THE RECTOR'S REFLECTIONS

Celebrant: “All things come of thee O Lord.”
Congregation: “And of thine own have we given thee.”

It's Sunday. Bread, wine and the collection are raised up, and we as a community of faith offer the above versicle and response. It is the beginning of the Great Thanksgiving. It is the time for us to “offer our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to you, O Lord of all….” (Prayerbook page 369) We are now to enter deeply into the most important moments of our week.

We are present as a community before God to offer praise and thanksgiving through Word, Sacrament and Music as an expression of our love for God and thanksgiving for what God has done for us. Liturgy is our conversation of gratitude for God's action in our lives. We dialogue with our Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier in words spoken and unspoken. We bring our longings, our hopes, our dreams and, most importantly, our presence before and with Jesus Christ and each other. Liturgy is a time to drink deeply of the goodness of God and all that God does for us.

In this acknowledgement of God's hope and love in our lives, we need to pause and think of what we can do for God and our common life at St. Bede's. What is it that we can do in thanksgiving for the presence of Christ in our lives?

Each and every time I celebrate the Sunday Eucharist, the Mass, I take time after distributing communion to kneel and pray. My prayer is always the same, “Dear Jesus, I offer and consecrate this congregation to you as you have offered and consecrated yourself to us.” I see our time together in liturgy as a time of mutual giving and sharing. It is a time of very profound stewardship.

When we are finally dismissed by the Deacon to go into the world, we go there as God's stewards. We are God's Holy Caretakers who are called to live out the liturgy in our daily lives. As Caretakers we are asked to give of our Time, Talent and Treasure in thanksgiving. We do this because we are needed by Jesus to be his heart in the world, to be his love, his compassion, his imagination in a world so sorely in need of his reconciling power.

We can only be this liturgical people by properly equipping ourselves and our parish church through the generosity and grace of what we can afford to give in terms of Time, Talent and Treasure. The tithe of time, talent and treasure is a noble and holy goal to aim for. But, at the end of the day, our giving, our stewardship, our caretaking, must be based on the prayer-filled action of our hearts and minds. What can we give that makes our hearts feel good is a question that I offer for guidance.

May God's blessings be upon our stewardship drive and upon our hearts as we are called to care for church and community.

God bless each and every one of you in a special way this stewardship season.

In Peace, Fr.Richard

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© 2006 St. Bede’s Episcopal Church, Santa Fe, New Mexico