Sermon for November 19th, 2017

2 Kings 4:38-40

38 When Elisha returned to Gilgal, there was a famine in the land. As the company of prophets was sitting before him, he said to his servant, “Put the large pot on, and make some stew for the company of prophets.” 39 One of them went out into the field to gather herbs; he found a wild vine and gathered from it a lapful of wild gourds, and came and cut them up into the pot of stew, not knowing what they were. 40 They served some for the men to eat. But while they were eating the stew, they cried out, “O man of God, there is death in the pot!” They could not eat it. 41 He said, “Then bring some flour.” He threw it into the pot, and said, “Serve the people and let them eat.” And there was nothing harmful in the pot.

Stew(ardship): Elisha's Stew

Year after year the married couple attended the county fair, and every time it was the same story: The husband was tantalized by the old-fashioned, World War I bi-plane which offered anyone a 30 minute flight in the co-pilot's seat for $100. But the man's wife was disgusted by such an obvious waste. "$100 is a lot of money!" she would always say. And so the man would go home without his airplane ride.

One year the husband said to his wife, "Look, there's that bi-plane again. I’m 81 years old and this year I want to go for a ride." His wife bristled, "There you go again. Don't you realize that $100 is a lot of money?"

At this point the pilot who owned the bi-plane, and who had heard this conversation as far back as he could remember, intervened. "Listen, you two, I'll make you a deal. I'll give you both a ride for free if you promise not to say anything during the flight. If you speak even a single word, I'll charge you the $100." Well the old man and his wife thought that sounded fair, so off they went.

The pilot put on quite a show. He took his plane through banks and spins and loop-the-loops, and then did the whole thing over again. Amazingly, he never heard a single word. When the plane landed he looked back at the old man and said, "I'll have to admit I'm impressed. You never spoke once."

"Well," said the old man, "I was going to say something when my wife fell out of the plane, but... $100 is a lot of money!"

We are talking about money today, and so I sincerely hope none of you fall out of the plane, or your pew, for that matter.

In church lingo, the word stewardship refers to the way in which we manage or "steward" our resources--particularly our financial resources--and use them to accomplish God's purposes in the world and in our community.

The first four letters of "stewardship" happen to form the word "stew" and so as we talk about money this year, and the commitment we have made as church members to give financially to the ministry of the church, we are using the metaphor of stew, in the three places where stew actually appears in the Bible.

Growing up in my six-person family, there was never any question if, whether, or which of the evening leftovers would go into the giant stew-pot that lived in the freezer. Each night, everything that wasn't eaten for dinner got added to that stew pot and frozen, waiting to be thawed, reheated, and reclaimed at the end of the week. The only real question was how this particular leftover ingredient or that would affect the taste and character of the stew when the pot was full. And despite some highly questionable additions (like pancakes, or spaghetti, or applesauce) somehow the stew always ended up being surprisingly good--and completely different every week!