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<div class="MsoNormal"><font color="navy" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy">Here’s a Stewardship sermon, as if
you are in search of one(!), from one of the nominees for Bishop of the Diocese
of New York:</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font color="navy" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy">Andy’s illustrations for the book by
Jerry Keucher, Remember the Future: Finiancial Leadership and Asset Management,
2006, Church Publishing Company, are here:</span></font></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><font color="navy" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.episcopalmarlboro.org/Uploads/Remember%20the%20Future.pdf">http://www.episcopalmarlboro.org/Uploads/Remember%20the%20Future.pdf</a></span></font></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Calibri" size="2"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><a title="blocked::http://www.episcopalmarlboro.org/Uploads/Stewardship.pdf" href="http://www.episcopalmarlboro.org/Uploads/Stewardship.pdf">http://www.episcopalmarlboro.org/Uploads/Stewardship.pdf</a></span></font></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><font color="navy" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy">Peace and blessings,</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font color="navy" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy">Joe</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font color="navy" face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy"> </span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="4"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">T</span></font><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT"><span style="font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">HE </span></font><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="4"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">R</span></font><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT"><span style="font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">EVEREND </span></font><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="4"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">C</span></font><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT"><span style="font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">ANON </span></font><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="4"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">A</span></font><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT"><span style="font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">NDREW </span></font><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="4"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">ML
D</span></font><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT"><span style="font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">IETSCHE</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">S</span></font><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">TEWARDSHIP
</span></font><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT"><span style="font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">S</span></font><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">ERMON
AT </span></font><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT"><span style="font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">C</span></font><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">HRIST</span></font><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">
</span></font><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT"><span style="font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">C</span></font><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">HURCH</span></font><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT"><span style="font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">, P<font size="2"><span style="font-size:9.5pt">OUGHKEEPSIE</span></font></span></font><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT"></span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">S</span></font><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">UNDAY</span></font><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT"><span style="font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">, O</span></font><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">CTOBER
</span></font><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT"><span style="font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">31,
2010</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">There
was a reason why people didn’t like Zacchaeus. Israelites who collected Rome’s taxes were
not</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">only
reviled as collaborators, but also because the way they earned their daily
bread was by extorting a</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">surplus
on top of the tax, and being permitted by Rome
to keep whatever extra they forced people to pay.</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">They
were Arm Twisters. Thumb Benders. Knee Cappers. Thugs. And Zacchaeus lived in Jericho,</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">which
was a wealthy trading town, and by putting the squeeze on the people there for
no doubt some</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">years
he had become rich on stolen money.</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">But
he was also interested in this Jesus of Nazareth, who was coming into town and
walking down</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">the
main street. Great crowds of people came out to see Jesus, and they completely
blocked Zacchaeus’</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">way
up to the curb, and he was short and couldn’t see, and no one wanted to
stand by him or let him</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">through
because they hated him.</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">So
he climbed the tree to see over the crowds, and Jesus saw him, called to him,
and went with him</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">to
stay at his house. As always, Jesus chose the sinner. The deservedly reviled.
And Zacchaeus was so</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">overcome
by that grace that he impulsively gave half his wealth away. And when I read
that story this</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">year
I thought, “well, there must be something in the water.” Because
this time around Zacchaeus seems</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">to
mirror something we are seeing ourselves, which is Bill Gates and Warren
Buffett talking some of their</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">billionaire
friends into pledging to give half their money away to charity. It seems a
though some of these</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">very
rich people are now, as Zacchaeus did back then, wanting to make some amends,
and figure out a</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">new
way of living with money that isn’t so emotionally and spiritually
exhausting.</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">And
forty or more of them have taken the pledge. A great deal of money will be
available to help</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">people
in all kinds of ways. And for many of them, generosity is nothing new. Bill and
Melinda Gates,</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">for
example, have spent a fortune combating crippling disease on the African
continent.</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">So
given the admirable level of that generosity, no doubt I could be accused of
cynicism for the</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">questions
that I want to ask about all this, but I think there are some things here that
could use a little</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">“unpacking.”
And I hope that my questions will also make a few interesting points about
stewardship.</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">But
I want us to remember that large sums of money are always blinding. They make
it hard to see</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">anything
else. We can’t tear our eyes away. So that when a man who has, say, four
billion dollars gives</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">two
billion away, that two billion will command our full attention. So let’s
try to keep our eyes on the</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">whole
picture.</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">So
here is my first question for these billionaire fifty-percenters: What are they
getting for their</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">money?</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">Right
away I will say that these are obviously generous people -- they have proved it
already -- so</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">one
thing they are getting for their money is the satisfaction of making a real
difference in the world.</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">But
I can’t help wondering if they are also buying the peace of mind they can
get in no other way to</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">still
be fabulously rich, but without the guilt that comes with all that wealth. And
the jealousy, and the</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">demands
and expectations, and sometimes the scorn of others. Can it be that they are
paying to trade</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">admiration
for envy, and the right to use all the rest of their money as they please and
without all that</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">judgment?</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">That’s
where you can accuse me of cynicism. But before you do, let me tell you that I
know of a</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">man
who loves the standard of the tithe. The standard of ten percent. He loves it
because after he pays</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">that
ten it is no one’s business what he does with the other ninety. And no
one, not even the church, can</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">make
a claim on it. So it could be that one thing they are buying is unquestioned
ownership over the</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">portion
they retain.</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">Now
that’s cynical. But before you judge that man or even any of these
billionaires, let us stop to</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">admit
that most of us are pretty much in the same spiritual boat as that happy
tither. When we think of</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">stewardship
giving as our obligation, our responsibility, which is how we do talk about it
most of the</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">time,
our question is going to be </span></font><i><font face="TimesNewRomanPS-ItalicMT"><span style="font-family:TimesNewRomanPS-ItalicMT; font-style:italic">what do we owe</span></font></i><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT"><span style="font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">. Which is
to say, how to solve the puzzle of “the right</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">amount.”</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">But
all of this presupposes that there is a portion of our wealth which properly
belongs to God, and</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">there
is a portion which belongs to us. Yet everything teaches us that God makes a
claim on our whole</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">lives,
and what we mean by stewardship is really about how we live into that. It is
about how we</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">participate
with God in the needs of the larger world (and church) even as we are good and
faithful</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">managers
of the smaller realm over which we have been given charge -- our homes, our
families, and the</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">people
who depend on us. And the first understanding of Christian stewardship is that
everything is</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">God’s.
The first fifty percent and the other fifty percent. The ten percent and the
ninety.</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">So
given that, my second question is: How did they decide on fifty percent as the
right standard for</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">giving?
And a corollary to that is this: How did the church decide on ten percent?</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">And
I believe that the answer is that both standards are arbitrary. There is a
biblical precedent for</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">ten
percent, but it’s not as clear cut as we sometimes imply. And if the
lesson of the happy tither and the</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">billionaires
is that for some people ten or fifty percent is far too low a standard, then it
is also true that for</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">a
great lot of others, ten percent is way too high. When I was a parish priest I
had some very poor people</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">in
my care, and I’d have been ashamed to tell them they needed to give ten
percent to the church. We</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">needed
to be giving money to them. And today a guy who has been out of work for the
past year, with</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">three
kids to clothe and feed and a mortgage he can’t pay should probably not
be giving ten percent of his</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">unemployment
check to the church. Give something, of course, but not be enslaved to an
arbitrary</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">expectation.
So my second stewardship point is that legalistic formulas can be useful
strategies for</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">giving,
but life, and therefore honest stewardship, is more complicated than that.</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">Which
leads to my third question: How do these billionaires plan to spend the half
they are not</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">giving
away? Because when a four-billionaire gives half away, he simply turns into a
two-billionaire.</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">And
it cannot be that a man with two billion dollars has less responsibility to use
that money wisely and</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">for
the common good than a man with four billion dollars. And if the
two-billionaire has such</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">responsibilities,
how about the one-billionaire, or the 500 millionaire, and if you keep halving
this fortune</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">over
and over eventually you will be asking what responsibilities the person with a
thousand dollars has</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">with
what he has left after he gives five hundred away. And that might seem like an
absurdity, and if it is,</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">then
maybe this is about the place where we get to the nuts and bolts of Christian
stewardship. And it</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">does
not make the conversation about giving much easier, but it might make our
theology of stewardship</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">a
bit clearer.</span></font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT" size="2"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:TimesNewRomanPSMT">•
• • • •</span></font></div>
</font>