The biblical call to stewardship will lead us to foster quality of life. The quality of life that is measured only by material goods and economic factors is incomplete. This essay and workshop guide explores.
Imagine Going a Year Without Shopping
Author and bookstore co-owner Ann Patchett gave up buying stuff (well mostly) for an entire year. “The unspoken question of shopping is ‘What do I need?’ What I needed was less,” Patchett writes in the New York Times. Read about her year and what she experienced during this experiment. Could you go a whole 365 […]
A Stewardship Two-For!
Regular exercise with friends is good both for your health and for your relationships, with benefits including lower stress and improved overall quality of life far more than exercising by yourself. Researchers found that those who spent at least 30 minutes a week exercising in a group showed significant improvements in three quality-of-life measures: mental, physical […]
Stewardship as a Lifestyle
This brilliant and insightful workshop by former ELCA Presiding Bishop H. George Anderson helps bring church members into a fuller understanding of holistic stewardship. “Stewardship is like a magnet passing over the jumbled pins and needles of our life, organizing them into a meaningful pattern. Stewardship is the Christian lifestyle.” (Photo: Mimi_K, Creative Commons)
Faithful Fashion in an Over-Consuming Culture
“In Biblical times food and clothing were produced nearby. There were no industrial sweat shops, black markets, or genetically-modified food,” writes Christina Cook, in Comment Magazine. “Today we live in a different world and God intentionally set us in this time. We must choose to live wisely. Gratitude and humility are right responses to God’s […]
Christian Food Movement Website Offers Feast of Resources
“When we eat, we acknowledge our complete dependence on God. We recognize our mutual dependence with all Creation.” The Christian Food Movement website seeks to educate and share resources for discipleship, sustainability, health, and justice, recognizing that Christ feeds us and food matters. Check it out!
The Budgeting/ Happiness Connection
Budgeting may not only improve one’s financial condition but also one’s happiness. Good budgeting is also connected to smarter spending. Check out this article and see how you can adjust your spending habits to yield more satisfaction with life. (Photo: taxcredits.net, Creative Commons)
Disposing of Waste Responsibly
4.4 pounds of trash per day? Yes, that’s the amount an average person throws away. In addition to reducing that amount, disposing responsibly matters. Here are some suggestions. (Photo: Grant Hutchins, Creative Commons)
Reconnecting to the Natural World
Richard Louv coined the term “nature deficit disorder” to explain the effects of being disconnected from the natural world. In his new book, Vitamin N, he offers 500 actions people can take to improve their quality of life and their communities. How can our congregations encourage more connection with creation? It’s good stewardship of creation […]
The Liturgy of Abundance, the Myth of Scarcity
One of Christian theology’s most prophetic voices offers a challenging biblical analysis of the role of money in our culture. Wealth in America, Brueggemann says, acts as a narcotic, numbing us. “The great contradiction is that we have more and more money and less and less generosity — less and less public money for the needy, less charity for the neighbor.” (Photo: Prisoner 5413, Creative Commons)
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