Saturday, February 1, 2014

Guest Post! Using your gifts.

The following message was delivered by CtK member Nancy George, the chair of the Stewardship Committee on 1/26/2014. It was wonderful to hear these words, and the words of many others who spoke about what God is doing at CtK on our Time and Talents Sunday.

Good morning – I’m Nancy George, and my husband Anthony and our children William (age 8) and Charlotte (age 6), have been members since 2006 – 8 years or so.  When we moved to the area we did a bit of church shopping but always came back to Christ the King.  We enjoyed the worship service and always received a warm greeting.  We decided to become members and were welcomed at a new member Sunday along with 7 other families…6 still attend today.    I’ve been a member of the Stewardship Board for 8 years and the Chair for the last year.

I’m here to talk a little bit about what serving in a lay ministry role has meant to me.  I have come to experience that serving our church in whatever capacity – is a form of ministry.  And it helps the church, of course, but it has also helped me.  Maybe you’ve felt this too if you’ve served on a board or other volunteer activity.  You leave a meeting feeling like you’ve experienced a special moment with God.  I can say that many times, in fact most times, I leave CTK after a Stewardship meeting – and really feel like I just spent time with Jesus.  It’s not “what would Jesus do?”  It’s the answer…”ah, ok, this is Jesus speaking through us to do his Will here on Earth.”  The former chair of the Stewardship Board, Heidi Bertram, would call that experience a “God wink”…..a God wink is a divinely inspired moment or happening usually occurring while you’re doing something else on the Lord’s behalf.  And if you know Heidi, you know that God winks at her A LOT.  Even while I was busy with 2 little children at home, I always looked forward to attending a Stewardship Board meeting (“Bye! Mommy going to a meeting now!”)  Oh, and Stewardship meets once a month, usually a Tues or We night, in case you’re interested!  We’d hear about Heidi’s latest God wink or better yet having one happen right there at the meeting as we plowed through the agenda.  Since stewardship is about taking care of God’s stuff on earth, I see us taking care of that and more.  We’re taking care of each other.  In fact, you don’t know it, but my Board has probably prayed for you!  It’s pretty rewarding…and I think every single person in this church should experience that.  Part of what Stewardship does is this – time & talents.  But just as pledging isn’t just about the money, time & talents isn’t just about a form.  It’s about finding or discerning your spiritual gifts and being brave enough to give them back to God.  You may not feel ‘qualified’ to serve…but the asking itself is your qualification.  I can say this with authority as I was asked to serve on Stewardship by Pastor Janisko and responded with “Great I want to get involved…what’s stewardship?”   And it took awhile but I finally got it and all the good it does in our lives.  Last year again I didn’t know if being the Stewardship chair was going to be my spiritual gift.  But ultimately I agreed, telling my husband, ‘well I’m pretty good at organizing and I won’t have to do public speaking.’  And the moral of that is you don’t know what you can do until you are asked and you give it a go.  Then -  sometimes - you just need a little faith.  This is my little FAITH that Heidi gave to me at her last meeting on Stewardship.  
It’s a XMAS ornament but I keep it in my kitchen window as a reminder to have it, to keep it, and to pass it along.  So here’s my big ASK – and if you want a personal ask, see me at coffee hour – look over this sheet, find your spiritual calling, and check the box.  Even try checking off a new one this year.  I bet you’ll be glad you did.  And if you join Stewardship, maybe you’ll be given a little FAITH too. 

God Bless…

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