God has said “Yes!” to unconditional love, forgiveness, faith, eternal life, and a strong sense of purpose among disciples. That make for a meaningfully faithful life. Our “Say Yes!” theme comes from the treasure chest that is the Apostle Paul’s 2nd letter to the Corinthian church in which Paul reminds the people that like God, his word to them has never been “maybe” but it’s always been a resounding “Yes!.” And for proof of this Paul reminds the people that Jesus Christ is God’s greatest “Yes!” For in Jesus Christ, God has said “Yes!” to all the things And when God puts us together and the holy imagination really starts to flow, we’re not just John Knox, we’re Fort Knox! The truth of the matter is, as individuals, we’re extremely gifted people, we are all walking treasure chests. And perhaps one of the greatest gifts God has given to us is the gift of imagination, the ability to dream holy dreams and to ask “What if? What if we served in this way or that way? What if we led the call for justice in this area? What if we cared for hurting people in ways not yet thought of?” The imagination is a tool of God’s calling that allows us to focus not on what we would necessarily like to see happen, but on what God is calling us to see, what God is calling us to envision that isn’t yet a part of our reality. We’ve also received God’s “Yes!” in the form of gifts and talents that have permitted us to make a difference in the world through our vocations, our service, and our mission. But material blessings can also limit our vision so God has said “Yes!” to us in other ways as well. There’s not a single person among us who has not, and is not now, experiencing God’s “Yes!” Material blessings are not the only way God says “Yes!,” but they are an important one and we who are gathered here today, I wager to guess, all have food in our cupboards, roofs over our heads, clothes in our closets and some money in the bank. We’re giving and serving as a response, in an environment of unconditional love we’re giving and serving because God has given unto us in sacrificial ways and we’re giving and serving because God in Jesus Christ has said “Yes!” to all that we are and all that we could be. Why? Because we’re not giving and serving in a vacuum. So why is it often received with such congregational dread and foreboding? We should be able to laugh and celebrate as we dream holy dreams and vision new ways of giving and serving. Therefore, we DO need to focus on stewardship. The passage read, “When the small furry animals from the city of wind winneth the golden crown, then ye shall know the end is nigh.” (For those of you without a sense of humor, the Book of Revelation only has 22 chapters.) Well, in case you haven’t been following baseball, the Cubs didn’t win. A few weeks ago I came across a prophetic passage in the 23rd chapter of the Book of Revelation that made me think we might not need a stewardship campaign this year.
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