This morning at Advent Lutheran Church (ELCA) we continued a summer sermon series: Stories That Shape Us: How Jesus’ Parables Transform the Way We See God, Ourselves, and the World.
Sermon
My message, “Courageous Stewardship” is based on Matthew 25:14-30
You can watch below or read the manuscript.
Excerpt
Happy New Year! Since we last gathered for worship, Advent Lutheran Church has started a new year of mission and ministry.
It is a joy to begin again together, recommitting to our mission of loving and living like Jesus and reconnecting with our purpose of being a growing church where all are welcome and discover ways to serve. And to know that the year ahead will bring considerable celebration of Advent’s first 50 years.
While many of us have new year’s traditions for the calendar year that we partake in each January, I imagine that very few folks have well developed rituals around the new Advent church year that arrives each July.
Earlier this week I tried to do something simple to mark the occasion. I took a selfie outside this sacred space and posted it on social media along with a short happy new year message. I figured it was the least I could do to celebrate.
And amazingly that simple message spread quickly! I received many more likes and comments than I expected. Of course, I must confess that the popularity was likely driven more by a mistake than the message. I managed to position myself in such a way that on first glance everyone assumed I had an outrageous new hairdo.
To celebrate this new year of ministry, I won’t be encouraging you to follow suit. Rather than asking you to post awkward selfies, I’m inviting you to join me in resolving to lead a life of courageous stewardship.
The call to the demanding and countercultural lifestyle of courageous stewardship is presented in today’s Gospel reading: the Parable of the Talents. This parable is the longest of all the parables in Matthew’s Gospel. And, it’s a rich story packed with challenge, warning, and promise . . .