Fears, we all have them and they can exert powerful influences on our lives. Some fears of course are healthy. "I am afraid to jump from this high bridge". But many others are damaging causing negative effects on our lives. Fears can lead to paralysis, rob us of any real freedom of action or pre-dispose us to make poor choices. "Do not be afraid", Jesus tells his disciples in the Gospel passage this morning. In the case of the disciples it seems that fears about the future were causing them to hang on to everything they had, rather than generously sharing or giving.- a very common situation! Our fears of scarcity lead us to be tight-fisted, unable to be free and generous with what we have.

 My daughter was helping her grandmother clear out her home prior to her moving into assisted living. Susannah climbed into the attic to remove large quantities of old junk-Grandma being a serious pack rat! In the throw away pile she placed a very old (40+ years) pair of Grandpa's skates which had not seen the light of day for decades.  Grandpa himself had died almost 10 years earlier.  "Oh Susannah, don't throw these away, I might use them" said Grandma. When I heard this story I had a mental image of an 88 year old Grandma donning her husband's antique skates at the hockey rink! Not going to happen however much Geritol she might take.

 Parker Palmer says "The irony, often tragic, is that in embracing the scarcity assumption, we create the very scarcities we fear.. We create scarcity by fearfully accepting it as law and by competing with others for resources as if we were stranded in the Sahara at the last oasis".

 The only way to deal successfully with fears is to admit them and confront them. To pretend "that is not a problem for me" is simply denial. The fear goes underground and acts as a puppeteer pulling the strings, controling our conduct. I have a friend who for many years was terrified of spiders. She knew this and at the first sight of a spider would run away. One day while she was driving her car, a spider started to crawl across her wind-shield. She had a significant accident and that event acted as a wake-up call to her, especially as she had to explain, both to the police and her insurance agent, what happened. She got the necessary help to deal with her phobia.

 Jesus tells his disciples (and by extension us) not to allow our fears about material things to control our lives; if you do, says Jesus, material things will simply become your treasure- what is most precious and important to you. In contrast says Jesus, there is a treasure which is worth having- one which will not let us down, is not subject to the uncertainties of the stock market, can't be stolen, will never spoil, corrode  or otherwise be lost. Jesus describes this as "an unfailing treasure". It is not true when people say of death "you can't take it with you". You can't take material things with you. There are things which will go with us into eternity these are "unfailing treasures". Like what?

•  Our Generous deeds

•  Freedom from anxiety

•  The joys we experienced by caring for others

•  Growth in our characters, becoming more loving, forgiving and caring.

 Some people think of Jesus as an ?other- worldly type', focusing only on "spiritual things". Some of these same people also complain that Jesus teaching is hopelessly idealistic and impracticable- unsuitable to follow in the "real world".  Nothing could be more false. Jesus teaching is extremely practical- how we live in this world and especially how we use our money and material possessions. Why? Because Jesus knows that our pocket books and check- books are a much better indicator of the importance of God in our lives than are our hymn books, prayer books or even Bibles.  Like it or not the choices we make about generosity and sharing our material things, including our money most accurately measure our spiritual health.  "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" says Jesus.  Andrew story at Don's cabin "Is everyone O.K.?

 Christian stewardship is a practical test of our spirituality, because stewardship is not at the deepest level about money; it is about our relationship with God, the church and how we are involved in God's purposes for the world.

 We are at an important time in the life of Christ Church - one of promise and opportunity, but also of challenge. This is a year of transition and stabilization. We have overcome the immediate crisis and have a fresh sense of direction and encouragement. New energy is evident and new faces are beginning to appear. However challenges remain. A big one is financial. Whatever may have happened in the past we now have to live within our means. This means each of us are called to support Christ Church.. If we are controlled by a scarcity mentality then we will be unlikely to have the freedom to give generously, and sacrificially to the support of the church.  

 Christian living is at once both simple and very difficult. We are asked to give our lives over to Jesus Christ and then to cooperate with God in working for his kingdom. But, we need to learn how to do that. This is why tithing can be so helpful. By offering one tenth of our time, gifts and money to God through his church we intentionally set aside- time for our relationship with God: we make resources available for the church to be a place of healing, nurture, worship and evangelism, and we become personally involved in expressing God's love to a needy and hurting world.

 Giving ten percent of our time, money and gifts is something everyone can understand. It is concrete and manageable (as well as being what God asks of us). While we concentrate on responding faithfully using the ten percent we have given to God, we also learn how to turn over the whole of our lives to God for his use.

 I finish with a question for us to reflect upon. What is our treasure-where is our heart truly to be found?