Stewardship is a word we throw around every Fall in churches.  We talk about stewardship at the time of the year when we are creating our church budgets and asking people to pledge their giving for the next year.  We have narrowed stewardship down to dollars.  Because of that, often times we do not want to think about, talk about, learn about stewardship, especially if we feel like we do not have the financial resources to support the church the way we want to.

However, stewardship is so much more. 

The Oxford Dictionary defines stewardship like this:

Stew·ard·ship
[ˈst(y)o͞oərdˌSHip]

NOUN
stewardships (plural noun)

the job of supervising or taking care of something, such as an organization or property.

“responsible stewardship of our public lands” · “he resigned his stewardships at Westminster Abbey and St. Martin’s” · “systemic failures cannot be ascribed to the stewardship of a political party” · “Pennsylvania’s forest stewardship program”

Stewardship is about all aspects of taking care of what we are given.

When we reflect theologically on this: Stewardship broadens to be about taking care of all that the Sacred has given to us, which is basically everything in our life — our abilities, our time, our finances, our Land, our prayers, our worship, our love, etc.  The list is endless.

Stewardship, theologically, is a way of life for me.  One of my mentors talks often about, “praying our life and living our prayer.”  This to me is true stewardship.  If everything we do is reflected as prayer, as our way of honoring the Sacred, then we are truly being good stewards, good caretakers, of our lives, our world., our faith, God’s call to Compassion and Justice.  If everything we do is reflected as prayer, then we are reflecting fully the Light, Compassion and Justice of the Sacred, and that is the highest form of stewardship we can offer. 

When we are in our fullest reflection of the Sacred:

• we are working toward justice
• our empathy and compassion deepens and widens and grows
• we experience deep peace and work toward its manifestation in the world
• we move from a generous heart, sharing our resources freely
• our worship and spiritual connection with the Sacred evolves toward Oneness
• acknowledging the Sacred in the entire web-of-life, we care deeply for Mother Earth and all creatures living upon Her
• we seek ways to share in learning, growing — faith and spiritual formation
• we covenant together as community to support one another in this vital work of the Sacred

That is just a few ways stewardship is expressed as we align our hearts, minds, bodies, spirits fully with the Sacred.

For me, the more aligned I am with the Sacred, the more natural the sense of stewardship is, it flows freely, calling me to hold myself and others accountable to the Sacred’s call.

This month I will spend some time reflecting upon stewardship and all the various aspects of it within our lives.  We’ll have some fun!  Marvel superheroes will help us from time to time, as well as Mother Earth and Her beings.

As we begin this month of reflection, what does stewardship mean to you?  What questions arise as you reflection upon, contemplate, wonder about stewardship?