Every Sunday is Stewardship Sunday

From Dan Conway’s The Good Steward, February 2004

In many parishes throughout the United States, one particular Sunday is designated as “Stewardship Sunday.” On this one weekend of the year (usually in either fall or spring), the observance of the Lord’s Day includes an invitation/challenge to reflect on God’s abundant blessings in our lives and our responsibility to care for all God’s gifts – and share them generously with others.

According to the book of Genesis, God’s command to the first woman and man was “to be fruitful and multiply.” The Old Testament also tells us that the loving God who made heaven and earth gave humanity (the most complex of all his creatures) dominion over the earth and all that it contains — animal, vegetable and mineral.

God’s decision to entrust all of his creative handiwork to us can be seen as the fundamental source of our stewardship responsibility. We are not “masters of the universe.” (Such arrogance flies in the face of the simple truth about who we are and where we fit in the grand scheme of things.) Instead, we are stewards of all God’s creation who will be held accountable for how well we have nurtured, developed and shared the precious gifts entrusted to our care.

To have dominion over all God’s creation does not mean that we can be “domineering.” Stewardship calls us to a more reverent care for our earthly habitaty has dawned that knows no sunset. Let us rejoice and be glad. Let us welcome the child Jesus into our hearts and our homes — today and every day …

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