“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21).
May(Be)
Maybe you’re already in “summer mode,” either personally or professionally, ready to relax and take it easy for a bit.
Maybe.
Maybe you’re a little anxious for the next few months. Congregational leaders tend to worry about things such as attendance, offerings and congregational engagement when warmer weather and vacations interrupt regular routines.
Maybe.
Maybe this year has been full of flowers for you, with things turning out exactly in your favor. Or maybe it’s been a rough year so far, a 2024 that you already wish were nearing its expiration date, though we’re not even at the halfway point.
Maybe.
Part of the stewardship of our souls means taking a moment, however we find ourselves, to just “be” for a moment.
Be present, even now. No, seriously—stop reading, sit back and breathe for a second.
Be. Breathe. Be.
In finding moments to be we can take stock of what’s going on around us, giving thanks for the flowers, processing the anxiety for a moment (rather than letting it process us!), honoring what has been and mentally preparing for whatever may come.
May is a time when we can just be for a moment. Maybe.
Maybe one of your stewardship initiatives this summer is to highlight how those in your community are being Christ wherever they may be: on vacation, at camp, out for a hike. Collect some stories from those who are taking your community with them as they travel. Share these stories in the bulletin and on social media (with permission, of course) as a witness to how your community forms and shapes people as divine ambassadors of Christ’s love for the world, no matter where they happen to be.
However you find yourself this May, Beloved, I encourage you to be a good steward of your soul and find a way to just be, if only for a moment. After all, the spring rush can take a lot out of us, and though we often say we’ll “rest during the summer,” that doesn’t always happen.
Maybe there’s no time like the present, right?
It’s May. Let’s be.
Tim Brown
Director of Congregational Stewardship
Originally published in the ELCA Stewardship E-newsletter. Click here to subscribe.
(Rostered Leaders. Tim Brown and Trinity Seminary’s Dr. Rachel Wrenn will be with us at Bishop’s Fall Convocation in Walla Walla Oct. 14-16)Pax,