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Understanding
Stewardship
Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that
other people won't feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give others the permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.
-Nelson Mandela |
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February 20, 2009
Dear St. William’s Parishioners,
The Parish Pastoral Council invites you to journey with us in deepening our
relationship with God through living as faithful stewards of God’s many gifts.
Last spring, we asked for your input about what you valued about our Parish and
what our priorities should be for the next few years. We have studied your
responses with great interest and care. As a result, our discernment process led
us to begin our pastoral planning by building a deeper understanding of
stewardship as the cornerstone of all future planning efforts. By stewardship,
we do NOT mean the financial support of the Parish, nor is this a campaign to
increase Parish volunteer efforts. Rather, we mean the way we live our lives as
disciples of Christ, using our own unique gifts to show God’s presence in the
world. As part of our pastoral planning, we also discerned general themes of
Faith Formation, Liturgy & Sacraments, Pastoral Care, and Social Justice &
Outreach. We will incorporate the principles of stewardship as we move forward
in our planning process in these specific areas. This is how we live out Jesus’
instructions: “This is my commandment: love one another as I love you” (John
15:12).
The first step in our process will take place during Lent. We invite each one of
you to discern with us ways in which we are already living as faithful steward
in our every day lives. Lent is an excellent time to focus on what gifts each of
us has received and how we already use those gifts in response to our baptismal
call.
We invite you to use the materials we will make available over the next several
weekends to help you discern what your unique gifts are and how you already use
them as faithful stewards. Perhaps you’ll find gifts you weren’t aware of, or
better ways to use them. Our hope is that as a Parish community, we will all
experience Resurrection joy through this journey in discovering new life in
Christ.
We’ll continue to explore the meaning of faithful stewardship with you beyond
Lent. Let’s move together towards Easter as a community united in its commitment
to following in the spirit of Christ.
The Parish Pastoral Council of St. William’s:
| Jim Glidden |
Mary Ann Kish |
Elaine Mamaril |
Shaun Olson |
Sharon Payne |
| Jennifer Holmes |
Michelle Maeckelbergh |
Virgil Okeson |
Jim Ordner |
Ellen Raeker |
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