| A Stewardship Meditation | |
| by Pastor Dana Izzo | |
| On September
12th I walked into the Red Cross Blood Donor Center in Binghamton, NY. Like everyone
else I wanted to do something to help. There were people lined up to give blood.
By 8 in the morning there were all the people they could process for the whole day. Since I am a nurse, I thought I could be of more help being put to work. Unfortunately the Red Cross policy was that only paid employees could do nursing functions so they put me to work answering phones. "Red Cross Blood Donor Center. No we are not taking appointments to give blood. We have all the people we can see here right now. You can try in a few days. You can also send your contribution to:" "You would like to send 10 pizzas over to feed the staff and donors? Certainly, what company are you with?" I made it up as I went along. I got so good at it that by 10:30 they had me training volunteers to answer the phones. But at some point they told me that had all the food they could use. Could I please turn it down? On one level she wasn't wrong. There were pizzas and subs and cookies and sodas all over the place. I'm sorry, but I am too into stewardship to refuse people who want to give. It is like turning off a faucet when that is done. When people want to give or help please don't discourage them. I went into the office of the director and suggested that instead of saying no, I would first suggest they send something non perishable that could be used at the next drive and if that wasn't possible then we could just call Broome Bounty (the local gleaning operation) and they could find a soup kitchen or other feeding station who could use the food. I hear all the time in church also, "No we don't need any help with..., or we already have plenty of.... And then later I hear complaints that we are doing it all ourselves. I especially here it when people who come to our free lunch want to help serve or bring something. We like to think we can handle it. Good stewardship is also about letting other people into the circle of givers and workers. Good stewardship encourages people not only to feel cared for, but to be caregivers of God's people. Especially when the have an open hand to give, we should be as ready to help them do that as we are to give. Lord help us not only to live generous lives but to nourish generosity in others. Help us to recognize and honor a generous spirit so that others may through all of us see your love. Amen |
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