Hello, my friends!
We are officially in stewardship season – the dedicated time where we prayerfully discern how we each might contribute to the on-going work of our faith community, particularly how we might contribute financially. As one who is discerning alongside you, I decided I’d share an ah-ha moment I had regarding my own relationship with money. And reflect on how prayer and discernment have helped me to become more comfortable talking about money and making commitments.
Some of questions that I reflect on and pray with are what role did money play in my life while I was growing up – what role does it play now? Was my family financially secure or sustainable? What was my parent’s relationship with money? What did money mean to the people around me – extended family, friends, society, etc.? When I think about money how does it make me feel – and if I could change how I feel about money, what would I be feeling?
When I spend dedicated time with these questions, I am not only able to better understand how I developed a particular relationship with money but it also helps me to be able to interrupt a pattern of scarcity that no longer fits my life. It gives me space to imagine my relationship with money differently and in imagining, put steps in place to help me embody that relationship differently.
The first time I sat with these questions was in my Parish Administration and Finance class – very fancy, I know – when I began to notice pretty early in the semester that my focus had shifted from simply learning to apply technical skills to wondering why I had a made particular hypothetical financial decision. With each assignment it became more and more important to me to spend time reflecting on and understanding my own relationship with money. I realized not only was it guiding my decision making but it also implied that my theology of money was rooted in scarcity. And I knew that God did not desire for me to live a life rooted in the shame, fear, and guilt of scarcity.
My professor created a prayer rotation that invited us to share a prayer at the beginning of each class. This week I am sharing with you the prayer that I wrote, with some stewardship season additions. So, I hope this week you will pray with me and intentionally take time to reflect on your relationship with money as we continue this season of discernment and commitment together.
Be well,
Deacon Megan
A Prayer for Stewardship Season
God of unimaginable surprises, who turns graves into gardens; your transforming love is the true core of our being.
We need Your voice today to cut through the chatter swirling in own minds and so that we might lay down, even for a moment, the insecurities that make us feel ill-equipped in this life of discipleship, the shame and fear that tell us that we do not have enough, and the guilt that tell us we have too much.
We ask to be filled with the gift of wisdom as we grow in our capacity to better discern how You are inviting each of us to participate and embody faithful stewardship of that which is entrusted to us and to our care.
As we each continue to discern our commitment during this stewardship season, help us be ever mindful that You do not desire commitments motivated by shame, fear, or guilt. Instead, may the Spirit open our hearts and minds to imagine and embody your transforming love that leads us towards unimaginable possibilities, where our commitment, whatever it may be, is deeply rooted within Your garden of love, joy, and abundance.
Grant us the ability to always remember that while we are each called to radically transform, we are enough; and that each day is an opportunity to faithfully and fully participate in the gift economy that flows from and through You.
All this we pray in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
When you think about money how does it make you feel – and if I could change how you feel about money, what would you be feeling?
What steps might you put in place for yourself to begin transforming your relationship with money?