In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

     I may have shared this with you before, but the first lessons I learned about stewardship, I learned from watching my Grandma Leona Wendel. Her husband, my grandpa Bud died unexpectedly when I was just six years old-leaving my Grandma Leona, as with many widowed women at that time, without a job, without income, never having written a check or balanced a checkbook, not able to drive a car. As you can imagine this was a particularly difficult time for her, as, added upon the shock and grief of losing her beloved husband, she had to get a job, learn to drive and manage her finances. Of course, at six years old, I don't remember a lot of Grandma Leona's struggles, other than my mom, her daughter-in-law, teaching Grandma how to drive. You think it's a challenge teaching a teenager to drive? Imagine teaching your mother-in-law! That process, I do remember to this day. I also remember, that from the first week after Grandpa passed away, it seemed, Grandma would place her church offering in the offering envelope early in the week, and then place it front and center on her upright piano, right beside the front door-so that she wouldn't forget to take her offering to church on Sunday. The job she got, and held until she retired, was as a receptionist in an optometrist's office-making, I think, little more than minimum wage. She bought an inexpensive sea-green 1961 Rambler American that was the only car this diminutive, 5' tall, silver-blue haired lady could actually see out of to drive. She lived modestly, taking the bus to work as often as she would drive, so that she wouldn't have to "fight the traffic" on Washington Street in Columbus, Indiana. She had plenty of reasons, the rest of her life, to worry, and fret about finances, and her meager income, and whether she would have enough to live on, let alone retire on. But, like the poor widow in our gospel lesson, she gave, every Sunday, not out of her abundance, but out of her poverty. When I first noticed her offering envelope sitting through the week on the piano, I saw that it was two dollars each week that she gave. And through the years, increasing it by a quarter each week, was a big deal for Grandma Leona. But she was a faithful steward-and saw her offering to Christ's Church as one of her primary responsibilities.and one of her first responsibilities each week-so that she wouldn't forget, and wouldn't miss a Sunday offering.

     I learned some valuable stewardship lessons from my Grandma, not from what she said about it-stewardship and money and finances isn't something we talked about.at least, not something she talked about with us kids. But as we say, "her actions spoke louder than her words". She didn't need to say anything to me-she didn't need to explain why she did what she did-it was perfectly, completely clear.

     In the same way, there really is no need to say much about the event, recorded in our gospel lesson for today. The scribes and leaders in the temple, parading around, making sure all could see them, and their magnanimous contributions, contrasted by Jesus, with the poor widow who put in two small copper coins, makes his point abundantly clear. There's little explanation needed-and in fact, going on and on about it would only detract from the power of what Holy Scripture shows us, and teaches us through this account. There it is-it's a stewardship sermon in and of itself.

     And the passage about the widow's mite usually shows up the second Sunday in November in the Revised Common Lectionary because this is the day, traditionally, when congregations are conducting their annual stewardship campaign. It seems like that's been the case forever-or at least, for a very long time in America. At Saint Luke's, we tend to conclude our program, receive our pledges, and as we will this morning, vote on our budget by the time the appointed stewardship lessons appear in November. And I like our timing, because it gives me the chance to preach about giving and stewardship without you feeling like I'm trying to squeeze more money out of you so that we can get bigger salary increases. I guess I should add, if, after the sermon today, you are so moved that you can't help but increase your pledge for next year-that is acceptable-but most of us have already pledged, and I'm not trying to get you to reach deeper into your pocketbook. In fact, what I want to say today, is not intended to motivate you, or to challenge you-but instead, to applaud you, and to thank you, and our whole congregation-for your faithful stewardship! Because while my earliest stewardship lessons I learned from my Grandma Leona, most of the rest of what I have learned, about stewardship, I have learned from you-the members of Saint Luke's-you who are members now, and those who have been members at Saint Luke's these many years that I've been blessed to serve as pastor. And what is it I've learned from you? Or rather, what is it we've learned, together?

     First, we've learned that stewardship begins and ends, with prayer. We have learned, together, that when we've had big things to accomplish, we've surrounded our efforts in prayer. This is true of many challenges we've faced in this congregation-but especially when it comes to stewardship, whether it's our annual giving for our regular ministry, or a capital stewardship appeal to raise funds to expand our building, we surround our efforts in prayer-we come together to pray-we intensify our prayer, and we have found-God is faithful! Not that God wouldn't be faithful, if we weren't praying so diligently, but as I said a few weeks ago, prayer opens us to God's will. Prayer aligns our will, with God's will-that's why our chief prayer is, "Thy will be done!" We have learned that, and we practice that, in our congregational life, and in our stewardship.

     The second thing we've learned together, is that every gift, no matter the size, is important. Whenever we've had stewardship consultants come to work with us on our capital stewardship appeals, one of the first things they want to determine is how many "big givers" we have at Saint Luke's. As I'm sure you realize, organizations that run church capital campaigns have formulas for raising funds that revolve around having this many people who give humongous gifts, and that many people who give major gifts-all of which get you to your goal. And one of the first things I tell our capital stewardship consultants is, "at Saint Luke's, we have some good givers, but the majority of our folks have moderate incomes, so don't expect that we'll have two gifts of $100,000, and five gifts of $50,000 each. At Saint Luke's we do it together-with all our members doing what they can to help us reach our goal." That's how we do it here at Saint Luke's. That's how we do it in our capital appeals, and that's how we do it year by year in our regular giving. Now let me assure you, I would never turn away that occasional wealthy philanthropist-but trust me, having one or two "sugar daddies" , or "sugar mommas", isn't all that good for a congregation because it makes other folks think they're not really needed. What we do here at Saint Luke's with regard to stewardship, and how we do it, is much more healthy, and solid, and faithful. The Church of Jesus Christ is all of us, doing ministry together-so that the gift of the widow who puts two small copper coins in the plate each week, is just as significant, even more significant, than the one who tithes from his or her abundance.

     And thirdly and the final thing I want to share with you about what we've learned together about stewardship is, it's not about the money, it's about the sacrifice. In our reading from Hebrews we hear, not a stewardship lesson per say, but a discussion of Jesus' once for all sacrifice on the cross, to bear the sins of us all, to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. Hebrews tells us that this sacrifice was not something made by humans hands, in spite of the fact that Jesus was condemned, tortured, and nailed to a cross, by human hands. Still, it was God's doing. Jesus dying on the cross, was the Father's plan, and the Son's willingness, that we might have a great High Priest who appeared once for all at the right time, to offer himself for us, to provide His own blood for sacrifice, not in the earthly Temple again and again, year after year on Atonement Day in Jerusalem, but that He might offer Himself as a heavenly, divine blood sacrifice, completed once, but available to us, always-for our forgiveness, for our justification, for our salvation, as a gift.as an unearned, undeserved, freely given gift, for all who are eagerly waiting for it, and will receive it. And we receive this gift, of Jesus Christ, Himself, each and every Sunday, as Christ gives us, His real presence, His Body and Blood, as a gift, whenever we do this for the anamnesis, the remembrance of Him. So that having received this gift-this once for all sacrifice-everything we do, in response, IS, response. Everything we give, in return, is our humble, heartfelt sacrifice-not of blood, but of everything we have and are-our time, our talent, our treasure, our prayer, our praise, our thanksgiving, is our sacrifice, to Him-symbolized by our offering, received freely from us, carried forward to His altar, that we might cheerfully, willingly, give-not our dues, not our fair share, not what is required of us-but our sacrifice, in response to the once for all Sacrifice, of Christ on the Cross. One of our assistants to the bishop in the former LCA used to say, "we should really, all, jump onto the offering plates, so that the ushers could carry us all up to the altar-because what we are giving is not money, but ourselves." That is our sacrifice-the sacrifice of ourselves, as we consecrate ourselves, to Christ, and His purpose in the world, and in this church.

     And those, are the big things I have learned, and hopefully, we have learned, together, about stewardship, and giving to Christ and His Church, as we have ministered together in this congregation. In a year when some of our members had to change their pledges, and reduce their pledges; in a year when we had to make up a $16,000 deficit, because of those reductions; in a year when we still needed some increases just to meet our required commitments; in a year of great challenge, stewardship-wise, we prayed, meditated on Christ's gift and sacrifice, and together, all the modest pledges and increases added up to a generous, faithful, surprising response, for the coming year of our Lord 2007. And for that, for you, for Christ, I give thanks. For all of that--we-give thanks.

     In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.