"Celebrating Stewardship" 2 Corinthians 9: 6-15; Matthew 25: 14-30

I do not yet have a handle on where I am going with this week's sermon.  I've been thinking about what makes us smile or laugh.  Not giddy laughter or huge smile because we've just won something or heard something funny, but that smile of deep satisfaction or chuckle that points to our happiness with what we have done.

I think Paul is calling us to know that kind of happiness when he calls us to be a cheerful giver.

The Matthew passage is the parable of the talents.  it serves as a reminder that it does matter how we live our lives and how we utilize our resources. 

I'm trying to connect these two text more explicitly.  I'm not sure why I paired them; in fact, I think that I picked one when I was writing the Link and add the other one later, so I'm not even sure that there was ever an initial design that used the texts in tandem.

I have been culling through some of my stewardship illustrations to see if any fit.  I'm trying on the following to see if they can fit in this week's sermon!

  “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.”  Winston Churchill

When Pompeii was being excavated one woman was discovered with her feet headed in the direction of the city gates and escape from the hot, flowing lava, but her face and hands were frozen in place looking and reaching for a bag of pearls.

:  Miller describe an interview he heard of Bill Gates.  Gates noted that he was so rich that there nothing he could not buy.  He went on to note that Microsoft saved him because “he was really more interested in what he was doing than how much money he had.”  Lots of rich people aren’t happy, Gates said.  Miller’s minister says that “money should be your tool and that you should control it, it shouldn’t control you Blue Like Jazz,  Donald Miller, 192

Two men crashed in their private plane on a South Pacific Island.Both survived. One of the men brushed himself off and then proceeded to run all over the island to see if they had any chance of survival When he returned, he rushed up to the other man and screamed, "This island is uninhabited, there is no food, there is no water. We! Are going to die!"

The other man leaned back against the fuselage of the wrecked plane, folded his arms and responded, "No we're not. I make over $250,000 a week."

The first man grabbed his friend and shook him. "Listen, we are on an uninhabited island. There is no food, no water. We are going to die!"

The other man, unruffled, again responded. "No, I make over $250,000 a week." Mystified, the first man, taken aback with such an answer again repeated, "For the last time, I'm telling you we ARE doomed. There is NO one else on this island. There is NO food. There is NO water. We are, I repeat, we are going to die a  slow death." Still unfazed, the first man looked the other in the eyes and said, Do not make me say this again. I make over $250,000 per week........I am a Baptist and tithe. MY PASTOR WILL FIND US!"

“people who give money to charity were 43% more likely than non givers to say they are “very happy” with their lives, according to the Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey The study also found that people who did volunteer work were 43% more likely to be happy than those who did not volunteer.  A separate study at the University of Michigan found that people who gave money away were 68% less likely to say they had felt hopeless in the last month.”  New York Sun, Dec. 28, 2007 as quoted in the Christian Century, 1/29/08, 9.