Rector's Sermon - Sunday, October 20, 2002

First Reading	Psalm	Epistle	Gospel
Isaiah 5:1-7	96:1-9	1 Thessalonians 1:1-10	Matthew 22:15-22

     It had been a banner year for the venerable floor covering company. New housing starts were at an all time high and people were refinishing basements and attics for clubrooms and extra bedrooms at a record pace. The company was a heavy advertiser in many magazines and sponsored a one hour dramatic prime time program on one of the major television networks. Nonetheless, the directors wondered if they were missing something. They wanted some straight feedback about their company's reputation and so they hired a consulting firm to find out what the American public thought about the company's image. At the next board of directors' meeting the firm presented its findings. "You have nothing to worry about," representatives of the consulting firm said. "You are going to be pleased, for the results were glowing. You really are doing a great job and your advertising is paying off. We asked thousands of people what was the first thing that came to their mind when they thought of your corporate name, and more than anything else, what came to the top of the list was the reply that your company was synonymous with luxurious and quality carpet."

     The directors gasped. The expression of horror from the face of the CEO and VP of marketing was genuine. The VP of sales nearly broke into tears. For at that time this company, makers of tile, linoleum and wall covering, did not manufacture or sell one square inch of carpet. (The next year, they went throughout the south buying up every small carpet mill they could find. Very quickly they got into the carpet business.

     The consulting firm was worth every penny paid to it, for it knew how to ask the right question, the question that would give a critical answer to a large corporation's future product development. The company's reputation provided an opening for a great future, a future, the company itself hadn't realized. In one sense, that's what people of faith expect of their religious institutions. Namely to ask penetrating and illuminating questions that uncover our potential, that point to a greatly expanded vision of a more abundant and fulfilling life. It's so easy to be distracted by spurious arguments or diverted by the obsequious fog of selfish agendas that we miss the wonderful opportunities God places in front of us.

     In one sense, our ministry at St. John's is like a mining operation. With piles of tailings all around us, it is easy to get discouraged. We may have to sift though tons of dirt and rock, but God isn't in the business of looking for dirt, but of uncovering and releasing our best selves, of freeing humanity from dark underground chambers of recrimination and despair. Like geologists, people of faith learn to look at the hard and seemingly impenetrable rock differently. In one sense the Holy Spirit beckons us to go on a treasure hunt.

     In today's Gospel, Jesus was confronted by a question that was asked not to be helpful but to obscure. Jesus came to Jerusalem to share a vision about God's intention for humanity. Jesus wanted to help people redefine and broaden their relationship with God and with one another. He came to confirm blessings, not to provide justification for someone else's rivalry. While Jesus defused the poison of the particular question about tax to Caesar, he was under no illusion that that would settle the matter. People of faith have always been challenged to discern between those agendas that help illuminate our journey and those that trap us, and mires us in a quicksand that allows no hope.

     This is the time of year the word "stewardship" slips into our conversation. Of course, to incorporate exhortations about the blessings of giving into the sermon, while the Gospel talks about the lawfulness of paying taxes to Caesar, is quite a challenge. Yet even this particular Gospel passage does help us look at things differently and helps us avoid getting sidetracked. The issue between Jesus and those who asked the question about the coin of the tax involved the attempt by one of the many obsessive agendas of the world to push aside, corner, or co-opt the good news. A pivotal choice for people of faith is this: do we wish to play in the dirt piles humanity has made or do we wish to join God's enterprise of redemption and proceed to discover the abundant gifts of treasure among us? Stewardship isn't about begging for money or wringing our hands in despair at the gigantic piles of the world's used tailings. God is calling us, "Do I have a deal for you! Do I have an adventure for us to take!" By God's grace, the ministry of St. John's has a reputation out there. What do we want to do about it? Where do we want the reputation of St. John's to take us? What openings lie ahead of us? These are some of the helpful questions that illuminate what stewardship is all about.

     And I offer this to you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen