[ I preface this article with the statement that many of these thoughts and words are borrowed from the group of phenomenal speakers we had the privilege of meeting and listening to at a recent conference in Charlottesville, Virginia.  These included Bishop Shannon Johnston, Rev. Daniel Mathews and many of the Diocesan staff. ]

So…A mother cat is taking her morning stroll. Her mind is locked deep in thought, taking pleasure in all the cat toys she owns, in the big home she allows ‘her people’ to share with her -- all-in-all she is delighting in just being a cat; ignoring everything else around her as relishes in her own cathood and all of the things in her world. She is followed, often not very closely, by her three young kits. Like her, they too are oblivious of the beautiful world around them, absorbed in their own world as they bound across the grass, playfully chasing grasshoppers and butterflies, periodically pouncing on each other, and then mischievously darting away.

All of a sudden, the She-cat stops. She freezes in place. Her eyes lock in an icy stare as she focuses on the large dog who has just appeared upon the horizon. In an instant, she formulates her plans. Mother quickly tells her children to stop in their tracks, be quiet, and lie still. They obediently melt into the grass. One by one, she grabs each kitten by the scruff of the neck and carefully, noiselessly secrets them away within the protective shadows under a nearby porch. She warns them to be silent and motionless.

Then, she abruptly turns and moves off towards the approaching dog. She walks slowly and purposely toward the impending danger, knowingly placing herself directly between the menacing creature and her dear children. Slowly, methodically, she walks, each step bring her closer to the approaching dog.

Then, he sees her. His hackles go up. His head lowers. He begins to bare his teeth. His leisurely meandering becomes a menacing, straight-line, stalking path toward her. Still, she moves slowly, deliberately forward.

Soon, they are yards apart and growing closer with each step. Agonizingly-long seconds later, they are feet apart. Then, they are mere inches apart, nearly nose-to-nose. His teeth are exposed and glistening in the sun. He is close enough to lunge upon her. His warm breath nearly singes her face. Her claws are tensed. And, her arched back shows that she is poised for the next few defining seconds. Her children are cowering in the shadows. Their thoughts are racing as they shiver in fear for themselves and for the survival of their beloved mother.

All of a sudden, the cat rises up. Her claws viscously slash through the air accompanied by a thunderous voice whose volume could only come from her long-forgotten saber-toothed ancestors. Nature falls silent and the ground shakes as she bellows, “WOOF!!!”

The terrified dog leaps skyward, his eyes wide in terror. He instantly reverses direction, scrambling over his jumbled paws, frantically racing toward the distant horizon. The mother cat nonchalantly turns and walks back toward her dazed children. As she approaches, she motions them from the shadows. They gleefully leap towards her.  She stops them and they sit, listening intently. She says, “Now children. Do you see why I keep telling you that it is important you learn a second language?”

OK. I give up. You can stop groaning. But, this story does have an important lesson or two to make. The point is that the cat enjoys her life. In fact, she often gets lost in her own little feline world. She becomes absorbed in all her toys, her human family, and her nice house. Like us all, she enjoys all the things that surround her. But, when she is awakened from her self-absorbed trance by the need to protect and serve the ones she loves, nothing else is important. Nothing else matters. When the threat appears, without hesitation, she moves into action, putting herself at risk to protect and serve the most important thing in the world to her. But, let’s come back to that.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I am going to tell you about stewardship. But, for us to communicate effectively about this subject, we must all agree that the language of stewardship, in fact, the concept of stewardship, is not an ordinary part of our real-world, every-day lives. Like the cat, it is a language different from the one we usually speak.

Unfortunately, in the world we all live within, success is measured differently than it is in the scriptures. We measure the prominence of strangers; we measure the achievements of our friends; and, in truth, we even measure the value of ourselves based almost entirely upon the ‘stuff’ that surrounds them and us. We speak the language of wealth, acquisition, and on-hand material possessions. We think, “He has a huge house – he must be very successful.” Or, “She has a better car than mine – she must make a lot more money than me.”, Or, “I need a salary raise so I can buy new furniture, go on vacation, or be able to buy more stuff.” Our closets, our attics, and our garages are so full of all the stuff that we ‘need’ that we can’t find a certain shirt, locate that lost object, or even park our car. 

We could have everything we dreamed of as kids. And, yet, we would feel the need to make more money, so we can buy more stuff, so that we can feel more successful, so we can stand tall in front of our friends and our mirror. It doesn’t seem to matter how much we have in cash and assets. Billionaires, millionaires, and those who make one-hundred, fifty, forty, thirty-thousand a year salaries don’t seem to have enough. As a society, we are driven to earn more, to amass more, and in all other ways to become more visibly affluent.

But, not only do we hold on to our wealth in almost a prideful or miserly manner, we also tend to hoard or to hide our skills and our talents. We hold them back from the views of others. We secret them away. In part, it’s important to acknowledge that we can’t be entirely at fault for this. Not only do we cherish them as our possessions, but the human condition of need for acceptance also makes us timid in sharing. What if someone thinks my skills or talents aren’t worthy of sharing? What if no one appreciates them even if I do offer them? I could be embarrassed…I could be ridiculed…I could be shunned.

And, like our talents and our treasures, we tend to be very possessive of our time. We assess the time we have available in terms of how busy we have been or how tired we have become. We attempt to fill each moment with the activities we think will be the most exciting, most relaxing, or most capable of fulfilling our personal desires. Or, we do just the tasks we feel are the most recognizable to others and, therefore, will garner us the most prestige. And, when each day ends, we look back and say that we just don’t seem to have the time to do anything beyond these things that are personally important to us.

All of these things surround us everyday. All of us have the same feelings, the same thoughts, the same concerns. It doesn’t seem to matter if you are the irregular attendee who only goes to church on Christmas and Easter or the parishioner that never misses a service. From parishioner to priest, from banner bearer to bishop, we are all trapped by the secular world in which we live, work, and survive. It is a world which places tremendous emphasis upon what we have achieved, what we have amassed, and what we have retained. It is a demanding world of incessant reminders about how we must accumulate stuff in order to fit in. We are reminded by television, by magazines, by our peers and by ourselves.

Before we continue, let me pose a few questions to you.

 - Who is the more charitable person:
   -- the person living on a fixed income and yet forsaking an occasional personal benefit to insure someone else is not in need;
   -- or the person who decides at the end of the month which leftover resources might be donated to charity?

 - Who would you aspire to be more like:
   -- the person who comes home after a long day at work and plops down in front of the TV for another night of reality programming;
   -- or, the person who works a long day and then goes to an EFM meeting, works in a soup kitchen or food bank, mentors children and youth, or mows the grass at the church?

 - Who do you admire more:
   -- the person who has amassed great wealth, property and material possessions, and gives five percent of his wealth to charity;
   -- or, the person who has little and only gives pennies, but apologizes because they can’t give more?

After you have contemplated these questions, go back and reflect upon the following:
 - Who would God view as the more charitable person?
 - Who would God want all of us to aspire to be more like?
 - Who would God accept more readily as one of his devoted followers?

One of the most basic of Christian beliefs is that God is the owner of all things in this world and beyond. Everything around us, everything we possess, and everything we are belongs to God. God’s claim on us is complete, absolute, and undeniable. And, yet, our all-powerful God, despite his indisputable claim of ownership does not demand us to give Him back His possessions. He doesn’t strive to amass them or to hoard them. Instead, He graciously permits us to possess what he gives. He only asks that we return a portion of our material bounty, the “first fruits of our labor”, to Him. He asks not only so we may learn to acknowledge, accept, and revel in His lordship over us. He asks these things so we may learn how to love and serve Him and others; so we may learn how to think less of ourselves than we do of those around us; so we may help others to begin and continue their own journeys toward finding God through Jesus Christ. He asks so that we may learn to speak and think in a new language.

Yes, in the spiritual world, we must endeavor to learn how to divest ourselves of the things we have, but don’t need. As Christians, we must undertake to learn about faithfully, unselfishly giving back the gifts God has entrusted to us. Nothing we possess, none of our stuff -- not our cash, our houses, our talents, or even our time – truly belongs to us. We are merely stewards of God’s possessions for a brief period of time. And, in the scripture, God urges, compels, demands that we share freely of all of our gifts – our spare or leisure time, our knowledge and skills, and our material possessions and wealth. We are tasked with using these gifts to walk through the world sharing His Word, His Compassion, His Love with everyone around us, friends and strangers alike.

So, where does that put us at Abingdon? Are we merely average human beings, absorbed in our own worldly perceptions and distracted by our own possessions? I don’t think we are. Or, are we like the mother cat, willing to sacrifice for the Lord we love as much as we would sacrifice for our own children? I think the answer to that is, yes we are more like her…we just need to be reminded occasionally.

At our Parish, we definitely fulfill the basic business necessities of the church. We keep the furnace going and the lights on in our church and our parish hall. We unfalteringly oversee our cemetery and preserve the sanctity of its holy ground for all of those interred within it. We steadfastly care for our historic church, preserving it for all of the generations yet to come. And, we ensure that our programs (all of them – worship, education, outreach, music, youth, etc.) survive from week to week.

And, we are a loving family. We believe in all of the things that God wants us to do. I give praise to God that our parish is one of the most loving and caring parishes I have ever seen. But, do we perform enough? No one can tell you whether you do enough. That decision is totally between you and God. But here is some of the spiritual-based language and some of the facts you also need to know.

 - Tithing can be defined in may ways:
   -- Tithing is about giving your first fruits – God’s own possessions – to doing the work of God;
   -- How should you compute your tithe…based upon gross salary or net salary – That's your call;
   -- If you give to charities not involved with Abingdon but which also promote God’s teachings, does that count as part of your tithe? Possibly so;
   -- If you give to a school, historical society or other activity, does that count? Maybe not.

 - Can the concept of tithing be applied to time and talent?
   -- Absolutely. Why would it be any different than with your physical assets. Did you not earn them with your time and talent? Since God owns us and all we have and are, it only makes sense that he owns our time and talent.

 - I really can’t give any more cash right now, but I would like to. How do I participate in a meaningful manner?
   -- If you’re talking about the spectrum of time, talent and treasure, it becomes a little more difficult to quantify. But the beauty of it is that you don’t have to quantify it to anyone…it’s between you and God.
   -- Some of the things you could consider are as follows:
      --- How much could you free up for the church budget if you volunteered to do a task (mow the grass, paint a wall, etc.)?
      --- How many people might begin their journey toward finding Christ if you donated your talents by mentoring youth, singing in the choir, performing outreach activities, or setting up beautiful and holy services by working on the altar guild?

 - Should I tithe right now or can I give a lesser amount?
   -- Remember that we are all on this Earth to learn how to walk the path Christ showed us.
   -- The Scriptures stress that tithing is a goal of all Christians, but we must also acknowledge that all of God’s children must learn from walking the path with each step we take along it.
   -- So, as you walk the path in your Christian journey, consider that each year you should endeavor to come closer to your objective, closer to tithing. Make a plan. Each year, reassess your giving and raise your commitment to get you closer to your tithing target.

 - A lot of people think, “I’m giving all the cash I can afford to give.”
   -- Some people treat their pledge as an essential part of their weekly (or monthly, or annual) commitments that must be paid. They pay these commitments and then determine how much cash is left over as disposable income for recreation, leisure, or acquiring stuff.
   -- But, most people pay all their bills, buy the things they desire, take a vacation, and do other things first…and then, they pay their pledge solely based upon what is left over.

 - The Diocese of Virginia was the first Anglican Diocese in America. Abingdon bears the distinction of being the first church in the Diocese.
   -- But, the Diocese of Virginia is dead-last in America in the percentage of stewardship contributions within the diocesan churches
   -- Historically, Abingdon Church hasn’t come close to meeting the tithing level of most of the churches in the Diocese. We can do better.

 - The median income for a family in Gloucester County is $48,760 per year. 
   -- Abingdon has approximately 160 active, participating families.
   -- If each family tithed at 10%, Abingdon’s annual donations would be $780,160.
   -- We received $230,000 last year – based upon median income numbers, our received contributions was the result of a donation rate of approximately three percent... far short of the tithe rate of ten percent. 
  -- To put it another way, if you do the numbers backwards, you would find that the average salary of the people at Abingdon is $14,380 per year – do you think that is accurate?

In closing, I know we all realize that God is the ruler of all things and all people. We owe our lives and our daily existence to God. We must always remind ourselves that we really don’t own anything. Our very existence is on loan. His bounty is one of joy in sharing.

I know that I’ve laid a lot at your feet. In comparison to our secular world, I’m sure some of this has come across almost as a second language. I pray that I’ve not offended anyone with my approach.  But, the words of inspiration I gathered at the conference, and the time spent meditating upon them, have filled me with excitement and enthusiasm for the future of Abingdon Church. Ultimately, we all take a personal journey, one of deliverance shared solely with God. I can only speak for myself when I say that I hope to feel this joy when my final day arrives and, like the kittens, I go lovingly into the waiting arms of my Protector.

God Bless Y’all,
Steve and Diane