Pentecost 17 C

Good morning. We have a funny gospel text today. It is actually really funny. It is a story about a man who is accused of being a poor manager. His master, his boss got word that he was squandering money and not acting reputably or appropriately. We don't really know what he was doing wrong but he was doing something wrong so he got fired. Really he was given notice. Tie up all of your affairs and get out, he was told.

And oh boy did he tie up affairs. He called in everyone who owed his master money and he reduced their debt. He just cut their debts in half or took quarters off. Leaving himself with some good friends and his master with some happy clients, if a little less money that he would have had.

Now I don't really recommend this type of business operation. I think it might lead to some litigation and and certainly some complications but it leaves us with some interesting things to think about.

The master in this situation might be the most interesting character in the whole story. I think it is fair to say that he wasn't holding up his end of the deal very well either. He didn't know for quite a while that his accounts were being handled poorly and once he found out he fired the man who was the problem who then proceeded to give a bunch of his money away, what does he do next? He commends the manager, the man who had done a poor job, the man who had been fired and the man who gave away money that wasn't even his to give in the first place.

Something strange is happening here, a few things don't really seem to add up but I wonder if maybe the master learned something from the manager. You see the manager seemed to know something that his master didn't. He knew that the master didn't really need all of the money and goods that were owed him, that he would be just fine, maybe better than fine without them, otherwise he would have called his debts in long before. He also knew that everyone involved would do be a lot better off if the wealth was spread around some. He knew that those people who owed the master very desperately needed a hand, needed a little bit of relief and so he offered that to them. He also knew that these debtors would hold both him and the master in high regard if their debts were lowered. They would be more inclined to have positive dealings with them in the future. So in a sense he made friends for life for both himself and the master and helped out some struggling people in the community and I think this is really what the master was commending him for doing.

He did a nice job of working for and finding forgiveness in all kinds of unlikely places. And so the master learned from this steward about building community even in the midst of sacrifice and change. That, I think is why, even though this is a strange story for Jesus to be telling, he tells it because through sacrifice and change the characters end up at grace and forgiveness.

It is good for us to see how community sustains us during times of transition, especially when the outcome is grace and forgiveness. It is good for us here today especially because there is some change going on...

It is a good time for us as a community to talk about sacrifice and change on your first Sunday with a new pastor!? In a lot of ways today is even more than that. Not only do you have a new pastor, in a lot of ways this is the first Sunday that you are truly in fellowship with your sister church St. Stephens. What a day filled with blessing and meaning and yes, maybe even some sacrifice and certainly some change.

Our texts today concludes by saying that those who are faithful in very little are also faithful in much.

I know this has been a long road for you but I think you did it faithfully. I suppose it started the day Pastor Jim announced that God was calling him to do ministry somewhere new. There must have been great sadness here when that happened but you faithfully sent him off to his new work. And God was calling you to change your ministry too. So faithfully you figured out how to handle the little things, faithfully the church kept going, kept praying, kept worshipping kept hoping. Then you learned that the synod had some plans for new partners in your ministry and faithfully you entered into an agreement with St Stephen's. Did all this faithful work require some sacrifice? Of course it did, it is hard to grow and to change but from where we all stand now it is clear that the changes were filled with grace and faithfulness. The church who is faithful in very little is also faithful in much.

I know this has been a long road for you but I think you did it faithfully. I suppose it started the day that your last pastor left and you came to realize that God was calling you to new types of ministry as you learned to make the church run during a time of vacancy. So faithfully you figured out how to handle the little things, faithfully the church kept going, kept praying, kept worshipping kept hoping. Then you learned that the synod had some plans for new partners in your ministry and faithfully you entered into an agreement with Trinity. Did all this faithful work require some sacrifice? Of course it did, it is hard to grow and to change but from where we all stand now it is clear that the changes were filled with grace and faithfulness. The church who is faithful in very little is also faithful in much.

This has been a long road for me too. Literally it has been a long road, a long road from Washington to here and a long road before that form college to seminary off to internship, back to seminary and then waiting and praying for just over a year before I heard about you folks and started to think about the ways that we might fit together. Faithfully people all around my home synod prayed for you here in New York and faithfully we started conversations about working together.

And so finally today here we are Pastor Amber and Trinity and St Stephens and we have just begun to change. It is great to be here and to see a congregation full of faithful people who have been worried and excited, exhausted and renewed by this call and transition process. And I can tell, just by your presence here today that you have been faithful in the little things. we are the church, we are called and baptised children of God. So here was are called to be stewards of word and sacrament and together we will share these gifts from God with one another, with our brothers and sisters at St. Stephens and with the people around us.

Our texts today says that those who are faithful in very little are also faithful in much. Just as we have been entrusted to be faithful in the everyday things we are also entrusted with the gifts of the kingdom, with grace and forgiveness and life everlasting.

Together as a community we will continue to be faithful in the little things, in sharing the peace with one another, in sharing our skills for ministry, in reaching out to those who have wandered off, reminding one another over and over again that we are here because we are called here and that we will always be called, in coming to the font to make baptismal promises, in coming to the table to receive the great gifts of God's mercy and forgiveness and through these things it will be clear that we have been entrusted with so much more and that we are truly promised a place in the kingdom and that we are the body of Christ in the world. And we will act as the body of Christ as a new community and as part of the community that we have always been a part of together with all the saints and the whole catholic church. This is good news. Thanks be to God

Amen