Good morning, I am Brian Maddux and this is my wife Patty.
I was asked to share our thoughts about stewardship.
Just to let you know, I am not a public speaker. As a matter of fact, I don’t really want to be standing up here… but we know just how important this is.
I know some of you are waiting for us to talk about money, and how much you should give this year, perhaps show a chart with a formula showing how to compute your gift. A few short years ago, this is what I would have expected, and would have tuned the speaker out or even skipped Mass during stewardship month.
Actually, this is a talk about stewardship, but not necessarily about money. It’s about sharing the love of Christ with our brothers and sisters as disciples. It was a journey of faith that has helped us understand the real meaning of stewardship.
As some of you know, I am a convert. I grew up Methodist and attended a Methodist university. It was here that I met Patty. As early as 1990, I started going to Mass with Patty. In my mind, the Catholic Church was just another Christian denomination. For the next 14 years, Patty patiently waited for the Holy Spirit to move me to become a member of His true church.
We’ve all heard the idea that God creates a specific spouse for each of us. Well, Patty and I each knew we had found our spouse the first day we met.
But it took us 2 years to admit it to each other!
We come from very different backgrounds. I am from a very small family that lived in the country. Patty is from a huge family and lived in the city. I was a Methodist and Patty is a cradle Catholic. Somehow, we both ended up at Ohio Northern University where we met.
That’s not so unusual, as many couple meet in college. What is unusual is how we ended up there.
For me, I was supposed to go to ONU, but it wasn’t my first choice. I actually transferred to ONU after my freshman year because I just wasn’t happy with my first choic3. My admissions counselor predicted it when I decided not to go there originally. She said I’d be back… Oh, and did I mention that I lived on Ohio Northern Drive?
Patty went to ONU which, as I mentioned is a Methodist university, site unseen. Additionally, its not a cheap school and she was paying for college herself. She had the opportunity to attend a Catholic university on a full scholarship. To this day, she can’t tell you why she decided to go to Ohio Northern.
We’ve determined, in hindsight, that there is only one reasonable answer… God had a plan.
While in school, we were active in the ecumenical Christian activities on campus and living as disciples was important to us. However, we did not have a full understanding of what that meant. We claimed our Christianity and thought that was enough.
Finally, we got married, moved from Ohio to Washington, got caught up in our careers and were eventually gifted with children, Michael and Ian.
Finally, after 14 years, I became a Catholic at the Easter Vigil in 2005.
However, because of my Protestant background, I continued to have a rather relaxed view of my new faith. The only absolute was whether Jesus was my personal Lord and Savior.
As we know, the Catholic Church, as founded by Jesus Christ, asks more of us than our Protestant brothers and sisters would claim.
Four years ago, Patty and I attended the Seattle Archdiocese Youth Convention as chaperones. It was at this event that the Holy Spirit, through the speakers and music, opened my eyes to the greater truths of the Church. The reality that Jesus and his Church ask more of us than just claiming the title of Catholic. He has more to offer us than an ordinary life.
As I started researching and learning more, I realized that our Faith is not about the rules, the rituals and the obligations of being a good Catholic. These are important ways of teaching us to live a faithful life, but not the why. Faith is about relationship. Our relationship with Jesus Christ lived out through our relationship with each other.
Let me repeat that, because it is important.
Faith is about relationship. Our relationship with Jesus Christ lived out through our relationship with each other.
Since that convention, we purposefully engaged in a variety of activities, events and ministries within the parish. At first, our reason was to simply make friends with people who share the same thoughts and views. As our faith was ignited and grew, we wanted the fuel to keep the flames burning. As the weeks turned to months, and the months to years, the reasons for our involvement became much deeper. These weren’t simply activities on the calendar, but a way of life. The relationship grew from being a member of the parish, to being a participant in parish life.
We believe that relationship and stewardship go hand in hand, each feeds the other. The more relationship you have, the more stewardship you give. The more stewardship you give, the deeper relationship you have. The deeper relationship you have, the more stewardship you want to give. And it keeps growing.
For us, the best way to explain relationship and stewardship is how we use it in our own family. First, love is the most important thing, but it is not the only thing. We are not just members of a family making our way through life. We are family members who are responsible for each other. Stewardship is what helps us to thrive, grow and achieve our potential as individuals and a family. We make it a point to server each other first, before we serve ourselves. Our family and our relationships require us to give so that we can receive.
As just one example, as a father, I understand that love is crucial for my boys. But they will not come to trust in our Father if they can’t trust me. As they grow, they will come to understand relationship by watching me work towards meeting the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of our family. In return, I will have the privilege of seeing them do the same for their families. All around us, we can see evidence of families and relationships crumbling because 1, 2, or all 3 aspects aren’t being met.
Similarly, our parish family needs more than just members to thrive. It needs relationship because it too has physical, emotional and spiritual needs. The baskets need to overflow on Sunday to keep the building and her program running. We can’t settle on filling the basket with what’s left over at the end of the week. The rooms need to be bulging with people during our events and socials so we can continue to build a string community of faith filled people. And all our faith formation and ministry programs need your participation, both as leaders and those searching to know more about their Catholic faith.
Our parish provides, but it also has needs. And through we are a generous parish, we cannot settle for what we are already doing. But we need to strive to reach the potential for all the wonderful work yet to be done.
I challenge you to grow as a disciple and live in stewardship, and help us make St. Huberts the beacon of Christ’s love here on South Whidbey.
In summary, I would like to close with a quote from each of my boys.
Michael says “stewardship is helping others when they need it, even if you don’t want to.”
And Ian says “sharing makes you happy.”
Thank You.