The Way of the Gift

(Excerpt) In his classic work on stewardship Helge Brattgard said that it is only as the Spirit of God, working through Word and Sacrament, leads [people] to be grateful for spiritual and material gifts received, and to see their responsibility for the administration of these gifts, that congregational life can result. 1 Unfortunately, after making this wonderful assertion, he like most other writers on stewardship remained surprisingly silent about how liturgical action a~d the broader life of the Christian shape one another