Stewardship Minutes

Stewardship Talk
Bob Brown

In the guidelines I received for giving the stewardship talk, it says, “Arrive early before Mass. Introduce yourself to Monsignor Barton (or the visiting priest) and tell him you will be doing the stewardship talk”. So before Mass I went over to Monsignor Barton and said, “Father Barton, I’m supposed to remind you that I’m giving the stewardship hour after Mass”. Father Barton looked at me and said, “And I’m supposed to remind you that it’s only a Stewardship minute!” So I guess I’ll just have to try and do the best I can. (flip through large stack of paper for visual effect) Stewardship is why my family and I are members of St. Nicholas Parish. In 1995 we were looking for a parish to join. We weren’t happy in the parish we had been going to previously. In fact, we were so unhappy that we actually quit going to Mass at all for a while. When we decided we wanted to start going to Mass again, my wife suggested we try St. Nicholas. She said her mother went to church there and she liked the priest and they had good music there. I, on the other hand, was interested in joining St. Gregory’s because my mother went there, she liked the priests, and I had some friends that went there too. We tried a variety of parishes, but always came back to St. Nicholas. But even after we were coming to Mass here for 2 years I was still reluctant to register as members of the parish. Now I have to side track here a little to tell you how God works in mysterious ways. Growing up, one of my very favorite movies was The Music Man. We had no VCRs in those days, but after I saw the movie in the theatre I used my little reel to reel tape recorder to tape the sound part of the movie when it came on TV. And I had memorized most of the dialogue from the movie. When I was in high school, I enjoyed being in the school plays, and in my senior year I tried very hard top get our director to do The Music Man because I really wanted to be in that play. I was very disappointed when he decided to do “How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying” instead. So, sure enough, one Sunday in 1997 we came to Mass at St. Nicholas, and during the announcements at the end of Mass they said they were going to hold auditions for the St. Nicholas production of The Music Man. I was very excited about this and when we got home from church, I called Peg Bartolotta on the phone and asked her if the auditions were open to anyone or if it was restricted to members of St. Nicholas Parish. I knew in my heart before I called that the auditions were for parish members only, and so I had to wrestle with myself for a little bit after the call to Peg. My children, Bobby and Jason both wanted to be in the play. I really wanted to be in the play. But you had to be a member of the parish to try out. Sometimes when you know you have to make a decision that you don’t want to make you look for someone else to credit with the reason for the choice you make. So I quickly reasoned that maybe this was a sign from God that we should join St. Nicholas Parish, and who was I to disregard a sign from God? So I registered our family in the parish. Bobby, Jason, and I were in the play, and my wife Kathy helped managing some of the younger children while they were waiting backstage between scenes they were in. So shortly after joining the parish we were part of a big parish project that had our whole family involved, and we had great time. We also got to know a lot of parish members much better, and we raised some money to help support the parish. So we did a good thing. I had so enjoyed finally being in the Music Man that after it was over I had to try and figure out if I did it for God, or I did it for myself. So when the next stewardship Sunday rolled around I looked for something I could do that would be a more obvious service to God I had it in my heart that I wanted to do something to help homeless people. I also had it in my mind that I wanted to be very careful about how much time I was going to have to commit myself to in signing up to help with one of the ministries at church. I found out that volunteers were needed to help in the kitchen during the week that St. Nicholas houses the homeless. It involved helping to prepare and serve the food for the evening meal for one or two nights. That was it. I had found the perfect ministry. I had found a good “Christ like” ministry that only required about 6 to 8 hours a year. I thought to myself, I can handle that! God has blessed my life in many ways, and it didn’t take me long to realize that I could probably spare a little more that 6 to 8 hours a year for God. So I looked for other things that I could do to help out. There are many great ministries here at St. Nicholas, so it’s easy to find ways to get involved. I helped out with the library when it used to be opened after Mass. I was in the cast of “Sound Of Music”. I’ve been a lecture doing the readings at Mass. I have sponsored three of our youth for the Sacrament of Confirmation. I will be entering into my third year in the Folk Group this fall, and last year last year I managed to find time in my schedule to help with the Antioch retreat as a workshopper, something I have wanted to do for about five years. Now when I walk into the Social Hall on Stewardship Sunday, I am like a kid in a candy store! There are so many things that I want to do that I truly have to be careful not to over extend my time commitment. So this year on Stewardship Sunday, I would like to recommend to everyone that you go into the candy store and dive in head first. But be very careful because this stewardship thing is addictive! Saint Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians chapter 9 verse 6 says: “Consider this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.” I would like to make a challenge to everyone in the parish. I want to challenge you to try and out give God. If you dare to try, you’ll find it can’t be done. Whatever you give of your time, talent, and treasure, God will always bless you more abundantly in return. In closing I would like to let you all in on a little secret – and Kathy you have to cover your ears for this - for the rest of you, and don’t tell Kathy I said this, but in our little tug of war over which parish to join, Kathy was right! Because St. Nicholas is a stewardship parish, I have been more involved in this parish than I have been in any other parish I have ever been in. And I have loved every minute of it. If anyone has any questions about stewardship at St. Nicholas I will be in the Commons Area after Mass. Thank you very much for your time.