Siblings in Christ,
Thank you for a lovely Sunday service this past week! I hope it was as meaningful for you as it was for me. Sometimes it’s just good to stop, take a breath and remember that God heals us when we ask and comforts us in our burdens and sorrows.
This next week I invite us to give Thanksgiving for all the blessings God has given to us! Thanksgiving is traditionally a national holiday, but I believe it truly has implications for our Christian lives as well. In Lutheran Theology, we understand that God’s grace and not our own works is what saves us. So, our works then become a symbol of our living faith, and we do them in thanksgiving for all that God has given to us...especially God’s love, mercy, forgiveness, and grace. To live a life in thanksgiving is to live a life aware of all these greater gifts and willing to share them with others.
This is a great way to think about stewardship too. Stewardship literally means the way we take care of what has been given to us, or entrusted to us. This past Sunday, while we didn’t read the gospel text from the common lectionary, the gospel for the week was the parable of the talents. One servant is entrusted with five talents, one with two talents and one with a single talent. The master leaves and returns. Upon his return, the servant who was given five has invested them and turned the five into ten. The servant who was given two has invested them and turned them into four. However, the servant who was given one was afraid of disappointing or angering the master and hides his talent lest he lose it. The master becomes angry at this action however and instructs that he was unwise with his talent and should have done something with it.
This can be an example for us as well. Instead of hiding away our talents or fearing that we will run out, as good stewards we should use and share our talents in gratefulness of the trust that God has placed in us to take care of them. For truly our gifts all come from God. In this way, we are only taking care of God’s money, the time God has given us, and the gifts brought to us by the Holy Spirit in baptism.
Likewise, we are to care for all of creation. The environment, our neighbors, all that God has created has been given to us to care for...not to use up or use unwisely. The parable of the talents reminds us to be thankful for what we are given or entrusted with, and to use it in honor of God.
As we live together as a congregation, it is important for us all to be reminded of the gifts that we have been given. And I’m not just talking about money (although your money does incredible things for the church and community). As we live together into the future of the congregation, I invite you to take stock of what you have been entrusted with, and to wonder how you might use that within the congregation and community, not as another thing on your list of to-do’s or things you should do, but as a way of sharing God’s love and giving thanks for what God entrusted to you!
In these post-modern cultural, and COVID, times, I believe we are ALL being challenged to think creatively about these gifts too. How might you give something in a way that you haven’t before? Might you write prayers for the church service, cards of hope to the sick or in jail, or letters to the government to aid those in poverty, if you have the gift of writing? Might you invite just one friend or acquaintance who doesn’t go to church to come with you sometime? Could you (once the day school can have visitors) come once a week to read to the children, or adopt a school family as your own? Rather than think of time and talents as we once did (who will usher, read, or serve communion), perhaps we are being called to think differently about how to use our gifts.
Thank you for the generosity you already show! Grace Lutheran truly has a name in the community as a helping hand and a place that cares! In great thanksgiving, let’s continue to do so...and find new ways of doing it!
Pastor Heather
Thank you for a lovely Sunday service this past week! I hope it was as meaningful for you as it was for me. Sometimes it’s just good to stop, take a breath and remember that God heals us when we ask and comforts us in our burdens and sorrows.
This next week I invite us to give Thanksgiving for all the blessings God has given to us! Thanksgiving is traditionally a national holiday, but I believe it truly has implications for our Christian lives as well. In Lutheran Theology, we understand that God’s grace and not our own works is what saves us. So, our works then become a symbol of our living faith, and we do them in thanksgiving for all that God has given to us...especially God’s love, mercy, forgiveness, and grace. To live a life in thanksgiving is to live a life aware of all these greater gifts and willing to share them with others.
This is a great way to think about stewardship too. Stewardship literally means the way we take care of what has been given to us, or entrusted to us. This past Sunday, while we didn’t read the gospel text from the common lectionary, the gospel for the week was the parable of the talents. One servant is entrusted with five talents, one with two talents and one with a single talent. The master leaves and returns. Upon his return, the servant who was given five has invested them and turned the five into ten. The servant who was given two has invested them and turned them into four. However, the servant who was given one was afraid of disappointing or angering the master and hides his talent lest he lose it. The master becomes angry at this action however and instructs that he was unwise with his talent and should have done something with it.
This can be an example for us as well. Instead of hiding away our talents or fearing that we will run out, as good stewards we should use and share our talents in gratefulness of the trust that God has placed in us to take care of them. For truly our gifts all come from God. In this way, we are only taking care of God’s money, the time God has given us, and the gifts brought to us by the Holy Spirit in baptism.
Likewise, we are to care for all of creation. The environment, our neighbors, all that God has created has been given to us to care for...not to use up or use unwisely. The parable of the talents reminds us to be thankful for what we are given or entrusted with, and to use it in honor of God.
As we live together as a congregation, it is important for us all to be reminded of the gifts that we have been given. And I’m not just talking about money (although your money does incredible things for the church and community). As we live together into the future of the congregation, I invite you to take stock of what you have been entrusted with, and to wonder how you might use that within the congregation and community, not as another thing on your list of to-do’s or things you should do, but as a way of sharing God’s love and giving thanks for what God entrusted to you!
In these post-modern cultural, and COVID, times, I believe we are ALL being challenged to think creatively about these gifts too. How might you give something in a way that you haven’t before? Might you write prayers for the church service, cards of hope to the sick or in jail, or letters to the government to aid those in poverty, if you have the gift of writing? Might you invite just one friend or acquaintance who doesn’t go to church to come with you sometime? Could you (once the day school can have visitors) come once a week to read to the children, or adopt a school family as your own? Rather than think of time and talents as we once did (who will usher, read, or serve communion), perhaps we are being called to think differently about how to use our gifts.
Thank you for the generosity you already show! Grace Lutheran truly has a name in the community as a helping hand and a place that cares! In great thanksgiving, let’s continue to do so...and find new ways of doing it!
Pastor Heather