Scripture: Mark 12:28-34
Message: Stewardship Defined
This Sunday is our first Sunday of Stewardship Month. What is Stewardship, you ask? Stewardship means, literally, the job of supervising or taking care of something. In the church we take it to mean how we care for the institution that is the UPA. This includes the building and grounds, the business (salaries, programing, and outreach), AND the vision that God has put before us to share in the grace of Christ with our community of Auburndale, the City of Newton, the nation and, no kidding, even the world! We aren’t just a nonprofit company with a budget and a mission. We have a divinely issued call that we celebrate, learn about, and renew ourselves in every time two or more of us are gathered – especially on Sundays! These next few Sundays we’ll get to hear from members of this beloved congregation about what this church means to them, how they’ve been supported by the church and why they’ve chosen to make this special community home. And at the end of the month we will praise God for our financial commitments made with hope and faith in what God will do through us next year!
But ALSO, this Sunday is the Sunday before what has already become a very contentious election. And isn’t it just like the universe to have the lectionary put before us Mark 12, the Greatest Commandment. So, in the end, it’s about how we love each other in real and grace-filled ways and how we trust that love to change hearts towards peace.
See you Sunday!
Peace,
Cheryl
Music
Prelude: “Dei mater alma – God’s mother’s soul” Giovanni Palestrina
Anthem: “Behold the Hosts” Norwegian folk tune, arr. Edvard Grieg
Meditation: “Yours is the Wheat and the Grape” Sonia Morales-Matos Suowei Wu, tenor
Postlude: “Chorale Prelude in F” Johann Michael Bach