The following sermon was a part of our 2011 worship series on stewardship, titled Simple Stewardship. You can find several other worksheets and documents for reflection and discernment on our stewardship resources page.  Though it's always a little awkward for me as a paid pastor to talk about financial stewardship, considering how much of our church's budget goes toward pastoral compensation, I hope you might find this a meaningful and challenging reflection on what it means to participate in God's work in the world when it comes to money.

The following sermon was a part of our 2011 worship series on stewardship, titled Simple Stewardship. It was shared alongside a time-use discernment worksheet, which you can download from our stewardship resources page. I hope you might find the time to take a few moments to pause, read through this scripture, and reflect on the ways that you've sought to engage abundance in your own life. 

This past Sunday was a day of great celebration and excitement in our congregation. In addition to giving a nod toward the Mother's Day holiday, we also blessed 12 graduating college and seminary students connected to our church and shared in a deeply meaningful baptism. This sermon, while shorter than usual, draws in several of these themes while reflecting on what it means for us to be "born again."

Though I don't always post my sermon manuscripts I had so many requests for a copy of this one that I thought I'd share it here. This was the final sermon of our 8-week long series on New Beginnings. If only I could also share the deep and meaningful 20 minutes of shared response that comprised the second half of our sermon time. 

Last Sunday (August 1, 2010) Katie Thompson challenged us all to rethink how we understand evangelism. Using Jesus' interactions with the Samaritan woman at the well from John 4 as a model she points us toward a progressive kind of evangelism that involves hanging out with people who aren't particularly popular to hang out with, treating marginalized persons as equals, and being non-judgmental but also unafraid to speak of the good news that we have come to know through the life and work of Jesus. If you missed it, you should check it out!

Read the full sermon (pdf)