How Do You Say Thank You?

The Rev. Kathi Johnson

Stewardship 2 – 22 October 2017

Texts: Luke 17:11-19, 2 Corinthians 9:6-15

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

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For today’s Gospel reading, we are taking a trip out of the Gospel of Matthew and over to the Gospel of Luke. The texts we’ve read today are actually those assigned for Thanksgiving Day. I re-appropriated them for today because of the connection between stewardship and thankfulness. More on that in a bit.

Today’s story about Jesus healing ten lepers is quintessential Luke. The gospel writer Luke was a physician, and so in his writing, there is often a focus on the healing work of Jesus. Today’s story of healing is a nice story on the surface, but underneath the surface are some important undercurrents.

The first is that we hear that Jesus is heading toward Jerusalem. He’s heading toward his own death, and he knows this, for by this point, he’s already predicted his death and his resurrection to his disciples.

He’s traveling between Samaria and Galilee – so right along the edges of what was considered safe territory for a Jew to be traveling. Which leads to another important undercurrent: that the Jews in Jesus’ time hated the Samaritans. So, not only is Jesus traveling near Samaria, but then, on his way, he heals these ten lepers, and we find out that at least one of them is a Samarian.

Not only that, but the good guy in the story is a Samarian. Remember the parable about the Good Samaritan? The good guy in that story is a Samaritan, too (another story that is only found in Luke). So it seems to me that Luke really wants us to understand that God does work in unexpected and mysterious ways.

What do you mean Jesus heals a Samaritan? What do you mean it’s the Samaritan who turns around and offers thanks and praise to God for his healing? Does God really accomplish such works in us, and…in others?

When you receive a gift or if someone does something nice for you, how do you say thank you? 

Do you ever forget to say thank you? 

There are different ways to show thankfulness when a person gives us something or does something nice for us. The trick is in the remembering – remembering to send that card or email or text. To say thank you takes our intentionality.

Likewise, there are different ways to show thankfulness to God, but here again, the trick is in the remembering. To say thank you, even to God, takes our intentionality.

How we take care of and use what God has given to us is one way in which we show intentionality. Beyond that, though, I’d say that generosity from a thankful heart takes intentionality – like Paul says in today’s lesson from 2 Corinthians: “Each of you must give as you have made up your mind…” and then he goes on to say that God loves cheerful givers. It is one thing to be generous; it is another to be cheerfully generous out of thankfulness for the gifts I have.

If I’m honest, Paul’s admonition about being a cheerful giver has always annoyed me a little, but that changed for me this past week. I was sitting in a drive-through line at Starbucks, and I wasn’t in such a good mood. I looked behind me and the person in that car looked like they were having a bad day. You know how you can just tell by looking?

As I sat there, this idea about being a cheerful giver came into my mind, and I realized that I could do something to try and improve the day of this person behind me, so when I got to the window I paid for their order. I don’t know if her day got better or not – it’s not like I asked her – but I know my mood was lifted because I was able to give something away. I also know that I was surprised that this verse came to my mind in that setting, and surprised at the cheerfulness that accompanied my giving.

There’ve been other times that I’ve been the recipient of that particular gift. I’ve gotten up to the window of the drive-through, and the person ahead of me has already paid for my order. Whenever that’s happened, my whole day has been transformed by the simple act of someone’s generosity. Perhaps you have seen or given or received similar generosity in your lifetime.

We are cheerful givers if we are cheerful recipients of the gifts we have. Cheerfulness doesn’t have to do with being perky and all smiles – rather, it’s an attitude of joy that comes from realizing that everything we have is from God, who loves us.

But Paul also lifts up the intentionality that is to be a part of our generosity. Today, you’re receiving pledge cards for 2018, and I’m not asking you to fill these out now – but I am asking you to take these home. Some people love using pledge cards, and others never use them. If you aren’t used to filling out a pledge card, that’s OK. Regardless, I invite you to use this as a tool as you pray about what your financial commitment to Our Redeemer will be next year. This is a tool for intentionality.

Next week is Reformation Sunday – a day upon which we will celebrate the reforming and renewing work God has done in the Church. Here at Our Redeemer, we will also collect these cards and the ministry commitment forms, and with thankful hearts, we will offer all of our commitments to God, the one who heals us and the one who loves us. God is the one to whom we offer our thanks and praise – and in so doing, we are just like that tenth leper who turned around to say thank you to Jesus.

Lastly, as your pastor, I want to say thank you. For your commitment to this congregation, whatever that may be.

Thank you for your witness to the love of God, and your faithfulness in living out the gospel. You are a blessing.

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What is God Calling You to Do?

The Rev. Kathi Johnson

Stewardship 1 – 15 October 2017

Text: Matthew 22:1-14

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

Have you ever looked at an unshelled pecan and wondered, who was it that first looked at this thing and thought, “I bet if I crack this open, there’s something really yummy inside!” When I was a kid, my Grandpa Woolard always had a bowl of unshelled nuts just waiting there – along with a nutcracker and the little picks to get out all the meat from the shells.

Today’s parable told by Jesus is like this pecan. To get to the meat of the pecan, you have to get through the tough stuff. To get to the meat of this parable, you have to get through the tough stuff. Like many of the parables of Jesus, you can’t just look on the outside and take it at face value.

And this parable has some pretty difficult parts to it:

·      There are these people who’ve been invited to the banquet and they refuse to go. Eventually, they attack the king’s slaves and kill them.

·      The king responds with anger, sending troops to destroy the murderers and their city.

·      At the end of the parable, the king sees a guy who isn’t dressed quite right for the party, and has him thrown out, roughly.

If we take this story at face value, then we can extrapolate that God (who’s played by the king) is a real jerk who’s looking for any excuse to wipe us out.

But I want to break through that tough outer shell for a minute and take a look at the meat inside this parable. The real meat of this parable is found in verses 9 and 10: the king says to his slaves, “…Go out into the main streets, and invite everyone you see there to attend the party.” So the slaves do just that – they go out into the streets and they gather everyone – the good and the bad – and the party is full of guests.

This is the meat of the parable; this is the good news – that the king throws open the doors of his banquet hall to the good and the bad, welcoming them inside.

But we’re still left with that tough outer shell. What do we do with the difficult parts of the story? Why are they even in there, at all?

I believe that this parable uses those tougher elements first, to elicit a response from the listeners. If you were listening when I read the parable, you probably had a response to those uncomfortable parts of the story. Your response might’ve been one of confusion or some anger (what do you mean the guy gets thrown out at the end just because he’s not dressed right?!). But your response at least is a response. This is a parable meant to draw us out of apathy.

But secondly, I believe that Jesus includes these tougher elements to underscore an important point: that there is a seriousness to the call of God upon our lives, and that there should be an intentionality to our response to that call. As far back as our baptisms, God invites us to participate in a life of faith, and what are the possible responses to that invitation? We can refuse, we can make light of it and go on our own way, we can be hostile toward those who call us back to faith, or we can lack intentionality where our faith lives are concerned.

But if the meat of this parable is the good news that God throws open the doors and welcomes us all in, then we should do everything possible to grasp at this good news – everything we can to grow in our lives of faith – to grow as disciples of Jesus. And not only that, but we should also be willing to go out and invite others to join us in our lives of faith.

[Note: Here's where we handed out Ministry Activities Descriptions and forms for people's ministry commitments for 2018...]

·      Stewardship time can be a difficult time. The pastor’s going to ask me for something. You’re right – I am. I’m actually asking for two things: First, I’m asking you to take these home and look them over with intentionality. Pray about these ministry activities. Consider your gifts, and where you feel called to serve. Talk about it with your family or friends. Second, I’m asking you to make a commitment. I’m not asking you to commit to serving in whatever capacity for the next 27 years. I’m asking you to commit to serving in that capacity for 2018. Things change, lives change, our callings change. What is God calling you to do in 2018?

·      
     We will collect these on Commitment Sunday, which is in two weeks, on Reformation Sunday. So, I guess you could say that I’m asking for three things. As part of your commitment to the ministry of this congregation, I’m inviting you – and I’m inviting those who aren’t here today, too – to be here on October 29 to turn in your commitments personally.

Now, of course I’ll take them any way I can get them – in person, via email or phone, or even by homing pigeon if you have some of those around. But I really hope you’ll be here on October 29 to celebrate the gifts we each bring to this congregation. If you look around – go ahead and take a second and look around – think about all the gifts gathered together here, in this room. Think about the gifts of those who aren’t here today, or the gifts of those who you could invite to be here with us. We are gifted and thanks be to God for that.

It is my hope and prayer that – out of thanksgiving to God - we will take these gifts we’ve been given and use them well.

Amen.

Stewardship Isn't Only About Money...Or About Church

Imagine me shouting from this mountaintop...

The Rev. Kathi Johnson

C Lectionary 28 – 9 October 2016

Texts: Luke 17:11-19 and 1 Corinthians 4:1-5 (Stewardship text for the day)

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

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Today, we begin several weeks of teaching, preaching, and conversation about stewardship. If I could shout one thing about stewardship from the mountaintops, this is what it would be: STEWARDSHIP ISN’T ONLY ABOUT MONEY! OR ABOUT CHURCH!

In my newsletter article for this month, I wrote this: “When I first became aware of the Little Free Library movement, I was struck by their use of the word ‘steward,’ which they use to describe someone who has and keeps up their own LFL. For the little libraries around the world (similar to our own Bunny Box), these stewards are vital caretakers – making sure the libraries are kept in good repair, well-stocked, and ready to service their communities.

We use the word ‘steward’ in the Church more than the world does, and for good reason. As Christians, we believe that everything we have – our time, our talent, and our possessions (as one prayer says) – is a gift from God, and we are simply the caretakers of these things. God is always faithful to us. Does our use of time, talents, and possessions show that we honor God with these things?”

Stewardship, then, is about how we take care of - or steward – the gifts and resources that God has given us, both here at Our Redeemer, and in our daily lives.  Stewardship isn’t only about money. Or about church.

Look at the story of the ten lepers healed by Jesus. It’s not about money at all, but about ten people healed of their illness. If I ask you, which one of the ten is the best steward, what do you think?

In this case, the gift to the lepers was healing, and the one man who turned back to Jesus used this gift to praise God in a loud voice, throwing himself at the feet of Jesus and thanking him.

[Side note: Luke adds the comment: “He was a Samaritan.” Uh oh – another story where the despised one does the right thing!]

The Samaritan was freed from his ailment by Jesus – freed to praise and thank God – freed to re-enter society and to return to his family.

I have a few questions for you to ponder and respond to in writing if you can. The first question is “What gifts has God given to you?” and I’d like you to jot down a few things. (Hint: think about spiritual gifts, relationships, abilities/skills, financial resources and possessions, time, interests/ideas.)

The next question is: “In what ways are you a good steward of what God has given to you?” (How do I use what God has given me in good ways? How do I take good care of what God has given me?)

Hopefully, this has given you the chance to think about the gifts from God that you have received and how you use these gifts well. Maybe there’s room for improvement in some areas – and that’s good to reflect upon, too. I invite all of us to spend time over the next few weeks, especially, thinking about those areas that need improvement, and praying about that. For today, though, we are celebrating the ways in which we are already good stewards.

Going back to our Scripture for today: the first two verses of our New Testament lesson from 1 Corinthians is our stewardship text for today: [Paul writes to the Corinthian church:] “Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.”

Paul names two points of identity:

·      First – we are servants of Christ

·      Second – we are stewards of God’s mysteries

The Greek word that Paul uses that we translate as “servant” indicates the one who rowed the boat. So, Paul says that we are all servants who row the boat together. This room we’re sitting in – we often refer to it as a sanctuary – technically, in church-speak, it is called a “nave.” The word “nave” is related to the word “naval,” like “navy” - as in, related to ships. Many older church buildings were built to look like upside-down ships because, as Christians, we are all in this boat together.

But Paul also calls us “stewards of God’s mysteries” – and you may be wondering what “God’s mysteries” are that we are the stewards of. It refers to the gospel of Jesus Christ – we are the stewards of the good news that Jesus came to live and die as one of us, to be raised to life again, giving his new life to us. We are the stewards of this good news! We are the ones responsible for carrying the message of God’s love and grace and forgiveness.

So – back to our questions – as best as you are able, think about what gifts God has given to your own congregation (or faith community - if you have one), and jot those down.

Every single church has one gift in common, and that is the gift of the love of God. In our Lutheran tradition, we remember and celebrate that love through the gifts of the Sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion – and in any number of other ways.

So, now we come to the last question: “In what ways are we good stewards of what God has given to us?” This means, as a congregation, how are we faithfully sharing the good news of God’s love for all people in Christ Jesus? Jot down your ideas for your own context.

It is my hope and prayer that we will all use these weeks of focusing on stewardship to think about the many gifts that we have from God – both as individuals and families – but also as a congregation. Let us celebrate those gifts, and then reflect upon our stewardship of them, always giving thanks to God for his great love for us, for all humankind, and for all creation.

Amen.

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