Stewardship 4 - Thanks-Giving

This is the fourth post in a four post series that are linked to 4 a four sermon stewardship series that were preached between September 21 and October 12 2008. On October 12 we focused on the text Luke 17:11-19. This was thanksgiving Sunday and the worship time that we picked to launch our Annual Stewardship Campaign. The reading from Luke contains a story of Jesus healing 10 people who were suffering from some form of skin disease. After each of them is healed as they walk to visit with the priests, one returns and gives thanks to Jesus for his healing. One in ten, that's not a great return on Jesus' investment and to a certain degree he says so when he asks if there were not ten people healed and where are the other nine. While one could get caught up in why the other nine did not return and give thanks, this Sunday we focused on the one who did. After experiencing the grace of God in his life, the one gave thanks. He actually had to stop what he was doing and return to Jesus to do so. In this action the person demonstrates a level of sincere gratitude that is simply missing in the other nine. The one who returns lives out a call to give thanks and lives a life that embodies that sense of thanksgiving. This Sunday we looked at how God has blessed each and every one of us. There is not one person who has not been blessed by God. We looked at how our lives are to be like the one who returned and gave thanks. And we looked at how we do that in our world today with our financial resources, the fourth part of holistic stewardship. After commi

tting ourselves to a common vision, regular worship attendance and active involvement - w e acknowledge that if we don't financially support the vision and m inistry we have in common, we're like the nine who simply took from Jesus and went on their way. At the end of the day we have that choice, to be like the nine or be like the one. The choice is left up to us. Which will you choose.