The following prayer should be familiar to many of you as it has been used many times as the offertory prayer during worship. “Blessed are you, O God, Maker of all things, we offer with joy and thanksgiving what you have first given us, our selves, our time, and our possessions. Use us and what we have gathered in feeding the world with your love, through the one who gave himself for us. Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
This was the theme of Rev. Robert Blezard’s article in the June/July 2021 issue Living Lutheran magazine. He writes that everything in creation, including our very lives, comes from God. No exceptions. As stewards, we have been created as human begins in the divine image and put in charge of what God has made. As we read in Psalm 24:1 “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world and those who live in it.” This is a much greater understanding of stewardship than just being in charge of our money and possessions. We offer to God not just our money, but all of what we are. As expressed in the hymn “We Are An Offering”, #692 ELW, “We lift our voices, we lift our hands, we lift our lives up to you; we are an offering.”
May all we think, say, and do reflect these thoughts.
Suzann Schwenk
Stewardship Chairperson
Portions from Living Lutheran’s June/July 2021 issue. Reprinted with permission.