Board Reflections: Good Stewards

Submitted by Steve Jones

The definition of the word stewardship is “ the job of looking after, or taking care of something such as an organization or a property.” The ever more frequent severe weather events we witness remind us of how fragile our planet is and how important it is that we take care of it by doing whatever we can in our individual lives to curb greenhouse gas emissions and support politicians who acknowledge the climate crisis we are facing, and public policies that speed up our transition away from fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy.

Likewise our church can become fragile if we don’t take care of it by investing our time, talent and resources to keep it operating smoothly. Without enough funding it would be impossible for us to retain the excellent staff we currently have. And without capable employees a church can fall apart very quickly. Without enough money we wouldn’t be able to support our Share the Plate ministry, or maintain a comfortable temperature in the sanctuary on Sunday mornings, or the upkeep of security measures such as our camera system to name just a few important things.

As UU’s we are probably more conscious than most people of the need to be good stewards of our earthly home, but let us also not forget the need to be good stewards of our church home as well.