We begin our four week stewardship emphasis where all things in the church must begin if we are to be "The Church": with the understanding that all that we do is to be founded on Christ.

This may seem like a statement of the obvious, but not only is it easy to forget this foundational mandate, the term can become so commonplace that we forget just what it means to be "founded on Christ."

First and foremost, it means that our ministry is a response to God’s love in Christ. We need to keep in mind that the conversation between Jesus and the rich man took place in the midst of Jesus teaching that He was on the way to the cross. In fact, the word in our gospel text translated "journey" could be even more appropriately translated "way" because in every other instance of its use, the Greek word is used in relation to Jesus speaking of being on His way to the cross. Furthermore, after His death and resurrection, Jesus’ followers were known as the "People of the Way." So, in our gospel Jesus is explaining how a person can become a follower of "The Way" - a member of the church founded on Christ. To do so one must accept the free gift of salvation in Jesus Christ.

But, Jesus doesn’t seem to be talking about a free gift. He tells the man he must give up all his wealth and follow Him to inherit the kingdom.

An online colleague with strong feminist leanings wrote a long email note on this text and every time she used the word "kingdom" she spelled it K-I-N-

D-O-M, leaving the "G" out. I know she did this because she considers kingdom (with a g) to be a male oriented, sexist term, but it is also an excellent substitution when we consider what "kin-dom" means. Kin are family. They are people with whom we have a relationship. By accepting the gift of salvation in Christ we are adopted into the family of God, thus we become God’s or Jesus’ kin. One can’t really rest secure in the knowledge of being part of the family if they think it might be their wealth that is making them welcome.

The story is told of a very wealthy woman who sought admission to a Koinonia Community. This was a group of people who lived together and made Jesus’ love central to all they did. She had decided to give all her wealth away and wanted to give it to the community, but the leader refused her gift saying that if they accepted her money she would never know for sure whether the love she received in the community was conditional or not.

Likewise, Jesus is saying to the man give your wealth to the poor and experience being accepted as a member of the family just as you are - without any concern that you are loved for your money.

One of the most important things I would like to teach the people of this (or any other congregation I pastor) is that we do NOT seek new members or try to re-activate old members in order to meet our budget. We share the "Good News" of God’s love in Christ and invite people to join us in relationship with our Lord because that is His command and because we are filled with His love for others. That is evangelism and should never be confused with stewardship which is helping people who are active members find ways to show their thanks to God for adopting them into His family by using their gifts (including money) in His service.

Another conflict is resolved for us with this concept of "kinship." The rich man asks what he must *do* to inherit the kingdom. An inheritance is a gift (something the rich man doesn’t understand); you don’t earn or work for it. But Jesus lists a set of commandments to obey and then says to give all you have to the poor. That sure sounds like earning (or buying) salvation.

But, if inheriting the "kin-dom" is properly understood we see that salvation is indeed a gift and what we do - whether it is giving money or time and talents to support the ministry - is just our response to the gift. This can be really difficult to understand and accept. Lutherans try to hold grace and works in tension. Tilt slightly one way and you have cheap grace where the impression is given that you should accept the gift of salvation and go merrily on your way with little more than a thank you to God. But the fall is just as great if we don’t give enough emphasis to the "free-ness". Then we play into the very human desire displayed by the rich man to believe we must "do" something to inherit the kingdom. The solution is to understand that our sacrifices of time and money are signs that we have accepted God’s grace. We give and do out of gratitude. If we don’t give or do, we need to reflect on why we feel so little gratitude. We may need some form of spiritual care or help achieving a different perspective.

Seeing salvation as a gift and relying on our responding may present some difficulties, of course. Jesus doesn’t force anyone to accept the gift of grace. The kingdom isn’t a prison and He doesn’t coerce anyone into being in relationship with Him. Like the rich man we may fail to understand that only God can give us salvation and entry into the kingdom, but that being in relationship with God is worth far more than anything we could ever possess. We may feel when asked to help the church build on its foundation in Christ like Jack Benny. The story is told that:

In the coming weeks we will celebrate some of the ninety plus ministries founded on Christ that are done at and through St. Paul’s. We will reflect not just on what we have done, but also on how we can continue to participate in the "kin-dom", especially as we look forward to our 150^th year of ministry in this area. And we will prayerfully consider what lies ahead in the unknown future for us as a congregation and as individual followers of "THE WAY".

With that in mind, please join me as I pray this prayer of Thomas Merton,

"God of this journey,

we are walking into mystery.

We face the future,

not knowing what the days

and months will bring us

or how we will respond.

Be love in us as we journey.

May we welcome all who come our way.

Deepen our faith/

Fill us with hope and an abiding trust

that you dwell in us amid all our joys and sorrows.

Thank you for the treasure of our faith life.

Thank you for the gift of being able to rise each day with the assurance of your walking through the day with us.

God of this journey, we praise you.