Stewardship Changes Everything

By Deacon Timothy Siburg

Have you ever wondered what a four-month-old sees and hears? I have been wondering this a lot lately as my wife Allison and I have been watching our four-month-old daughter Caroline grow so quickly. She looks at us longingly and lovingly. A deep sense of wonder is evident in her eyes. A deep sense of gratitude can be felt, when she wraps her hand around your finger with the strongest and sweetest of grips. It’s hard not to think you are looking at God’s creativity and love directly, when looking into her eyes. Certainly, I’m grateful for this constant and new adventure. Caroline coming into the world has changed Allison’s and my world for the better. She has also helped us more clearly see that God is up to something.

As I have watched and held Caroline, I have been struck by these words lately from the Gospel of John: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh” (John 6:51, NRSV).

The theme of this summer’s ELCA National Youth Gathering, “This Changes Everything” seems pretty fitting hearing these words from Jesus. This act of being given for the life of the world, is a gift and a promise. This “living bread” whom we know as God in Christ, has been offered and given for us and for all God’s children and creation. When we start here, remembering this gift and promise, everything else seems to fall into place.

Where Stewardship Fits In

For me, this is where stewardship comes in. God does all the hard work for us. We could never earn any of this. What we can do, is give thanks and praise and be overjoyed that God is most certainly for us. When we’re caught up in this joy, all our senses are opened. We experience God’s love and call for us to be in relationship with and meeting our neighbors where they are. We can’t help but want to share this good news and love with our neighbors and strangers near and far. Put another way, this joyful response of gratitude, service, and relationship is our stewardship.

Stewardship for me is grounded in an understanding that all that we have and all that we are, is God’s, as illustrated in Psalm 24. What we have, has been entrusted to our care by God to use, manage, and steward for the sake of our neighbors- fellow Children of God, whom God calls us to be in relationship with, and so that we may live abundantly. After all, God has done the hard work of overcoming death and the grave, for us. With this promise, we have been entrusted with abundant life, hope, love, and purpose.

We have also been entrusted with everything that makes us who we are. It’s a rather long list, including: our lives, health, bodies, souls, hearts, and minds; our stories, ideas, dreams, questions, and relationships; our time, talents, gifts, strengths, passions, and vocations; our treasures, money, finances, and assets of all kinds; and all of God’s creation that surrounds us. All of this, God has entrusted to our care for us to live abundantly, and for us to be a part of God’s work in the world, as God chooses to use us and work in, around, and through us to build up God’s kingdom.

How I See This as Your Partner in Ministry

In my two years now in this role as the Director for Stewardship of the Nebraska Synod, I continue to see God’s love in new and exciting ways as I visit congregations, faith communities, and towns across this state. I have seen it in the ways congregations have been open to responding to unique needs in their contexts- such as starting a woodcutting ministry in one place; to turning an entire basement of another congregation into more than just a “care closet”, but an almost department store for the community; to congregations which have been open to listening deeply to God’s call and the Holy Spirit’s movement, wrestling and up to something but not quite sure what yet.

It’s my joy to be invited out to congregations to share a message about stewardship and God’s love, and to tell some stories of how God is at work and how we’re all a part of that work. It’s also my joy to be invited because I’m constantly hearing new stories, learning more about Nebraska, and what it means to be a Child of God. I grew up as an ELCA Lutheran, but I am not a native Nebraskan, rather a native Washingtonian. I grew up in the Norwegian-American town of Poulsbo, just west of Seattle. Hearing your stories, questions, dreams, and ideas help me continue to grow as your partner and resource in ministry to help think about stewardship; curate, create and share resources, workshops, and other opportunities.

Outside of preaching and visiting congregations for worship, I am also often on the road providing workshops on stewardship related topics, mission share, or talking about what it means to be a deacon. I also am happy to visit with congregational councils and stewardship teams too. I’m looking forward to visiting many more congregations in the coming months, perhaps even yours? If you would like me to come, please send me an email or call me at the synod office. Please recognize that my Sundays are filled now until March 2019, but if you are willing to look a little further out, I am happy to schedule a visit. I am also happy to share resources, and other stewardship speakers and preachers too, many of whom are members of the Synod Stewardship Table. 

In terms of resources, there continue to be new ones shared and developed on the synod stewardship page, including a new narrative budget resource. And if you are interested, I also share weekly stewardship ideas and posts for ministry and preaching on my own blog at timothysiburg.com.

A Final Word about Caroline
It would be safe to say that this year has been a busy and full one, one of big changes for me. I’m a new Dad, figuring out all that that means. But as I continue in this adventure, seeing Caroline’s joy and wonder, I can’t help but be reminded of my own joy and wonder- two things which are part of the abundant life of being a Child of God and disciple and steward. God is most certainly up to something, and it’s an on-going story that has changed everything, and continues to change everything. What a privilege it is to be able to witness this, share this story, and be a small part of it as your Director for Stewardship.