Greetings, friends. I'm coming to you from our back acreage up on the hillside. I love coming out here and walking the trails we have developed. They give me a sense of what it might have been like to encounter this landscape in its pre-colonial pasture, even as a part of John Parr's crew when he surveyed this very ridgeline in 1744. And that's a gift. That's a gift to be able to participate in this stewardship in a very literal sense, to touch grass and be a part of what once was and can be again.

The land has not always been this wild. A hundred years ago, our property was part of the Gwee family dairy operation. Eventually, the land was sold to development interests and to us as St. Ann's when we moved here in the 1960s. But with time and the effort to better steward our land for the long term, spaces like this were cultivated: a commitment to restoring green space and maintaining forest preserves for ecological health and sustainability.

It was and is a form of stewardship. It's a type of stewardship, though, that I don't think many of us often think about very much. But it is a good example of our pledge campaign theme this year, which is an invitation into thinking about what stewardship means to you. What is stewardship to you?

Now, I don't want to prejudice your answer, but I want to offer an idea. Like land stewardship, our spiritual stewardship is never one thing. It is not about just looking backwards and trying to tightly hold on to what used to be. It is not about just looking at the present moment and funneling all of our resources and energies into every issue or crisis that arises. And it is not about just looking towards the future, blazing ahead without any regard for what has been or what presently is.

Stewardship is about all of these things simultaneously. It is about honoring the best of the past, recognizing the needs of the present, and setting ourselves up for the opportunities and possibilities of the future.

So often, stewardship in the church is singularly focused on the need for money and financial support. And that's true. Money is what pays the bills and keeps the lights on. But money is just a totem, a symbolic stand-in for all our other priorities and desires. What good does it do us to keep the lights on and doors open if there's nothing to shine a light on or open our doors for? Our stewardship is so much more than money and financial support. It is about stewarding the best of who we are as a community and carrying that gift, that Christ-centered work forward into the future. So friends, I invite you into this season of stewardship ahead and invite you again to ponder, what is stewardship to you? Blessings, friends, now and always.

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