So the NFL season is almost over. Only the Super Bowl remains. For some fans, the season is already over since their team is now sitting at home. It is amazing the allegiance some people have to their teams. Some people bleed Green Bay green and yellow or believe the only team is supposedly America’s team, the Dallas Cowboys. Of course, if you are reading this outside the States, perhaps you live and breathe a team like the New Zealand All Blacks or the Calgary Flames.
In the early church, people took their allegiance to certain leaders to an extreme. Paul chastised them for thinking that the baptism of one community or the teachings of a certain leader were superior to the anything else in this new movement of Jesus followers. He reminded them that there is to be no division in Christ and that all things flow from Christ, not from the leaders in the community. Those who follow Jesus are one body of Christ: a place where there is no room for competition or condescension.
Sometime our stewardship efforts in a parish become all about the parish. We seek to get people to do more stuff and give more money and we lose sight of why we live a stewardship way of life in the first place: Jesus. It is wonderful to watch our parishes grow into more vibrant communities that lead people to Jesus. We should rejoice to be in such a parish family. But one day there will be no parishes and those who have received his gifts freely and have followed him will live with Christ as one forever. In your stewardship, always keep Jesus as the main thing.
Tracy Earl Welliver, MTS