STEWARDSHIP

Submitted by LaVerne Coan, Created for Roots and Wings Covenant Group
Eno River Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
Durham, NC
February 2008

Opening Words/Chalice Lighting:
    10 Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 
    11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 
    12 And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own?
[Holy Bible, New International Version, Luke 16: 10 – 12.] 

Check-in: Focused check-in. (2 min/participant) Since our last meeting, think of example when you took care of something you didn’t own. How did that make you feel?

Topic: 
Steward:
1. One who manages another’s property, finances or other affairs
2. One who is in charge of the affairs of a large estate, club, hotel
[American Heritage Dictionary, 3rd Edition, 1992.]

Stewardship: In the context of a present-day American church, stewardship often refers to the monetary donation pledged and paid to a religious community. [Personal Observation]

In these definitions of “steward”, there is a sense, first, that a steward is managing things that he does not own, and second, that there is a flavor of business in stewardship. 

Questions:
•	When you hear the word “Stewardship” what impressions come to mind? What does the word mean to you?
•	What’s the difference between stewardship and service?
•	In your life right now, identify some times or relationships in which you assume the role of steward (given your personal definition/impressions).
•	In the media or in sermons, you might hear phrases like: “We are stewards of the earth.”  “We must act as stewards for the next generation.”  “In pledging finances, you become a steward of the church.”  If a steward manages something he does not own, who owns these items for which we are to act as stewards?

Sharing/Deep Listening (5 min./participant)

Discussion/Reflection (20 min.)

Likes/Wishes  What did you like about tonight’s session? Anything you wish we could have done?

Closing Words/Chalice Snuffing:
Each generation will reap what the former generation has sown.
[Chinese Proverb]

Think not forever of yourselves, O Chiefs, nor of your own generation. Think of continuing generations of our families, think of our grandchildren and of those yet unborn, whose faces are coming from beneath the ground. 
[Peacemaker, founder of the Iroquois Confederacy, (ca. 1000 AD)]