Stewardship 2023

Breaking Bread in the Early Church – Acts 2.43-47

Receiving the bread and the cup-also known by names such as Lord’s Supper, communion, holy communion, Eucharist, breaking of the bread, sacred meal, and simply “the table”-is at the center of Christian community. At first, it may seem surprising to think about stewardship in connection with passages that focus on the bread and the cup. But such texts often imply themes central to the spiritual practice of generosity. Indeed, as the title of this series suggests, partaking of the bread and the cup should lead to faith and giving.

It was a joy to welcome Dr. Mark Meyer, co-founder of Faithful Servants Care Center, to join with Rev. Dan in our stewardship series “From Bread and Cup to Faith and Giving: Breaking Bread in the Early Church”. Faithful Servants is a Christian-based healthcare organization with a commitment to providing quality urgent health care services to the uninsured. FCC has supported and served Faithful Servants as one of our mission ministries for many years and is near and dear to our hearts. For more information and volunteer opportunities on the Faithful Servants organization, please visit their website: https://faithfulservantscarecenter.org/.

Sharing in the Body of Christ – 1 Corinthians 10.14-22

We bring this reflective perspective to Paul’s pastoral guidance on participation in the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians 10:14-22 and 11:17-34. While the latter passage is often the first to come to mind when thinking about the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians, the former is our focus in this study because Paul uses the sacred meal to make a decisive point regarding stewardship, idolatry, and the use of material resources.

Rev. Dan welcomed the Rev. Michael Howard as we continue our stewardship series “From Bread and Cup to Faith and Giving: Sharing in the Body of Christ”. Rev. Howard is our faith and action minister for the Living Waters Association. Watch below to see how our gifts from the table radiate out to our region ministries. https://livingwaterone.org/

At the Table of Love – Jude

When thinking about faith and giving, the letter of Jude is not the first document to come to mind, especially when thinking about faith and giving in relationship to bread and cup. We include the letter of Jude in this series for four reasons. First, it is one of the few books other than the Gospels, the Acts, the Letters of Paul, and the Book of Revelation, to mention a sacred meal. Second, Jude is one of two references in the Gospels and Letters to a sacred meal that came to be called a “love feast” or an “agape meal”. Third, although the letter does not directly contain conventional stewardship language or imagery, the letter deals with broader issues of the use of material, moral, and theological resources. Broadly speaking, these are stewardship issues.

At Table with the One Who Knocks, Comes In, and Eats – Revelation 3.14-22

The key element in this text is that Christ wants to come into the church (as community) and eat with the church through the sacred meal. In the larger context of the Book of Revelation, this notion has a powerful implication for stewardship. Indeed, one way to hear the entire Book of Revelation is to hear it a plea to the church for faithful stewardship, broadly conceived.