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For surely I know the plans I have for you, says
the LORD, plans for your welfare and not for harm,
to give you a future with hope.
Then when you call upon me and come and pray to
me, I will hear you.
When you search for me, you will find me; if you
seek me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:11-13, NRSV
At
his convocation gatherings prior to being
consecrated as 11th Bishop of New Jersey, The
Right Reverend George E. Councell, noted that he
turned to Jeremiah 29:11-13 while waiting to hear
if he had been chosen as our bishop. These words
from scripture
have very moving relevance to our stewardship.
The simple clarity of
God’s promise for our welfare is particularly
striking. We just have to claim it- so simple.
It’s like a gift under the Christmas tree with our
name on it. All we need to do is reach over, pick
it up, and unwrap it. And therein lies the real
challenge. Will we do what it takes to claim the
abundant goodness our creator yearns to provide
us? Will we reach?
We
live in a culture that bombards us with thousands
of messages every day telling us what we need to
be happy. God and his abundance surround us. But
the commercial noise of our culture distracts our
attention.
The
noise of our culture screams “never enough.” It
promotes a mentality of scarcity. We will never
have enough, we are told. There is never enough
money for all that the merchandisers tell us we
need in order to be whole.
God
promises that there is always enough. God nurtures
a mentality of abundance. He will always provide
what we need, what is good for us, when we
seek him with all our heart. That means fully
believing his promises- living in faith.
When the word tithe is mentioned, many people
respond with “I can’t afford to.” The tithe,
giving the first ten percent of all that we
receive back to God’s work in the world, is both a
Biblical principal and the standard set forth by
the Episcopal Church. It is an absolute gift to be
able to respond to God’s plan for our welfare by
freeing our hearts up from the entanglements of
our culture. Tithing is a loud “yes” to the
question suggested by “if you seek me with
all your heart” in the Jeremiah passage. “Yes.
Yes, I will!”
As you think about your annual pledge
to the church, prayerfully consider your response
to God’s promise of his plan for your welfare.
Countless people through the ages have taken the
step of faith and pledged a tithe, and never
missed what they gave regardless of how much of a
stretch it was for them.
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all that I am,
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and I surrender all to Your Divine
will.
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Give me only Your love and Your grace.
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With this I am rich enough,
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and I have no more to ask.
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from a prayer by
Ignatius of Loyola
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