The best stewardship sermon I ever heard was by a reporter at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. He was just back from a long trip across the Northern Plains, writing a series of articles.
He told us that he often got up early in the morning and began driving in the dawn. You can imagine that on an empty horizon in North Dakota or Montana, the dawn is spectacular, and indeed, he was moved by it.
As he put it, "I felt the need to say 'thank you' to someone. So I said it to God each morning: 'Thank you, God'".
Sometimes you just gotta stop and say "Thank you, God".
Here's what I'm grateful for today:
- Thank you for churches small in number, but strong in faith;
- Thank you for beautiful scenery: Appalachian hills, broad, cold, muddy streams; small, forgotten towns.
- Thank you for good food and great diners. We're lucky to have enough money to eat in places like this.
- Thank you for the opportunity to rest on a Sunday, for time to renew ourselves and enjoy the bounties you have set before us.
- Thank you for spouses and companions to share life with.
- Thank you for little boys who want nothing more than to walk your dog, and who prefer a banana to a cookie.
- Thank you for meaningful work in the week to come, work that gives dignity and financial support.
- Thank you for friends and family, and for opportunities to grow in your love.
- Thank you.