Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.  Today I want to focus on the reading from 2^nd Timothy.  You might remember from the newsletter or the bulletin, the kids cheer, or a past sermon that we have a theme for the year --- Together in Ministry: Chosen, Gifted, Sent.  That theme sums up what Paul was saying in his letter to his friend Timothy.  As we gather together we acknowledge that we want to grow in our discipleship, and that part of that is the importance of our worship, our teaching, our fellowship.  We are passing on the faith, just as Timothy's grandmother and mother passed the faith on to him.  Everything that we do is to give glory to God -our coming together is to give thanks and praise, and is our way of saying, "Yes" to the calling that is ours.

          This is the day that we have designated as the official beginning of our fall stewardship emphasis.  We want to visit every member, celebrate who we are together in Christ, and grow as a community of faith.  We want to do that so that we can encourage one another, and remind one another of this ministry that is ours.  We have opportunities before us.  First of all, we can step up our financial giving so that this ministry can grow. We can step up our financial giving so that we can pass on the faith to our children and their children, and to others around the world.  We are part of a bigger ministry --- the ministry of the whole church as it seeks to make Jesus known throughout the world.  To be a minister of God is an exciting calling, and knowing that we have been chosen by God gives us the strength and power to carry out that ministry.  We have, in Paul's words, a holy calling, not based on our works, chosen not because we were somehow deserving of it, but because God is gracious and has a purpose for us.  What is entrusted to us is in the words of Paul, a treasure.  And it is the Holy Spirit living in us that enables us to carry out that calling.

          If we are going to live out our call to be faithful stewards of all that God has given us, we need to trust that God gives us the gifts we need to carry on.  We are chosen for God's purpose, and the same God who chooses us, gives us the gifts we need. And those gifts are given in order that we can use them for the sake of the world.  As followers of Christ, we are God's hands at work in the world.  No one is excluded from the call and gifts of God.  We certainly do not all have the same gifts, but the important thing as we grow in faith, is to discern what gifts we have and how best to use them for the sake of the gospel. Sometimes we have turned "Gifted" into a very exclusive identity, but the truth is that the people of God have all been gifted.  We have gifts that differ, but that is the beauty of being the body of Christ.  There is no one who can say that they have nothing to offer in this ministry.  However large or small the gift does not really matter, the point is that those gifts are what God needs in the world.  Our financial means and the way we use our wealth is important, crucial for the work of the church.  It is also crucial that we use our other gifts and talents.  Too often we think that ministry belongs to "somebody else".  There is no somebody else, there are only those of us who have been chosen out of God's grace to carry out this ministry.  These are not special churchy words.  This is our identity.  We are the followers of Jesus, and that is our full-time calling.  Sometimes we are tempted to see our lives in little compartments, work, leisure, family, and then, that compartment called faith.  WE think of our faith as one segment of what we are up to, maybe the things that happen at church, but our faith is what informs every aspect of our lives.  Discipleship is lived out in those everyday places of our lives, it is who we are.  I urge you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you --- for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.

          We have been saved and called with a holy calling.  Too often we think about that word "Saved" as saved from hell, saved so that we will have eternal life.  But being saved is also about this life, it is being saved from being turned in on ourselves, saved from the narrow concern for self, saved from an empty life.  We have been saved for the here and now and as the people of God, we are sent to care for God's world.  When we step out in faith, God will provide the gifts we need to do the ministry. Sometimes we develop or discover the gifts as we go.  We are passing on the faith so that the church will continue with its ministry and mission, so that we can continue to find renewal by giving ourselves away in love and service to one another and to the world.   And it isn't just about giving, it is about receiving and giving.  All that we have comes from God, and it is God's grace that comes first.  We too are in need of what God can give us --- hope, peace, comfort, joy, patience, love.  And as those who receive, we are able to give because the Holy Spirit makes that possible.

          Paul's letter to Timothy puts it all together for us, reminds us who we are and whose we are, and invites us to trust in the one who has given us this treasure.  This is who we are, the people of God who are together in ministry, the chosen, gifted, and sent people of God.

          Every week in the bulletin you see a little summary of where we are in terms of expenses, income, budget.  It is way too easy to have our whole focus narrowed down to meeting the budget.  We sometimes think there is some sort of holy barrier between the spiritual life of the church and the business life.  We can get so busy struggling with the questions of where is the money going to come from, who gets how much of the pie, that we lose sight of why we are here.  What is this holy calling that is ours?  What is God calling us to be and to do?  What are we trying to accomplish?  We need to ask ourselves, "What is our purpose as a church here and now, and what kinds of resources to we have to fulfill that purpose?"  This is God's church, and our job is to discern what God would have us do.  All of our organizing of the budget will be useless if we don't address this as a deeply spiritual issue.

          We have said in our most recent congregational meeting that we want to have a strong commitment to the youth of this congregation, as well as the youth of the community and the wider city.  WE have said that we have a concern not only for passing on the faith to the kids at Lake of the Isles, but a concern for those who are outside this place, the kids of the neighborhood and the kids who don't seem to belong anywhere. It will take money, action, discernment.  It will take the gifts of all of us is some way or another.  This church has a strong history of paying attention to the needs of others --- a few people sat in the church basement and put together the Neighborhood Involvement Program.  The needs of the community are not going away, they are only getting more complex.  But our action is always grounded in our discernment of the call of God.  We cannot do everything, but we can do some things.

          We don't have to be afraid of talking about money in church because our money is a part of our stewardship, as you discern your giving plan for this coming year, I would ask you to actually have a PLAN, a plan that is intentional, regular, and generous.  I would invite you to step out in faith and give in proportion to the blessings you have received.  Our leaders will soon be putting together a budget for the coming year, it isn't just a budget, it's our mission plan.  Our budget is our response to the question, "What is God calling us to do and be in this time and place?"  As we focus on our stewardship and consider our own contributions to that mission, it is a time for renewed excitement, for enthusiasm about what is possible.  It is a time, not for a spirit of cowardice, but a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.  God has made us and empowers us so that we can together do the work of ministry, living out our identity as God's people who are chosen, gifted, and sent.

AMEN