Our message today is about Stewardship. It is a big scary ugly word that no one wants to hear. I am going to spend the next few minutes working to convince you that in fact the word stewardship is a word that means far more than please hand over your treasure. The word means together we take care of what matters most to us.
You have heard me praising the many people here who show up and so with no thank you requested. They show up and so not because we have offered them anything but because they feel called to serve and share their ministry of their talent with the church. We benefit each and every day from the gifts that God has provided them with because they are like the batteries in a clock, they keep the place ticking and all the gears going around.

They are able to give of their talents

We have two types of financial care we think about this time of the year. We have an ongoing budget that keeps the lights on, the sanctuary warm, and the bills paid. That budget is all the behind-the-scenes things that are just here but we would surely miss them if they were no longer here.

The other day someone said to me that we could be our own capital campaign to raise the money for the sanctuary renovation. The person added our the number of active members and found that with an equal contribution by family it would take about 500$ per family to get it done. That number has been dancing in my head since then as I am not sure what that amount represents to each family. That amount of treasure means something different to a couple on a fixed income than it means to an emerging family than it means to a family with limited expenses because they have been able to pay in previous times and are now secure. If we took his suggestion and divided that 500$ per year into the 52 weeks of the year than we are at just under 10$ per week. Which is one less meal at Mc Donalds, or the exchange of bringing lunch one day a week to set that aside to take care of our spiritual home. It does not feel like a lot to ask. It feels like good planning. If you have ever brought a home to live in while you were saving you probably did something like this. Tuck a little aside to save for that bigger goal. For us that bigger goal is a safe warm spiritual home. This is ours to take care of, no one will do it for us. We are the stewards and not only are we empowered to do this the truth is it is a privilidge to take care of the dwelling place what acts on behalf of the will of God on a continual basis. When we come here we do so as our true selves. We pray for what is important to us, we find fellowship here, our children learn who they are and how to walk with God. So much happens here and it happens because it is the will of God and we choose to obey.

I will never be someone who will ask someone for an amount but I am likely the first to ask, do you feel you are doing what God has called you to do and giving what you in your heart feel God has asked you to give of all of yourself, your time, your treasurer, and your talents.

Lets bring this back to Samuel and the prayer of his mother Hannah. Hannah could not find a safe place in the world. Her home where she lived was full of tension. She shared her home with her husband, his other wife, and their children. Her womb was closed. It seemed impossible that she would ever conceive and her husband loved her incompleteness. He said to her am I not worth 10 sons because he could see her struggle and the distress it brought her. In a moment of torment and utter desperation, Hannah sought the favor of God and brought herself to the temple. She prayed in such an earnest way that the prayers came from her heart and the words did not leave her lips. The priest entered the space and saw her and assumed the worst that she was drunk, he likely had not seen a layperson pray so reverently. Tears streamed from her eyes, she told him she was not drunk she was there in a time of need. He allowed her to continue to bear her burdens and bring them to God. In that moment she made a promise to God that if God would grant her a son she would dedicate him to the temple and he would be a faithful servant.

I am sure you remember what happens next. She does in fact bring her son to be raised in the temple after he is weaned and he becomes Samuel. The very same Samuel who God calls into service when he is just a small boy. Samuel changed the world and we know about him for so many reasons. His legacy of faith, servanthood hood and obedience is part of our legacy when we think of the power of God.

1 Samuel chapter 3 says The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare, there were not many visions.

In that same time as Eli began to lose his strength, God Called Samuel. When Samuel answered God God said

See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle.

As Samuel answered God every time God used Samuel to fulfill his will and all the people in the areas even the kings knew that Samuel was an agent of God and a faithful servant. They came to him for direction, guidance, and blessing because they knew he was righteous because he was obedient to God.

Hannah did not know what the will of God would look like to how it would affect the son she asked for but she did know that she would give all she could, she would be obedient to the will of God and that however, God directed both of them from there she would accept it.

When we place the feelings of stewardship, obedience, taking care, wanting the best for all the people of God it is clear that when we give all of what we can when we choose to serve and set aside to dedicate to God our time, our treasure, and our talents, there is nothing that God can ask of us that we are not able to accomplish.

Before you fill out your card and drop it for us please pray on it. Just like Eli I have no idea what God will say to you and that is between you and God but I ask that you keep God in the conversation because the very fact that you are here says to me that God has bigger plans for you. I cant wait to see what they are.

God Bless all of you, the Stewards and caretakers of the Wolcott Congregational Church. Amen