Wholistic Stewardship

When I was a child, a favorite series of books for me was The Borrowers. This series followed little people living inside the homes of full-sized people and all the adventures that came with “borrowing things” and going unnoticed so as to keep their existence comfortable and safe.

I have been a “borrower” as of late, learning about extending grace and dignity to mistreated people groups during two conferences in January. First came the Gay Christian Network conference in Portland, Oregon, and then basking in the wisdom of Nick and Claire Wolterstorff during the Justice Conference in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

Add to these experiences the opportunity to absorb the refreshing and inspiring presentation of Marva Dawn from her book Keeping the Sabbath Wholly during Calvin’s ReGathering celebration. (You may notice I am “borrowing” from Marva and adapting a bit for the title of this blog.)

As I grow in years, the quantity of my questions is also growing—rather than resolving. How does one conduct him/herself in such a way to keep stewardship wholly? Does justice have a role in our stewardship practices? Are my stewardship practices self-serving? Are they promoting dependency rather than dignity?

A previous post on this blog addresses the idea that all our resources are gifts from God in various stages of abundance—placed under our care for purposes of advancing the kingdom, holy expressions of worship while caring for the global community.

When I consider what it means to fully embrace stewardship, I consider the new understandings of justice and the more holistic approach needed to redeem injustice. These are corollary principles for stewardship.

The holistic approach to stewardship, much like the call to act justly, demands that we ask the hard questions about the social or political structures that are operating in our communities which often cause injustice, fear and dependency. Justice has a role in our stewardship practices in that we are to respect all of God’s creation and treat others with dignity. A holistic approach to stewardship calls me to manage all my resources such that basic needs are provided to others without creating a culture of dependency.

How much easier is it for us to check the charity box and feel satisfied we have given rather than to investigate and pursue matters of justice. We prefer to give a gift, and often even expect favors in return, than to think deeply about matters of justice. We prefer to not investigate too deeply for fear that social and/or political change might impact our personal, comfortable situations.

Let’s be courageous enough to ask: Am I willing to surrender any of my comforts for the opportunity to bring greater justice into our communities? Am I willing to surrender my privileges for another’s safety and dignity?

I think we believers might agree that the real challenge gets personal. The real questions get personal. The real growth gets personal. But it’s all for a global purpose.
Along the way, we can find encouragement in the fact that we are prompted in this questioning by a God who holds the answers.

Is there an app for that?

Remember the school days when the guest speaker came to give a care-for-the-earth pep talk? That’s when I started turning off the water while brushing my teeth and feeling guilty for long showers. Conserving water is a good thing; it’s environmentally conscious and it fosters responsible stewardship. The pep talk gave us the awareness and motivation we needed to take action in this area.

My wife and I recently purchased an ’09 Camry, complete with onscreen monitoring of our gas usage. While traveling through the city and down the highway, this vehicle records and reports our usage. My driving habits have been significantly impacted by this immediate feedback—my acceleration has slowed, I roll to a stop far in advance, and I find myself setting the cruise control lower. The feedback (and subsequent personal goal setting) has had an amazing influence on my driving. I’m conserving fuel like never before, and I’m highly motivated to increase my miles per gallon with every new tank.

It makes me wonder: What if there was an app for my stewardship of God’s abundance to me? If my iPhone recorded my daily efforts at sharing my wealth, would that awareness make me more motivated? And is this motivation the appropriate motivation?

The end results of my changed driving habits are positive in so many ways, carrying me another step in learning to manage God’s abundance to me. Overall, I like this modern day shift in consciousness towards stewardship. How about you?