In This Section:

Prayer, Presence, Planning

We have all heard the term "stewardship" before. Often, one may feel that "stewardship" is just a way to talk about financials and charitable giving. More specifically, one may think that stewardship is just a method to increase financial offerings to a parish or other entity. While stewardship does deal with finances, it may surprise you that finance is not its primary focus.

Stewardship is an integral element of our Parish Life. At Saint Luke, we have been actively involved in promoting Stewardship since 1991. Each year, during the weeks culminating with the feast of St. Luke in October, we examine our lives in the light of Stewardship.

Over the past two years, we have suggested that Stewardship can best be seen through the lens of prayer, presence and planning:

prayer, in which we join in communion with our Lord and celebrate the sacrament of Eucharist;
presence, in which we enter into deeper communion with our parish in fellowship and in service to others; and
planning, in which we examine how we use the gifts given us by the Creator to bring about the Kingdom of God.

Prayer has both a private and a public dimension, and has as its goal deepening our communion with the Lord. As good Stewards, we take time daily to prayerfully reflect on our life experience and share that with our God. Our parish church is an extension of that private dimension of our prayer. It is a physical and visible focal point of our faith. It is the public forum where we gather as a Christian community to give witness to Jesus, to remember his saving act as we gather around the table of Eucharist, and to receive grace through the sacraments.

Presence also has a somewhat "private" as well as a public dimension. But in both forms, it deepens our communion with our families, our fellow parishioners and with other members of the Body of Christ.
Christian Stewardship asks us to reflect on the ways in which we spend our time and our energies. What are the priorities of our lives? We reflect in order to deepen our lives with our loved ones and to build the Christian faith of our families. As community, we have a mutual responsibility to strengthen our faith through our relationships with each other as well as through our ministries to those beyond ourparish.

Planning has a private and public dimension as well. But as it basis is the concept that unless we consciously reflect and make a commitment to act, our best intentions are often just that -- intentions that are never actualized.

We encourage you to be "Stewards of God's Goodness ... Growing in Communion".