My November, 2014, column for The Bellringer, the monthly newsletter at my internship congregation (St. Peter Lutheran Church in Dubuque, Iowa). Enjoy!
The Miracle of Stewardship
Ever wonder what God was thinking? I know I sometimes do. I wonder why God would trust this wonderful, precious creation to people who keep rebelling against the Creator, people who show over and over again that they can’t be trusted.
And why trust the Gospel message to the church? Why rely on a group of imperfect, selfish, unreliable people to spread the most important message in history, the news that God loves the world?
It’s incredible that God has the ability to provide for all the world’s needs, yet chooses to do it through the church, to work through you and me as Christ’s Body. Even though we keep messing it up, even though we find excuse after excuse to escape our calling to care for each other, our neighbors, and the world, God chooses to work through us. Even when we don’t trust God, God trusts us to do His work, making us Christ’s hands and feet.
Wow! What a ludicrous, irrational thing for God to do, to trust us fallible people as stewards of creation. And yet, that’s exactly what God has done.
In a way, stewardship is our primary calling. The very first commandment in the Bible instructs humanity to care for the rest of creation. God trusts us with talents and gifts to use to further God’s kingdom, steward creation, and share the Gospel message of God’s love. Everything we do as a church is a response to the gifts and the message God has entrusted to us, and as flawed as we are, God works through us.
What a miracle!
In Christ,
Daniel Flucke, Pastoral Intern