Just returned the other day from a splendid ride across the extreme northern tier of New York back to my home. The ride, while a very long one, was simply lovely. The weather was warm, not hot, the atmosphere dry, not humid, the breeze refreshing but not annoying. However the best part of it was getting the first glimpse of autumnal splendor - a tall, robust tree full of leaves splashed with dashes of brown, gold, orange, yellow and red. (Because I am officially designated as an arboreal ignoramus, I can't tell you what KIND of tree it was!)
What struck me at the same time was the sight of a woman standing alongside that roadside tree, peering into a buggy that was drawn by a single horse. For once I was happy to get a red light, because it allowed me to observe this for a moment. The woman appeared to be about 60 years of age, and seemed to be en route to the village up ahead. I noticed that there was no one else in the buggy so she must have been checking on the items inside. She looked like she had not a care in the world - but instead wore a slight smile as she turned and cast her eyes toward the tree just described.
Now I know I'm always harping on my volunteers to never make assumptions, but here I'm going to make one. I've never examined one of these buggies closely, but I'm going out on a limb to say it probably lacked heated seats, a cellular phone, electronic stability control, a CD/cassette stereo and satellite radio - all items I've convinced myself I couldn't do without. Yet as I pulled out upon the light turning green I realized that we both had just experienced the simple delight of God's creation. I didn't enjoy the colors of that tree any more than this lady did despite our driving vastly different vehicles. While my earlier thoughts had been about the calls I needed to make from the car and the traffic I was likely to encounter en route , etc, in that moment I was reminded of Psalm 118:24 - "This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." So, let's not unduly fret about the economy, the world, the anxieties of the moment; let's make an effort instead to savor the authentic joy that God provides for us each day if we'll only stop to consider it.
I realize following up such noble sentiments with a brief piece about answering machines might seem obtuse or even heretical, but I wanted to share this with you.
Every volunteer recently has commented upon the frustration of getting recorded messages instead of people; I share that myself, as it can be frustrating to the extreme. Now we all understand why so many people are screening calls. We're all inundated with telemarketing pitches and if you live in a political "battleground state" like I do here in Ohio, the election season has added to this regular onslaught with an absolute torrent of political outreaches featuring every imaginable candidate and technique for getting our money and our vote.
However, one enterprising volunteer has had some good success recently with a simple but sound strategy. Once he's gotten several answering machines over various times and days, he leaves a message that says he has the campaign packet for the family in question and that he will have it with him on this coming weekend. He knows or finds out which Mass these folks normally attend and indicates to the family that he'll be at the Mass also and would they be kind enough to look for him so he could spend a few moments with them discussing their packet. He's had this work for him!
A couple of points needs to be made. First, it helps that he has chosen people that he knows so that he both understands their church attendance habits and also that he recognizes them. Secondly, like any strategy it isn't a guarantee -people can vary their habits or be away on that weekend, but it has proven to be effective in many situations. It's assertively pro-active, while retaining the important qualities of the personal touch and a low-key approach. Worth a try if you are experiencing the "agony of the answering machine!"
Quote of the posting:
"The ideal never comes. Today is ideal for him who makes it so."
Horatio W. Dresser
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Monday, September 8, 2008
An Attitude of Gratitude
Ok, here's a challenge for today. In your casual conversations, ask someone if they have ever been thanked too much. Seriously. I'm sure you'll get a few strange looks -as if maybe you're succumbing to the pressures of a hectic Monday! The very thought of receiving too much appreciation for something you've done or given is mind-boggling.
I'm convinced, that in our me-first culture, there is too much focus upon what we want, what we don't have and how we'll get it. Perhaps in the haze of our hankerings we've lost the appreciation for what we've already been blessed to have.
This focus on gratitude has two compelling elements for me. First, we should express our thanks for all that we have. Yes, this can include our tangible goods - our houses and possessions - but it needs to include less perishable blessings such as the love from our family and friends and the faith that has been taught to us and entrusted to us. As an example, when is the last time we expressed our appreciation to our pastor for his work on our behalf? Maybe we've taken our priests for granted. We'll sure want them to be there - at their best -when we need them!
The second element of gratitude is more directly related to the business of fund raising and stewardship. An often overlooked, but important, step when we approach a donor prospect is expressing our thanks for what they have already provided. Most solicitations are made to folks who have given to us in the past. It is an understandable omission, in a sense, because we're so focused on the now - on the need for more. But good stewardship is also taking time to thank those who've gotten us where we are today. Solicitations beginning with prayer and then an expression of gratitude are not guaranteed to be successful, but they are guaranteed to be appropriate and authentically Christian.
"I will remember the tender mercies of the Lord, the praise of the Lord for all the things that the Lord hath bestowed upon us and for the multitude of his good things to the house of Israel, which he hath given them according to his kindness and according to the multitude of his mercies."
Isaiah 63:7
I'm convinced, that in our me-first culture, there is too much focus upon what we want, what we don't have and how we'll get it. Perhaps in the haze of our hankerings we've lost the appreciation for what we've already been blessed to have.
This focus on gratitude has two compelling elements for me. First, we should express our thanks for all that we have. Yes, this can include our tangible goods - our houses and possessions - but it needs to include less perishable blessings such as the love from our family and friends and the faith that has been taught to us and entrusted to us. As an example, when is the last time we expressed our appreciation to our pastor for his work on our behalf? Maybe we've taken our priests for granted. We'll sure want them to be there - at their best -when we need them!
The second element of gratitude is more directly related to the business of fund raising and stewardship. An often overlooked, but important, step when we approach a donor prospect is expressing our thanks for what they have already provided. Most solicitations are made to folks who have given to us in the past. It is an understandable omission, in a sense, because we're so focused on the now - on the need for more. But good stewardship is also taking time to thank those who've gotten us where we are today. Solicitations beginning with prayer and then an expression of gratitude are not guaranteed to be successful, but they are guaranteed to be appropriate and authentically Christian.
"I will remember the tender mercies of the Lord, the praise of the Lord for all the things that the Lord hath bestowed upon us and for the multitude of his good things to the house of Israel, which he hath given them according to his kindness and according to the multitude of his mercies."
Isaiah 63:7
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Dipping into the Countercultural Pool
For those of us who are of a certain age -for instance, if you remember watching "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" episodes when they ran originally on TV - then the word "countercultural" may conjure in your mind certain discomfiting images: hippies puffing on illegal drugs, waves of students burning draft cards and folk musicians wailing against just about everything including the cars that hauled them to Woodstock.
However, if we want to subscribe to Christian principles, we must cultivate our own countercultural inclinations, albeit ones that are not immediately so visible as those mentioned above. Many of the beliefs we hold dear to authentic Christianity are not always in favor in the wider culture, so we must act courageously when the prevailing wisdom would lead us to betray these principles.
Whenever I discuss giving money in front of any group, I can reliably count on at least one person to quickly interject that "stewardship is more than money! It's about giving your time and volunteering!" My response is always to acknowledge that, of course, stewardship is far more than dollars and cents; it includes elements of time, talent and treasure for sure. We should all strive to do as much as we can in all of these important areas. Unfortunately, my sense is that folks who mention this are often less concerned with volunteering, and more concerned with lowering expectations of their own gift!
Cynical? Perhaps, but I don't mention this to heap opprobrium on those who say such things it, but instead to highlight how deeply our culture has ingrained a certain selfishness in all of us. When we speak about Christian principles of stewardship we talk of its two components:
1. Giving in proportion to our blessings
2. Giving from our substance, not our excess.
It's this second component that I feel is the more difficult in today's world. I once stood alongside a pastor who had spotted one of his parishioners to whom he'd extended an invitation to a capital campaign meeting. This gentleman begged off the invitation citing a well-worn laundry list of excuses - increasing business pressures, familiar obligations, credit card debt, etc. Reverend Father, moved by his dilemma, asked the gentleman to come to the meeting anyway so that he could hear about the plan, share in the fellowship and partake in the hors d'oeuvres. The man replied, completely missing the irony, that he could not attend, because he was flying along with his wife for a two-week vacation to Las Vegas!
We are bombarded with inducements to spend our money and satisfy our whims. The virtue of the very device that allows you to peruse this blog -the internet - has the counterbalancing vice of permitting us to virtually eliminate the very concept of delayed gratification. We see it or hear it, we jump to a website and then a couple clicks later this latest object of our desire is en route to our mailbox. ( I am susceptible to this in the extreme. If an author, in a book, newspaper or magazine article I'm reading happens to favorably mention another book, I've been known to leap, in mid-sentence, over to the computer to arrange for Amazon to speed that tome to East Palestine as quickly as I can!)
Giving money has true meaning when it requires our sacrifice. Sacrificial giving is not equal giving but it is equal sacrifice. I'm touched when I recall one donor who mentioned to me once that she had decided to drive the car another 50,000 miles instead of trading it in order to make a more meaningful gift. That's impressive - and that's an example of giving from substance. If I don't miss what I'm giving away, then I'm practicing something other than authentic stewardship. Maybe I'm practicing a certain tokenism - making an effort to be a "giver" rather than a steward. This kind of giver wants to be among the "good people" who support important causes, but perhaps as much to assuage guilt as to take ownership in something larger than himself.
If we restrict our giving to the dollars we have left in our pockets after our whims are satisfied, then we're on the ship to nowhere. I know I can't pass a car dealer or a bookstore without fighting the urge to splurge, so I certainly don't exempt myself from this need to be assertively countercultural.
I know this might sound good; it might seem to make sense. But as I always tell me volunteers, we operate in the real world, not the one we wished existed. Are we willing, as the woman with the car above was, to drive a less impressive vehicle when our friends and neighbors are rolling around in shiny new rides? Can we live with having our friends, co-workers and neighbors think us "less successful" because we don't display our wealth in the latest fashions, the designer furniture, the exotic vacations?
Think back to the churches and schools we attended growing up. These were largely built and sustained by people with far fewer resources than we have today. Our parents, grandparents and their parents built some magnificent churches on immigrant job wages. How did they build these magnificent churches that we could only dream of building today?
They did it because their faith was a more important component of their lives than ours is to us today. They practiced stewardship. As we all know, practice makes perfect.
Quote of the posting:
"Angels can fly, because they take themselves lightly."
G.K. Chesterton
However, if we want to subscribe to Christian principles, we must cultivate our own countercultural inclinations, albeit ones that are not immediately so visible as those mentioned above. Many of the beliefs we hold dear to authentic Christianity are not always in favor in the wider culture, so we must act courageously when the prevailing wisdom would lead us to betray these principles.
Whenever I discuss giving money in front of any group, I can reliably count on at least one person to quickly interject that "stewardship is more than money! It's about giving your time and volunteering!" My response is always to acknowledge that, of course, stewardship is far more than dollars and cents; it includes elements of time, talent and treasure for sure. We should all strive to do as much as we can in all of these important areas. Unfortunately, my sense is that folks who mention this are often less concerned with volunteering, and more concerned with lowering expectations of their own gift!
Cynical? Perhaps, but I don't mention this to heap opprobrium on those who say such things it, but instead to highlight how deeply our culture has ingrained a certain selfishness in all of us. When we speak about Christian principles of stewardship we talk of its two components:
1. Giving in proportion to our blessings
2. Giving from our substance, not our excess.
It's this second component that I feel is the more difficult in today's world. I once stood alongside a pastor who had spotted one of his parishioners to whom he'd extended an invitation to a capital campaign meeting. This gentleman begged off the invitation citing a well-worn laundry list of excuses - increasing business pressures, familiar obligations, credit card debt, etc. Reverend Father, moved by his dilemma, asked the gentleman to come to the meeting anyway so that he could hear about the plan, share in the fellowship and partake in the hors d'oeuvres. The man replied, completely missing the irony, that he could not attend, because he was flying along with his wife for a two-week vacation to Las Vegas!
We are bombarded with inducements to spend our money and satisfy our whims. The virtue of the very device that allows you to peruse this blog -the internet - has the counterbalancing vice of permitting us to virtually eliminate the very concept of delayed gratification. We see it or hear it, we jump to a website and then a couple clicks later this latest object of our desire is en route to our mailbox. ( I am susceptible to this in the extreme. If an author, in a book, newspaper or magazine article I'm reading happens to favorably mention another book, I've been known to leap, in mid-sentence, over to the computer to arrange for Amazon to speed that tome to East Palestine as quickly as I can!)
Giving money has true meaning when it requires our sacrifice. Sacrificial giving is not equal giving but it is equal sacrifice. I'm touched when I recall one donor who mentioned to me once that she had decided to drive the car another 50,000 miles instead of trading it in order to make a more meaningful gift. That's impressive - and that's an example of giving from substance. If I don't miss what I'm giving away, then I'm practicing something other than authentic stewardship. Maybe I'm practicing a certain tokenism - making an effort to be a "giver" rather than a steward. This kind of giver wants to be among the "good people" who support important causes, but perhaps as much to assuage guilt as to take ownership in something larger than himself.
If we restrict our giving to the dollars we have left in our pockets after our whims are satisfied, then we're on the ship to nowhere. I know I can't pass a car dealer or a bookstore without fighting the urge to splurge, so I certainly don't exempt myself from this need to be assertively countercultural.
I know this might sound good; it might seem to make sense. But as I always tell me volunteers, we operate in the real world, not the one we wished existed. Are we willing, as the woman with the car above was, to drive a less impressive vehicle when our friends and neighbors are rolling around in shiny new rides? Can we live with having our friends, co-workers and neighbors think us "less successful" because we don't display our wealth in the latest fashions, the designer furniture, the exotic vacations?
Think back to the churches and schools we attended growing up. These were largely built and sustained by people with far fewer resources than we have today. Our parents, grandparents and their parents built some magnificent churches on immigrant job wages. How did they build these magnificent churches that we could only dream of building today?
They did it because their faith was a more important component of their lives than ours is to us today. They practiced stewardship. As we all know, practice makes perfect.
Quote of the posting:
"Angels can fly, because they take themselves lightly."
G.K. Chesterton
Saturday, August 16, 2008
first things first
I hope you will appreciate the double meaning of this posting's title, "first things first." Obviously, this marks my first posting on this blog, so I'll need to provide some context to my readers. The more important element of "first things," however, is the notion of the first principles of life - or what comes first on our earthly journey. While I want this blog to be reader- friendly, enjoyable, whimsical and wide-ranging, I hope never to sever its moorings from the faith that has been handed down to us from the Apostles. I trust you, dear reader, to assist in insuring that I fulfill my obligations to myself and to you. (Payment will be in the drachma of gratitude!)
A note on the Solinus on stewardship blog name... Solinus is a Shakespearean character, specifically the Duke of Ephesus in "The Comedy of Errors." Solinus assisted foreigners in raising money, so our tasks are similar and therein lies the connection. For the Shakespeare lovers out there, I do realize Solinus was helping Syracusans to raise money to pay ransoms, rather than to build churches and schools, but I'm betting he made efforts to sustain the churches in Ephesus also!
Why would I write a blog? Simply because I believe I have something to say that might be of some value to some people. I love what I do - love to think about it, talk about and write about it and now I can do so in a forum that allows me to also integrate other elements of interest with the issues of stewardship.
So, in closing this brief introductory post, let me encourage you to come back often, pass the word to your friends and most importantly, to do a good deed for someone today! To encourage you, and since this posting already has a Shakespearean tint, I'll sign off with Portia's words in 'The Merchant of Venice,"
"How far that little candle throws his beams!
So shines a good deed in a naughty world."
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