God's Stewards

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=3 height=110 BGCOLOR="#666699" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="04900840erlcjm.png"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Christian Arts Foundation"><FONT COLOR="#FFFF33"><I><B>Christian Arts Foundation</B></I></FONT></A></div> <div> <A HREF="purpose.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Our Purpose"><FONT COLOR="#FFFFCC">Our Purpose</FONT></A>   |   <A HREF="music.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Music"><FONT COLOR="#FFFFCC">Music</FONT></A>   |   <A HREF="events.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Events"><FONT COLOR="#FFFFCC">Events</FONT></A>   |   <A HREF="sponsors.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sponsors"><FONT COLOR="#FFFFCC">Sponsors</FONT></A>   |   <A HREF="team.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Team"><FONT COLOR="#FFFFCC">The Team</FONT></A>   |   <A HREF="donations.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Donations"><FONT COLOR="#FFFFCC">Donations</FONT></A>   |   <A HREF="contact.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Us"><FONT COLOR="#FFFFCC">Contact Us</FONT></A>   |   <A HREF="copyrights.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Copyrights"><FONT COLOR="#FFFFCC">Copyrights</FONT></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=190 BGCOLOR="#CCCCFF" TEXT="#080000" background="04311c00egdysm.png"> <div> <A HREF="compassion.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Compassion"><B>Compassion</B></A></div> <div> Lent</div> <div> <A HREF="venit_e_coelo.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Venit e coelo"><B>Venit e coelo</B></A></div> <div> Holy Week</div> <div> <A HREF="entreaties.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Entreaties of the Passion"><B>Entreaties of the Passion</B></A></div> <div> Good Friday</div> <div> <A HREF="new_lewis_town.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="New LewisTown"><B>New Lewis-Town</B></A></div> <div> Eastertide, communion</div> <div> <A HREF="peace_to_soothe.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Peace to Soothe"><B>Peace to Soothe</B></A></div> <div> Eastertide, memorial</div> <div> <A HREF="lucis_creator_optime.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lucis Creator optime"><B>Lucis Creator optime</B></A></div> <div> Creation, light, vespers</div> <div> <B>God's Stewards</B></div> <div> Stewardship</div> <bR> <div> © You are encouraged to download this hymn for your congregation or choir.  You are permitted to make copies for distribution to the choir, or insert in the bulletin for your congregation, or post the music and lyrics on a projection screen. For other uses <A HREF="copyrights.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Copyrights">click here</A>.</div> <bR> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=370 width="100%" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>God's Stewards</B></div> <div> <B>"On our earthly home together"</B></div> <bR> <div> Stewardship</div> <bR> <div> This hymn addresses not only our responsibilities to each other, but our collective responsibility to the planet and all life on it.</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <a href="http://www.caf.org.hk/music/chorales/stewardship.pdf" target="_self" csb-linktype="URL"><img src="HTMLobj-668/o.jpg" alt="PDF" border="0" align="bottom" csb-maintain-proportions="0" width="100" height="22" csb-button="Plain-Red" csb-font="" csb-font-bold="True" csb-font-italic="False" csb-font-strikethrough="False" csb-font-underline="False" csb-font-size="10" csb-font-color-o="16777215" csb-font-color-h="16777215" csb-font-color-p="16777215" csb-font-horiz="Center" csb-font-verti="Center" csb-font-left="0" csb-font-top="0" csb-img-hover="1" csb-img-press="1" csb-img-preload="0" csb-img-backcolor="16777215" onmouseout="javascript:this.src='HTMLobj-668/o.jpg'" onmouseover="javascript:this.src='HTMLobj-668/h.jpg'" onmouseup="javascript:this.src='HTMLobj-668/h.jpg'" onmousedown="javascript:this.src='HTMLobj-668/p.jpg'"></a>  </div> <div> 1.  On our earthly home together</div> <div>      God has placed all in our care;</div> <div>      We have, breed we life or doom,</div> <div>      But one mortal home to share.</div> <bR> <div> 2.  Earth and heav'n our nature melds,</div> <div>      Dirt beneath, God's breath above;</div> <div>      In us lies the span between, </div> <div>      Depths of sin, the heights of love.</div> <bR> <div> 3.  Shall we horde all worldly lure</div> <div>      Heedless how our fellows fare?</div> <div>      Shall we seek a life of ease</div> <div>      While our store in heav'n is bare?</div> <bR> <div> 4.  Faith to wake our better nature</div> <div>      With God's help can hope be won;</div> <div>      Not by dashing plans and schemes,</div> <div>      But through Jesus one by one.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Thoughts behind the hymn:</B></div> <bR> <div> The first verse is based on Genesis 1:26-30, stressing the responsibility God has placed on all humankind, our mutual interdependence in successfully exercising our responsibility, and, of only recent awareness, that our earthly home is finite, can be destroyed and made potentially uninhabitable by our own devices.</div> <bR> <div> I use the word "breed" in line three of verse one as it indicates our responsibility for what we bring about while at the same time implying a degree of mindlesslness. The word "bring" won't work because while the bringing of doom is in our human grasp by our persistent thwarting of God's will, only God Himself can bring life. The word "choose" give us too much credit. Often the results of our choices are not what we expect. For example, we find ourselves in a precarious state of deteriorating global environment resulting ironically from a century and a half of successes in technological and economic development.</div> <bR> <div> The second verse speaks of Genesis 2:7 and all its implications in the dichotomy of our nature. I use the word "dirt" instead of "dust" to emphasis the baseness of the sinful side of our nature.</div> <bR> <div> The third verse asks questions about our personal and institutional acquisition and consumption of resources in the context of Jesus' teaching. That Jesus encourages us to not accumulate wealth beyond our needs is a theme permeating the Gospels. Today, human suffering of unprecedented scale occurs coincident with astounding wealth and logistical capabilities. We feel helpless at the magnitude of the problems while feeling at the same time such massive suffering is not really excusable.</div> <bR> <div> The second question in the third verse refers to Matthew 6:19-21 as it relates to Matthew 6:24: Can we successfully work to accumulate a comfortable cushion of wealth for ourselves while simultaneously working to allocate a judicious portion of wealth to others? Can we serve the two masters of accumulation and distribution? Where will our heart be?</div> <bR> <div> The challenging questions of the third verse are not answerable on our own. Jesus explains in John 15, we cannot accomplish the good things we envision without connecting ourselves to the source of all goodness. Our secular world is trying to move mountains as a replacement for faith and love. Rather, we should move mountains as directed by faith and love. This is why it is so important for the Church to be the director of as many resources as possible. In this way those who gather much have not too much so those who gather little have not too little <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >(Exodus 16:18)</FONT>. This is why in some parts of the world the Church can succeed with its millions where governments and The World Bank fail with their billions.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" width=190 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="252be542egerdp.gif"> <div> <B> <a href="http://www.caf.org.hk/music/chorales/stewardship.mid" target="_self" csb-linktype="URL"><img src="HTMLobj-666/o.jpg" alt="MIDI" border="0" align="bottom" csb-maintain-proportions="0" width="120" height="22" csb-button="Cap-Red" csb-font="" csb-font-bold="True" csb-font-italic="False" csb-font-strikethrough="False" csb-font-underline="False" csb-font-size="10" csb-font-color-o="0" csb-font-color-h="0" csb-font-color-p="0" csb-font-horiz="Center" csb-font-verti="Center" csb-font-left="0" csb-font-top="0" csb-img-hover="1" csb-img-press="1" csb-img-preload="0" csb-img-backcolor="16777215" onmouseout="javascript:this.src='HTMLobj-666/o.jpg'" onmouseover="javascript:this.src='HTMLobj-666/h.jpg'" onmouseup="javascript:this.src='HTMLobj-666/h.jpg'" onmousedown="javascript:this.src='HTMLobj-666/p.jpg'"></a>  </B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B> <a href="http://www.caf.org.hk/music/chorales/stewardship_band.mid" target="_self" csb-linktype="URL"><img src="HTMLobj-667/o.jpg" alt="FOR FUN" border="0" align="bottom" csb-maintain-proportions="0" width="120" height="22" csb-button="Cap-Red" csb-font="" csb-font-bold="True" csb-font-italic="False" csb-font-strikethrough="False" csb-font-underline="False" csb-font-size="10" csb-font-color-o="0" csb-font-color-h="0" csb-font-color-p="0" csb-font-horiz="Center" csb-font-verti="Center" csb-font-left="0" csb-font-top="0" csb-img-hover="1" csb-img-press="1" csb-img-preload="0" csb-img-backcolor="16777215" onmouseout="javascript:this.src='HTMLobj-667/o.jpg'" onmouseover="javascript:this.src='HTMLobj-667/h.jpg'" onmouseup="javascript:this.src='HTMLobj-667/h.jpg'" onmousedown="javascript:this.src='HTMLobj-667/p.jpg'"></a>  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="5" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="162" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#996699 HEIGHT= 27 WIDTH="150"><div> <I><B>Verses and tune,</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>David P. Werner</B></I></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>