As sure as pumpkins and goblins and a slight chill in the air are a part of mid-October, so is the work of our Stewardship Team. They have been brainstorming about the upcoming Stewardship Campaign - the harvesting of financial pledges so that the church can continue to plant and grow in the year 2010. One of the team members shared with me an overview of the campaign; not once did she use the word "guilt." Such as, how do we make our members feel guilty if they don't support their church? Rather - it's all about what this community of faith means in the lives of you who are a part of it. It's about how the church has been there for you, or wants to be there for you, in each and every season of your life. Alfred Lord Tennyson says that in spring, a young man's fancy turns to thoughts of love. Along those same lines, in mid-October, a mature congregation's fancy turns to thoughts of Stewardship, the support of the church we love.

Having said that, wouldn't you think this is a wonderful Gospel text to chew on? A man comes to Jesus wanting to know the answer to the most important question ever, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus looks him right in the eye and tells him, "Go to sell." "Go to sell all that you have and give the money to the poor." The only hitch is the fact that a closer reading shows this has nothing at all do to with stewardship, or giving money to the church. In fact, this text may have nothing to do with our relationship to money. This text does have everything to do with our relationship to God.

The man in the text seems to be Trump-rich in his own right. He does not waste his money, living life in the fast lane. In fact, this man lives a very quiet life - obeying the commands of God. He is very rich and very righteous - but still, something is missing. He is not happy; he is fearful for the future. He wants to know what he must do to gain the inheritance, that is - eternal life. We live in a culture which tries to deny the reality of death. A lot of folks,, at least before the sharp economic downturn, seemed to think that bigger houses and larger stock portfolios might forestall that inevitable and ultimate day of reckoning, as if there were security in one's wealth. In his defense, the man in our lives in the years BC - Before the Cross. He has no true sense of God's strong love for all people. "What must I do - DO - to inherit eternal life.

For those of us PC Christians, Post Cross Christians. we know better now: we are saved by the grace of God. A free gift. Nothing less - and nothing more. And yet, I often rediscover that what we believe in our minds often does not seep down to our hearts. So many Christians still wonder, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" Why else would people wonder if they are going to heaven when they die or if they've been good enough to stand before the throne of God? Why else - other than people have difficulty with the concept of God's oh, so amazing, grace?

This man interrupts Jesus on his way to the cross: "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?", totally forgetting that if something is an inheritance, you do not have to do anything to get it - merely accept it. It's like a child who asks, "Mommy, what must I do to earn a Christmas present?" or, "What must I do to deserve a sunny day?"

Now, if eternal life is a gift, then, you might wonder why Jesus brings up the subject of the commandments? Remember? The man wants to grab hold of eternity and Jesus reminds him of God's commands. Well, since no one has ever come close to fulfilling perfectly the commandments of God - no one is ever worthy of earning salvation. This, I believe, is the point Jesus is trying to make. Evidently, the man kept the other commandments quite nicely. Not perfectly, but nicely. And Jesus loves him for it. We might have skipped right over that little tidbit: Jesus, looking at that man, loved him. Jesus loved that man so much he was trying to divorce that man from his one true love: loot. Jesus knows if the man would be willing to give away his possessions, that man would discover a new security - the ability to trust God in every circumstance.

Some time ago, I shared my experience at Syms in White Plains, where I had gone to buy a new suit. Since I didn't know my waist size, the salesman had to circumnavigate my tummy with his tape. He then said, "You're not gonna like what I have to tell you." He was right.

And Jesus, having taken the measure of the man in our text, might well have said, "You're not gonna like what I have to tell you, but - go, sell what you have, and give to the poor...." And we all know what happens next: the face of the man - fell. You can picture it: the man's face fell: thump. And his heart dropped: thud. And he went away grieving. I think it's a solid guess to say, that as the man was leaving, and the man was grieving, that Jesus loved him no less than he had ... mere seconds before.

To put this another way, if you want to know what you have to do to inherit eternal life, I'm going to hold up one of our guests here this morning. She doesn't believe in God. She is an atheist. So much so, she doesn't know Jesus from Adam. This atheist, who has never done a good deed in her life ... is about to receive the great inheritance. Through no effort of her own, Madison Marie is about to be cleansed with the droplets of eternal life. She does not earn it. She can not earn it. She will not earn it. Eternal life is all tied up with the cross that's going to be traced upon Madison's forehead.

Baptism is God's language of love, the way Jesus has of saying, "You're gonna like what I have to tell you." If Scripture is to be trusted, eternal life begins at the very moment of our Baptism. The cleansing, the droplets, the promise of God.

What does this all mean? Well, for one thing it means in this season of stewardship that when you give generously for the work of the church, as you have in the past, presumably the sharing of your wealth will be for reasons other than trying to inherit eternal life - the inheritance you already possess.