#4 Stewardship Article

This is the last of our written conversations about Stewardship - a way of life. 

Stewardship is the way a steward cares for that which doesn’t belong to the steward - LIFE.Since life is a gift, I release the first tenth of my treasure as an act of Thanksgiving. As a steward of the Lord time is not the length of one’s life but it’s direction and quality. My life is active in fulfilling the gifts of ministry bestowed at Baptism with our God given talents.

There is, of course, the danger of so spiritualizing the issues that we can easily avoid the bottom line - action. I started these conversations with treasure (which normally comes at the end of the phrase - time, talent, and treasure) for the simple fact that money belongs to us and we can govern it, misuse it, glorify it, worship it, keep back God’s tithe, or even act quite hypocritically about it without anyone ever knowing.Time and talents are known by others, but treasure is known by me. It is true, of course, that such a life style will soon eat away at us and make us unhappy believers. We can work hard and worship faithfully in church and still keep our treasure securely locked in our heart.

God has given each of us the privilege to decide, and decide we must. It is in our heart that our responsibility as stewards and our level of surrender in trust to God is clearly exposed.

At the General Convention many resolutions were passed, some good, some not so good and a few that were perhaps unnecessary. Resolution D055 is vital, I believe, to the life of the church and the spiritual health of each of us.
“Resolved, The House of Deputies concurring, That the 76^th General Convention reaffirm the tithe as the minimum standard of giving for Episcopalians, and be it further Resolved that the General Convention Secretariat is requested to make provisions for the members of each House to indicate that they either are tithing or are firmly committed to tithing within five years, by signing their name and clearly printing their name and diocese, or, if they feel it inappropriate to make such a private matter public, signing and clearly printing the word “Anonymous” and giving either their state of residence or the state or foreign country where they were born, and be it further Resolved, That the record of names and “Anonymous” signings be published in the Convention Journal and in such other Christian publications as the Presiding Bishop may designate.”

The resolution passed with no dissent in the House of Bishops and your Bishops signed the statement. The House of Deputies concurred with the Diocese of Florida Deputation concurring.

Think for a moment what would be possible for mission work in the Diocese of Florida if the leadership in EVERY worshiping community in the Diocese concurred with D055 and made their concurrence known by signing.

One of the best quotes that I heard at General Convention was made by one of the youth delegates. He reminded us that “we are called to be fishers of men and have turned into keepers of the aquarium!” I challenge Vestries, ECW, DOK, Boards, Altar Guilds, Choirs, Bible Study Groups, Committees, Councils, Foundations, Men’s Groups, Episcopal Youth - the list goes on and on to become tithing stewards and “fishers of men.” Some will say, “boy are you a dreamer!”, and I will answer - I SURE AM.  

I close with a quote from Franz Kafka:
The fathers of the church were not afraid to go out into the desert because there was a richness in their hearts. But we, with richness all around us are afraid because the desert is in our hearts.


Charles L. Keyser
Assisting Bishop
The Diocese of Florida