As we gather, we recognize that we live, work, pray, and play
in the traditional, unceded lands
of the Cowichan Tribes and Coast Salish People. 
We continue to commit ourselves
to the work of reconciliation and relationship-building
with our First Nations neighbours.     

Call to Worship:

Open our hearts, O Lord,
to give heed to
what is said by your Son.

O, Come.   Let Us Worship.

O worship the King, all glorious above
And gratefully sing His power, and His love
Our Shield and Defender, the Ancient of Days
Pavilioned in splendor, and girded with praise.

Gathering

In this time and place
We gather on the ancestral lands of Kwakwake’wakw,
Nuu-chah-nulth and Coast Salish peoples.
From many places and peoples we come to this house in prayer.

In this time and place
We are not alone for we meet in the presence of the living God. 

In this time and place
We are not alone for the Risen Jesus stands in our midst.

In this time and space
We are not alone for the wind of the Spirit moves in and through us.

In this time and in this space
We are not alone for we gather with the whole company of heaven,

In this time and in this space heaven and earth are one.
In this time and place together, one people in Jesus Christ.
In the name of God: Creator,  Saviour, and Holy Spirit.
Amen.

Collect for Today

Almighty God,
You have created the heavens and the earth,
and ourselves in your image.
Teach us to discern your hand in all your works
and to serve you with reverence and thanksgiving;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, 
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, 
one God, now and forever. Amen.

The Proclamation of the Gospel:

Matthew 20.1-16 

Sermon:  The Ven.  Brian Evans

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of
our hearts be ever acceptable to you, O Lord.  Amen.

“A Few Words about Stewardship”

 This is possibly the last week before Fall becomes more prominent, and we lose some of the leaves and the green vegetation, and that I’ll be able to record our service outside, in the midst of God’s creation.

Many years ago, I was quite involved with Stewardship, and with stewardship programs; and doing some leadership in various communities where I have worked during my years of ordained ministry.

One of the subjects that always comes up when we talk about Stewardship is what we talk about the three “T’s”—Time-Talent- and – Treasure.

Well, before we get to those 3 T’s, first of all, we need to be mindful that, most of us aren’t comfortable talking about stewardship.

The basic reason that we are not comfortable talking about Stewardship, is because we are talking about money, it seems; and talking about how our economy moves throughout generations and throughout time periods in life, and how do we, then, talk about this topic; and about money, and is that the only thing we are going to talk about when we think about Stewardship in the church? 

Well, the thing about Stewardship is that it is, first of all about a “C”-word called ‘commitment’.

And when you listen to the Gospel today, and when you listen to the Collect for today, you hear those words about commitment. You hear words about faithfulness and about participating in community and sharing in that community.

We hear the expectations of God, throughout the Old Testament lesson for today, in the Collect, in the Call to Worship, in our Gospel today; and those relationships that we have, and the expectation of God in our lives.

And so, it is important for us to think beyond finances. It is important for us to think about the Stewardship of our total life: to think about our time.

I always find it interesting—when we talk about the 3 T’s, we talk about time, talent, and treasure, in that format.

It is important that we think about time.

Time, we often say, is the most valuable thing that we have, and how we use that time, and how we share that time.

I always think that when we talk about stewardship, that is easy to put $100 on the collection plate on Sunday mornings; but what about the time that we might give up for the Gospel?

How about the service in which we share? How about the time spent by countless people who maintain our buildings; who work in our kitchens; who work in planning worship; who teach in our churches; who lead Bible studies; who share in prayer time together?

Those gifts given are, in some ways, so extraordinary. They are given by the fact of peoples’ commitment, and their wanting to be ‘in relationship’ in our community. 

And that time commitment also comes into our talents.

How many of us share openly our talents? How many give in so many ways? People who—I don’t know why I come to this topic of food so often—but people who bake, people who sew, people who have the gift of music and are so willing to share it. I think of all the volunteer choirs that we have throughout our Christian circles. We do have paid choirs, and that is one thing; and I give thanks for their talent, but at the same time, I think of the volunteer choirs, who are not only giving their talent, but they are also giving their time.

I think of 3 of my parishes that I have been in—the volunteer choir time.

People who would come and practice in the middle of the week for 2 hours, give up their evenings for this; and then come early on Sunday morning, and rehearse again, in preparation for the Liturgy.

It is not only their voice-talents, but also many of them have a theology, and recognize the theology of the seasons of the year, and the giving of the Holy Spirit within their music, and how important that is to our worship. And how invaluable that is to me, as a priest, to hear their understanding of what our worship is to be, and how important that is.

Then, of course, we come to our treasure.

How do we measure that treasure? How do we think about how we share the financial gifts that we have accumulated, and have at our disposal? Our culture would say, ‘well it is nobody’s business’. Certainly, in our country, and in many countries around the world, there is a culture around money—a culture that we hold very dearly, and cling to—like a spider might cling to its web. There is no way that we are going to “let go”.

At the same time, the Gospel reminds us, and challenges us, about those assumptions. In fact, the Gospel today challenges the workers to think about what their pay is, and what it resembles; and how Jesus looks at that, and how important it is for us to think about that.

Now, it is often said about Stewardship, in my reflection, whether it is our time, our treasure, or our talent, but that they say that the first aspect of stewardship needs to be the philosophy that the pastor or parish priest understands their own time, their own stewardship, of those gifts that they have to give; and be aware of being the “leader”.

That then, is followed by those identified lay leaders, in our churches—people on church council; people leading women’s groups; people who lead men’s groups in the church—their understanding, and how their journey is an example of faith to give to others.

It is said that it is impossible to lead, unless you are prepared to give of yourself, in whatever form that might be.

This summer, our National Canadian church, gathered in thanksgiving for the life, and work, and witness of Archbishop Michael Peers.

Sometimes, I’m reminded that Michael was known to often go into the kitchen, when he was out visiting a parish, to help with the dishes. When he attended one of our seminary retreats, he said that he always learned more about a parish at the kitchen sink, than he did at the coffee table, and how significant that is.

And so, in our lives as Christians, we need to practice those gifts of the three T’s. 

We need to practice, in the sense of the abundance that we see of the vineyard.

Thinking of the grapes growing on the cumbersome vines, in the springtime, without leaves or without flowers, and then the grapes in the Fall, you might look at it and think: How could it produce so abundantly? It is such an example, for us, of how we have, at our root, so much to offer, and so much to give.

This past week, we celebrated St. Matthew’s Day on September 21^st.

And the writer in ‘Day by Day’ left us with some interesting words, and the writer said, “In this, I see a Jesus who is interested, not in seeing how many supporters he can acquire for himself, or in ordering others to do his bidding, but in sharing life with his disciples, and with the people that he meets.

Sharing life. Sharing our total life with the people we meet; sharing our total life as disciples of Christ.

And then, the writer says that discipleship with Jesus is ‘sitting with’. It is ‘being with’. It is showing solidarity.

So, whether we are talking about stewardship in the Church, or about stewardship in the community; and thinking that we will be observing Truth and Reconciliation Day, and “Aboriginal Peoples Awareness Day” this week, and to think about how we might ‘sit with them’, in a way that is significant, in a way that is ‘being with’.

And so, when we think about our stewardship, it is ‘being with Christ’ in all that we do. In the 70’s, we talked about whole life—Whole Life Christianity—that commitment that is ours to give.

These, and all our offerings, we offer in the name of Jesus Christ, our Saviour.  Amen. 

Let Us Pray

Remembering the caring and generous works of God, we pray for the Church, creation, and the needs of our neighbours.

Merciful God,
Hear our prayer.

God who is gracious and merciful,
teach your church to invite and welcome all.
Lead us to be grateful for the blessings of community. Challenge your church to choose equity and compassion, over judgement.

Merciful God,
Hear our prayer.

God who sends the wind and the sun,
You know every worm and bush by name. Help us remember that even the humblest parts of creation are precious to you. Show us how best to care for the earth and its creatures.

Merciful God,
Hear our prayer.

God who is ready to relent from punishing;
Impart your compassionate wisdom to legislators, judges, members of the military, and law enforcement. Give them courage to serve their communities in times of uncertainty, stress or exhaustion.  

Merciful God,
Hear our prayer.

God who saves:
Direct your people who are tempted by evil ways. Protect your children from calamity and disaster. Strengthen all who are struggling with addiction, mental Illness, and homelessness. Encourage all who are in despair, or pain of any kind. 
In our Parish, we continue to pray for: 
Roy & Gail; Sue; for the families of Daryl, and Yasmin; Roy; Jay; Sheila; Roberta; Joan; and those on our hearts.

Merciful God,
Hear our prayer.

God who is slow to anger:
may we boast about the goodness of Jesus, with the confidence of Paul in prison. Inspire us to find abundance in whatever vocation we are called to in the world, and in service to our community of faith.

Merciful God,
Hear our prayer.

God who abounds in steadfast love:
we give thanks for the saints called to the kingdom of heaven, commending to your gracious keeping today, your servants Yasmin and Daryl. United with them in spirit, hold us firm as we labour in this life, and look to the life to come.  We pray for the four men, the forest-fire fighters, who lost their lives in a tragic car accident. We also pray for their families, and for the offering of the gifts that those people gave to our community.

Merciful God,
Hear our prayer.

May You remember all of us, according to your steadfast love, as we offer our prayers, and that Your voice dwells in our hearts, that we may trust in Your compassion, made known to us through Jesus Christ.   Amen.

As our saviour taught us to pray, we say:

Our Father,
who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as in heaven. 
Give us today our daily bread. 
Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive
those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us fom evil.  
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
forever and ever.  Amen.

Almighty God:
We know that You are the Ruler of the universe;
and we know that all that You created for us, and that You gave us, comes to us in the fulfillment of your Son, giving His life for us; so that we may enjoy peace; and so that the world may continue to work its way towards maturing to be a place of faith, a place of peace, a place of sharing generously with all, in life. 

And so, may Your power work in us, that we can do infinitely more, in Your name.  Amen.