Stewardship and Fund Raising 

Stewardship is the care of everything we are and everything we have. Fund raising provides money for the things we care about. Stewardship and fund raising work hand in hand. 

I know, I know. 

It's another sermon on stewardship. 

Worse yet, I'm going to talk about fund raising, too. 

Some of us say, "Oh no!" 

  when we realize that a sermon on stewardship 

    is about to begin. 

And yet... 

It's not all bad! 

I find stewardship to be a fun subject 

  - even exciting - 

    and not only because 

      I've spent most of my life 

        dependent upon 

          the generosity of good stewardship.

In a sense, we are all dependent on 

  good stewardship. 

As I understand it, 

  stewardship is the management of all things. 

We manage and take care of our resources - 

  all kinds of resources, including money, 

    property, ingenuity, talent, resilience 

      and many other things - 

        in order to provide for the well being 

          of as many people as possible, 

            including ourselves. 

Many of the world's problems today, 

  not least of them the obvious consequences 

    of climate change, 

      are happening because of 

        the failure of stewardship. 

On the other hand, 

  good stewardship enables us to make the most 

    of everything we are and everything we have. 

As such, it can be truly exciting. 

With a wide variety of balanced environments, 

  Mother Nature provides us 

    some of the best examples of good stewardship. 

We can follow those examples 

  as we balance our concerns 

    with the use of the resources 

      that are in our hands. 

Certainly we can use everything 

  exclusively for our own benefit, 

    but if we try to do that 

      we will create imbalances 

        in our own lives 

          and in the lives of others. 

In other words, we will be poor stewards. 

Thinking back to the Christmas season, 

  and the Dickens story of "A Christmas Carol," 

    one of the worst examples of stewardship 

      was Ebenezer Scrooge. 

It took a spooky visitation 

  to scare him out of his miserliness, 

    but the end of the story leaves us 

      with the hope that he will be 

        a better steward of everything 

          for the rest of his life. 

His willingness to share his resources 

  with the family of his clerk 

    is one of the signs of his new outlook on life. 

An even more important sign 

  of good stewardship 

    is seen in his plan 

      to provide a just wage to the clerk. 

Likewise, those who manage companies 

  with many employees 

    can provide good stewardship 

      and better corporate culture 

        by caring for the workers 

          who make their corporate life 

            and profits possible. 

In many ways, Costco is an example 

  of good corporate stewardship, 

    while Sam's Club (and Walmart, their counterpart) 

      are examples of poor corporate stewardship. 

All we have to do to see it 

  is think about which company 

    we would like to work for. 

We can all become better and better stewards

  of our own resources, 

    seeking to purchase what we need 

      from companies who take good care 

        of their employees. 

We can manage what we have 

  and what we do with it, 

    how we share our resources, 

      and with whom. 

Good management is the essence 

  of good stewardship. 

Charitable giving is important 

  as a part of good stewardship. 

We can take care 

  to give to organizations 

    that do the most good 

      with their own resources. 

Such organizations as "Charity Navigator" 

  help us keep track of organizations 

    that help meet our goals 

      and manage their own resources well. 

Charitable organizations can be good stewards, too, 

  managing and balancing 

    their employees, opportunities and resources. 

Our own beloved community 

  of the NIUU 

    can provide good stewardship 

      of our opportunities 

        as a religious community here in North Idaho. 

We are uniquely positioned 

  to provide a witness 

    that spirituality can enable 

      acceptance of all kinds of people 

        with many different points of view. 

There is no reason to hate each other 

  just because we disagree. 

We can set an example of open minds and hearts, 

  and that example is desperately needed

    in our time and place. 

As UU's we are in a unique position 

  to tell our stories 

    and show our loving actions. 

These are things we are already doing, 

  as individuals and as a faith community. 

As we plan ahead, 

  we work to continue to be good stewards 

    of who and where we are 

      and therefore good stewards 

        of our opportunity to serve others 

          in our part of the world. 

Good planning is important for 

  stewardship in every part of our lives

      as individuals and as a community. 

As part of our own stewardship, 

  our congregation of the NIUU 

    needs to plan to balance 

      our resources, our needs, 

        and our opportunities. 

In order to plan for our stewardship, 

  pledging is a necessary component. 

Without pledges from our members and friends, 

  it becomes difficult or even impossible to predict 

    what we will have to work with 

      in terms of our congregation's finances. 

For this reason, 

  the opportunity will be provided today 

    for all of us to make a pledge 

      and enable our beloved community 

        to be a good example of stewardship. 

The work of fund raising is an adjunct 

  of good stewardship, 

    especially for a charitable organization 

      like our beloved community of the NIUU. 

At the most basic level, 

  fund raising provides two things: 

(1) information 

and 

(2) providence 

Information refers to the task within fund raising, 

  telling us where we are 

    in the balance of income and expenses. 

Providence in fund raising is the work  

  that provides for  the ongoing activities 

    and community building 

      that are important to us. 

We who raise the money 

  needed for the life of our beloved community 

    PROVIDE the resources to support it; 

      hence it is providence. 

This is something we can do, 

  and it is a reflection of 

    what Mother Nature does for us all 

      every day. 

The rain and snow nourish the land

  and the crops grow to provide us food and fiber. 

Poor stewardship of climate and environments 

  threaten nature's providence, 

    and poor stewardship of other resources 

      can threaten many of the tasks of communities 

        all around us. 

It's possible for us 

  to set a better example 

    with our own good stewardship 

      than what we often see around us.

Then the providence of fund raising 

  for a beloved community like ours 

    can begin a cycle for good 

      that reaches far beyond 

        our own small gatherings. 

I hope you are beginning to grasp the reason 

  that I feel that stewardship and fund raising 

    can be an exciting subject: 

They can be a part of our work 

  of changing the world! 

As part of our congregation's information sharing 

  and the providence of our fund raising, 

    we will be launching 

      a year round program of stewardship 

        in order to share information 

          about our balance of needs and resources. 

One important aspect of year round stewardship 

  is the ongoing availability of information 

    on where we stand. 

With discussion of stewardship on an ongoing basis, 

  there is generally no need 

    for a concentrated emphasis 

      at one particular time, 

        and that can be a relief for us all. :-) 

There would be no need to say, 

  "Oh no! Another sermon on stewardship!" 

    because we will be more frequently aware 

      of where we are financially and what we need. 

Some things like pledging will still have to be handled 

  about once a year, 

    but once we are all more aware 

      of the joys of good stewardship, 

        our fund raising process 

          will be more pleasure than pain. 

I'm trying to resist the impulse to say

  that it will be more like "FUN raising" 

    than FUND raising, 

      but it looks like I just failed 

        at resisting that bad pun. 

Oh, well! 

I trust that you are getting my point, anyway. 

Our awareness of the importance 

  of good management of needs and resources 

    will enable us to continue to serve our community 

      in ways that only we can do 

        for years to come. 

Amen. 

So let it be. 

Blessed be.