Beatitudes reveal our vision

The word “stewardship” often makes us think immediately about money, budgets and commitments. Those things matter, but if we begin there, we miss the heart of Christian stewardship. Stewardship is not first about what we give; it’s about who we are becoming. It’s about living a life shaped by the reign of God – a life aligned with the values Jesus sets before us at the very beginning of the Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew 5:1–12, the Beatitudes, is not a list of moral rules or religious achievements. It is Jesus’ portrait of a blessed life – a life that appears foolish by the standards of the world, yet radiant with God’s presence. Stewardship, rightly understood, is the practical outworking of this life. It shapes how disciples of Jesus manage their time, their resources, their relationships and their influence in light of God’s kingdom. The Beatitudes don’t say, “Blessed are the successful, the powerful or the financially secure.” They declare blessing upon the poor in spirit, the meek, the merciful and the peacemakers. Stewardship, then, flows not from abundance, but from trust. Not from control, but from surrender.

Scripture consistently grounds stewardship in this truth: “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it” (Psalm 24:1). What we have is not self-made but God-given. This posture changes everything. If our resources are gifts entrusted to us, generosity is no longer a loss but participation in God’s ongoing giving. As Jesus teaches later in the Sermon on the Mount, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). Our giving reveals what we value and what we hope for. When we hunger and thirst for righteousness, our resources naturally flow toward ministries that heal, restore and reconcile.

N.T. Wright describes the Beatitudes as “a summons to live in the present as people whose future has already arrived.” Stewardship is how we live now according to that future reality – investing in hope rather than fear. The early Church embodied this vision: “All who believed were together and had all things in common… distributing to all, as any had need” (Acts 2:44–45). This was not coerced sharing, but Spirit-led generosity that made God’s peace visible.

That same Beatitude-shaped vision is embodied in the ministry of FaithWorks, which will celebrate its 30^th anniversary in 2026. For nearly three decades, the meek, the merciful, those who hunger for righteousness and those committed to peace have given generously so that the most vulnerable are cared for. Through FaithWorks, the hungry have been fed, the vulnerable sheltered, the lonely visited and newcomers welcomed – an expression of the blessed life Jesus proclaims.

This year, as one Anglican family across the Diocese of Toronto, we are invited to build on that legacy by seeking not only to meet but to exceed our FaithWorks goal of $1,500,000. I encourage you to pray, to reflect and to give as you are able, trusting that God will multiply what we offer. In living and giving this way, may we discover again Jesus’ promise: that those who walk this path are truly blessed.