The Reading is from the Holy Gospel According to St. Luke (7:11-16; II Cor.

9:6-11) Stewardship Sunday 2012 + In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +

Just prior to words weve heard in todays Epistle, Paul was speaking plainly with the Corinthians that he has been boasting of them to the faithful in Macedonia. Paul boasted of the Corinthians zeal for their stewardship and almsgiving to the Church Jerusalem that was suffering famine and hardship. Paul boasted of the Corinthians zeal to the Macedonians, to be honest, just as I boast of you, of this parish, to my fellow priests, Bp. THOMAS, and Bp. JOHN. I boast about your attendance at the Divine Liturgy, Vespers, education classes, and your diligent response to the needs of the saints the purchasing of the new tabernacle and your gift to St. Patricks Church in Warrenton. I boast of your patience with the water and termite damage, and the air system. And not least do I boast in the manner in which youve received our family, as well as your clam resolve in the face of change and uncertainty. For all these things, like Paul, I boast, because they are an expression of your love for God and of your brothers and sisters in Christ. Time and again, in the short time weve been together we have responded to Gods call. Now I am preparing to boast of you again as we respond to our Stewardship Emphasis, because says Paul, you know the grace of our Lord, that though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor, that through His poverty you [we] might become rich.i This is why Paul uses the image of seed and harvest, for just as Christs poverty has yielded the great bounty of salvation, so too does the little tithe of our stewardship yield a great harvest. ii A harvest that simultaneously feeds of the saints, provides for the Church, and assists in our own becoming like Christ. Now, its God who gives the seed. It is God who supplies the bread. Every good gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights. Anything we offer is already from God and belongs

to Him. So its fitting that our reference point and focus for this years Stewardship Emphasis is Offering Thine own of Thine own in behalf of all and for all. But He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly See, God gives us His Divine and Eternal Life, whereas we give not our life, but only our temporal possessions and fleeting abilities, and not even all, but only a tithe. What a marvel! We give only a portion and a tithe of our earthly and passing goods, and in exchange He gives us all His Life.iii If then on earth we offer only a little back to God and withhold from Him what is already His then we must prepare to receive little from Him in Heaven. Stewardship and tithing is a spiritual discipline. Last week we heard from Christ that we need to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect. We need to be merciful as our Father is merciful. In other words we need to offer God and each other all of ourselves. And all of us includes our gifts, talents, and yes, even our tithes. Stewardship is not about meeting budgets, paying the priest, or whatever. At its core it is a spiritual disciple of offering God the fruits of what is already His. Let us therefore now sow and give bountifully, so that then we might reap of the bountiful Life of God. Let us give generously without counting the cost or pain of what we might lose. Instead let us give with joy, not begrudgingly. Let us not fear that giving will cause us to become poor, because if

God is able to supply what is efficient for eternal life, surely He can supply what is efficient of this life. For even if our gifts were to run out, even still our reward would not. iv + In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +

ii ii

II Cor. 8:9 St. John Chrysostom, Homily XIX, Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 12, p. 369. iii This comes from a Patristic source, but I cannot remember from whom or where. iv Ibid.