Stewardship Notes for June 2019

Posted on 2019-06-04 in Newsletter |

The primary purpose of Stewardship is to serve the will of God. The main goal of our Peace Lutheran Church Stewardship Planning Committee is to help all of our congregation’s members and participants to live their lives with purpose and meaning, so that God’s creating, redeeming, and sanctifying activity will flourish in our community and world. We seek to equip, nurture, and challenge all people who are connected with Peace Lutheran Church to lead a Stewardship lifestyle which encompasses all areas of living and is not limited to providing financial support for our congregation, and for God’s people elsewhere.

This month, our Stewardship theme emphasizes that we are Stewards of Stuff. We live in a culture that values accumulating and consuming stuff – property, clothes, furniture, cars, and other physical assets. How much stuff is enough? How can we be good stewards of all of the stuff that we possess by using it to love God and our neighbor? Challenge yourself to live more simply for the sake of your neighbor. Strive to live a Stewardship lifestyle of simplicity, thankfulness, and generosity. Examine your possessions, and consider the difference between what you really need and use, and what at one time you may have thought that you needed, but now you realize that those items no longer give you joy as they did before. Reprioritize your life. Get yourself back to the basics of discerning the difference between needs and wants. Get rid of your unneeded stuff which does not satisfy you, and rediscover joy through generosity.

Materialism and consumerism do not provide meaning or enduring satisfaction in our lives. Like Jesus, we can find joy and meaning in life NOT through what we acquire and cling to, but through what we let go of and share with others. Simple living is part of Stewardship, we trust that God will provide for all of our needs, and this faith overflows into a generous, new way of living toward Him and others. This is a counter-cultural way of being in the world, but it truly leads to greater contentment, peace, and joy.

At the time this article was being written, it was unclear whether or not our congregation would be hosting its customary Rummage Sale around the end of May. However, even if you did participate in a Rummage Sale somewhere, perhaps you are realizing that some of the stuff that you still possess isn’t really bringing you joy. Think about ways in which you could share some of your unneeded stuff with your neighbor.
[Here are a few good organizations that you can donate your excess stuff to Hill Country Community Ministries (phone 512-259-0360, Salvation Army Donation Center (phone 512-996-9866), Charity Clothing Pickup (phone 636-282-0000), and Goodwill Central Texas (phone 512-681-3305).]

Read the books “Enough” by Adam Hamilton (Abingdon, 2009), “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” by Marie Kondo (Ten Speed Press, 2014), and “Starting Simple” by Bob Sitze (Rowman and Littlefield, 2007)., and change the way you live.
Please come to our Stewardship Community Connections cluster on Sunday, June 23, to learn about some other ways for you to simplify your life.