Openings: “Call to Worship for Stewardship Sunday”

To worship means to consider that which has worth—today we consider, with gratitude, the many gifts of this community—

The opportunity to be affirmed in who we are and to offer that affirmation to others

The chance to stand up together to help remake the world in the ideal of justice

The freedom to choose one’s own path to truth and to learn from the travelogues of others

The space to expand one’s own spirit and to reconnect after busy –or humdrum--weeks with the sustaining truths of one’s life

Regular reminders that we must see our world through the lens of love

And the aspiration to consider all life as precious for if all of it is made of stardust, how can it not be wondrous?

So this morning let’s welcome all of these gifts with gratitude—for they have been paid for with many currencies

The blood of the martyrs who died so that we can be free in our religion

The sweat of those who persisted in justice’s name against hostility and adversity

The tears of those who struggled to build better lives for those in this life

The questions of our children as they understand the world anew and offer their understanding to us as a fresh lens

The laughter and joy of those giddy with the embrace of community

The dollars and cents of those who gave what they could—and then stretched a little more.

The infinite small acts of service that make the parts greater than the whole, done by those who knew themselves in sympathy with our purposes.

So today we consider with gratitude and humility what it means to pay forward what has been paid forward for us.

And now, with all of this, let us enter into worship with gladness in our hearts.