Updated 10/10/11: The Talents Survey distributed during Sunday morning's worship service is now available for you to download.

Each year, often in the month of October, we take a few moments as a congregation to intentionally think about the issue of stewardship. "Steward" is an interesting word, for it is a derivative of the Old English phrase "sty ward," which literally meant "the keeper of the pig sty." To be a steward is to be given something to care for (such as the pigs in the sty) and having the responsibility to ensure that whatever we are given is well cared for. Within our current context, we have been given the responsibility to care for God's mission and ministry through this community we call the Old Hickory United Methodist Church, and our stewardship is about ensuring that this ministry and mission is well cared for. 

This year our theme for thinking about stewardship is Something2Share. As people of faith, we believe that everything we have been given by God is given for the benefit of the entire world; that we have been blessed to be a blessing. Simply put, the gifts we've received are meant to be shared -- indivudally and as a church community. This includes the gifts of time, talents, prayers, resources, and our very lives. Throughout the month we are thinking each week about what each one of us has to share, moving toward a time of re-commitment in which we share our gifts with the church and with one another. 

However there is another question in all of this we can't ignore: "Do we as a church have something to share?" In many ways, this is the central question for if we don't have a message, a purpose, and a ministry to share with those around us, then it doesn't make much sense to invest our time, talents, prayers, and resources in this institution. We don't exist simply to exist. We exist because God has brought us together for the express purpose of being a witness of God's love and grace, sharing that love and grace with others throughout the Old Hickory region. If a church has nothing to share, frankly it ceases to be a church.

I believe that we indeed have something to share. As people in the Wesleyan/Methodist tradition, we have been given the task of sharing the message of God's amazing grace, a grace that is present even before we are aware of it. We have been given a vision of a faith balanced between head and heart, balanced between piety and service, a faith that understands that love of God and love of neighbor are two sides of the same coin. We are a church that is welcoming of all persons seeking after God's presence in their lives, rooted in the scriptures and the traditions of our church, but open to asking the difficult questions of faith without fear of attack. We don't claim to have all the answers, but we embrace a theology of the journey which understands that all of us are in different places in our growth in discipleship, and that we are all moving on toward being perfected in love. Yes, we have Something2Share, and in this post-modern world we live in, that message is even more important than ever.

I hope and pray that you will be thinking seriously about what you have to share this month, as well as how your sharing contributes to the sharing of the Old Hickory United Methodist Church. I firmly believe that we all have Something2Share, and when we live into that reality we will see amazing things happening among us.

Peace,

Jay