude.

Have a great stewardship resource to share? Please send articles, books, movies and other media to [email protected]. The best gifts are those that are shared!

STEWARDSHIP IN THE TEXT

Finding organic ways to speak about stewardship can be difficult, especially in relation to the lectionary texts. Not every sermon should be a “stewardship sermon,” but on any given Sunday, stewardship themes arise from the biblical witness and can be highlighted! Remember that stewardship is about how we live our lives, not just how we use our finances. Stewardship is a life trajectory.

Below are just a few lectionary readings for the green season (as we call these summer months) that lean into generosity.

John 16:12-15 | June 15 — Holy Trinity Sunday
Holy Trinity Sunday is an excellent opportunity for the community to reflect on how it stewards its relationships, both divine and earthly. This passage from John’s Gospel invites us to consider what we can bear (v. 12) when it comes to our relationships with one another. What behavior, words and actions aren’t welcome in the life of your congregation? What praise, honest engagement and loving reframing (to use Luther’s explanation of the Eighth Commandment) are encouraged? Stewarding our relationships is important for the life of faith. There is no such thing as a solitary Christian. God calls us into community, just as God, the three-in-one, is community. How do we steward it well?

Luke 9:51-62 | June 29
Though many preachers may choose to forego these difficult words of Jesus in Luke’s Gospel for a more congenial passage, it’s important to note that this difficult passage is one our community struggles with the most, and that avoiding it emboldens no one’s faith. At the heart of this passage is the question of stewarding our anger and our purpose. Jesus has his eyes set on what he sees as his work in this world: confronting the powers in Jerusalem. His disciples, on the other hand, have their sights set on vengeance. How we steward the purpose that God has given us is one question a brave preacher might tackle through this text. Alternatively, analyzing how we steward our impulses toward anger and vengeance within us would also be a welcome sermon in a society that is putting a premium on revenge politics and othering the neighbor. There are a few stewardship choices in this text. Which one will you use to preach God’s good, liberating news?

Luke 10:25-37 | July 13
The parable of the Good Samaritan suffers a bit from familiarity in many of our ears. But seen through the lens of stewardship, this parable can offer new insight. How are you stewarding your generosity, beloved? Are you generous only to those who look like you, think like you, act like you? Or are you involved in risky generosity, defying the norms and cultural expectations of the times? What does risky generosity look like for your community? How can this parable embolden it to take action? Remember, the Samaritan in this story didn’t just take the wounded victim to safety but funded his healing. How can we do sustained, risky generosity in this world?

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