It’s that time again, the office party or works’ dinner out looms, and someone has come up with the bright scheme of having a Secret Santa. The idea (in case you are unfamiliar) is that each person in the organisation buys a gift for one other person, whose name is drawn randomly from a top hat, if done properly, but an old Jiffy bag if not. The end result is that everyone receives a present at the event, with no one left out.
Humility and pride are difficult things to pin down. We tend to think of pride as an arrogance about our own abilities or status, and therefore think that if we put ourselves down, or maintain a sense of our own insignificance, we must be being humble. Yet look at Mary’s song in Luke 1:46-55. In verse 48 she declares both that God has seen her humility and that all nations will honour her:
… he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed…
Total humility, and total self-assurance at the same time. How did she achieve this balance? Because she knew it was all about God:
…for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name (v 49).
If you joined us for the December Quarterly Dial-In for Treasurers, you might like to download the slides from today's call, along with the additional resources.
A recent review by the Charity Commission suggests that around half of all charities fail to demonstrate public benefit, in other words they fail to “tell their story well”. Using your Trustees’ Annual Report (or TAR for short) to explain the work and purpose of your church has never been more important.
In many ways the nativity story is a story about readiness. After 400 years of silence between the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New, why was Jesus born now? It must have been because the time was right, and the world was ready to receive him.
Mary was certainly ready – we’ve already seen the speed of her response in Luke 1:26-38. She asked one question (“How will this be?”), but then was ready to surrender her body and her life.
Have you ever noticed that the Bible doesn’t actually tell us that the Magi ‘followed’ the star to Jerusalem? Look closely at Matthew 2:1-2:
Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose [some versions: in the east] and have come to worship him.”
At the start of our Advent reflections this year, we join Mary as she is given the most terrifying news an unmarried Middle-Eastern girl could have heard (Luke 1:26-38). She was to have a child, and it seems she understood this meant ‘now’, not once she and Joseph were married.
But that wasn’t all. Decades of sweet nativity plays with adorable six-year-olds mumbling their way through the angel’s lines can rob them of their power in our minds.
At Stewardship, we always consider Advent to be the perfect time to think about generosity. There’s nothing more generous than God sending his son into the world for us.
Everyone knows Christmas time as the season of giving, but what does that really mean for Christians?
One of the things I love about generosity is that it’s always available to us. The worst kind of day can happen, you can stub your toe, work can be rubbish, the dog can vomit on the rug – and you can still walk out the door and practice generosity. The door never closes on generosity, and the chance to make someone else’s life better is always there. It’s always an option.
“When an organisation has effective personal support coaching in place their staff are much more successful in building and maintaining their support teams”, says Myles Wilson. And he should know, having worked with a wide range of mission agencies and Christian organisations over three decades and seen the difference effective one-to-one coaching can make.
blogs by the Stewardship team and selected guest writers.
Stewardship is the operating name of Stewardship Services (UKET) Limited. Established in 1906.
Registered charity no. 234714, and a company limited by guarantee, registered in England no. 90305.
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