Three “pillars” traditionally characterize the journey of Great Lent for Orthodox Christians: prayer, fasting, and generosity. All three are necessary to support our spiritual effort. Here I want to reflect on the significance of the third pillar, generosity. The first step of generosity is stewardship—caring for, investing in, and building on what God has given us. The coronavirus crisis has made this an especially challenging Lent. Although it has prevented us from worshiping together, we are still able to draw near to God through prayer, fasting, and our generosity. We now have an opportunity to rediscover and recommit to generous stewardship by maintaining our financial and material support of our church community.
According to Fr. John Touloumes, successful stewardship in a parish begins when we realize that everything we have emanates from God. Since all of our blessings originate in Him, not ourselves, we can freely give back some of what He has freely given us. And our community has been incredibly blessed. Not only do we have a beautiful building for celebrating the Holy Mysteries, we have active and vibrant ministries that instruct the young in Sunday School, and engage the youth through GOYA and OCF. We serve a diverse church family of every age and background. Additionally, we are about to break ground on a community hall where we can not only serve each other more effectively, but even be a blessing to others in our city. When we give to Saint Elizabeth Greek Orthodox Church, we are making all of this possible, and more, as we continue to grow and represent Christ in Gainesville. If we remain consistent in our generosity during this pandemic, we will be well positioned to hit the ground running and quickly resume the great progress we have made.
When we give of our time, effort, and resources to the Church, we are not simply meeting the needs of a budget—we are investing in a vision for our families and communities. We exist to meet the needs of all Orthodox Christians in Gainesville through education, engagement and service. We are embodying the Kingdom of Heaven at the local level in our lives and among those with whom we live. In the words of Benjamin Williams and Michael McKibben in their book on Orthodox leadership, “Stewardship is caring for the needs of others. Stewardship is offering one's self to God as He offered Himself to us. Stewardship is what a person does after saying ‘I believe...’ as proof of that belief.” When we consider it in this light, stewardship is not merely something that we tack on to our faith. It is love in action. It is a joyful chance to participate in what God is doing in our town through the gifts He has given us. Giving, in any way we can, becomes not an obligation, but an opportunity. We get to join in as coworkers with God and sustain the efforts of three decades of faithful parishioners in Gainesville, Florida. Our generosity in this regard is an act of devotion just as critical as prayer or fasting. As Saint Paul wrote, “So let each one give as he determines in his heart, for God loves a cheerful giver.” We please our Heavenly Father when we give gladly for the sake of His Church. As we give, we also ensure our community can endure any challenge.
Ethan Williamson
Assistant Treasurer, Saint Elizabeth Greek Orthodox Church