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GATHERING HYMN:  "More Precious Than Silver"
This is a stewardship Sunday this evening evening and we will celebrate Holy Communion.  
During the gathering hymn, please find a bit of bread, a cracker, 
even a cookie and something you like to drink (we suggest juice or water) 
and have those at hand for the service.  
We will consecrate those elements as part of the Communion liturgy for this evening.  
The United Church of Christ celebrates an open table.  
That means that anyone wishing to take part in the celebration of Communion 
is welcome to do so!
ANNOUNCEMENTS (Please feel free to type a brief announcement of 
    interest to our community in Nearby Chat.)

WELCOME

Welcome to First United Church of Christ and Conference Center, Second Life
a church with real life standing in the Eastern Association of the
Southern California Nevada Conference of the United Church of Christ. 
It is truly good to be real in Second Life!
And please always know that,
"No matter who you are, 
or where you are on life's journey, 
you are welcome here."

You may spot someone other than me with a tag including the word
"minister"   That person is ordained UCC clergy in real life.

Before or after worship please feel welcome to invite friends, 
who hopefully will become our friends! 
If you're not familiar with our two-island campus, 
ask one of our Guides to show you around. 
We have several fun and interesting places to visit here at First UCC. 
Need some chill time?  This is a great place for that too.

If you would like a bulletin notecard/copy of the service, 
please click the red book on the stand near the sanctuary door.

If you would like to become an official member of this church, 
please let any clergy, staff, or a present member know!

Our church is connected to the wider church and the world.  
That means we support the UCC financially as do all our churches.
If you would like to help, there is a donation bowl at the rear of the sanctuary.
If you are thinking of a donation you would rather do in real life currency,
you are welcome to use the Donation page on our website. http://www.firstuccsl.com 
Since we are an IRS 501(c)(3) public charity, US donations are deductible.
And on this evening that we devote to stewardship we thank you!

SCRIPTURE:  Mark 12:38-44

SERMON:  It's Not About the Money"

Once, a man said, “If I had some extra money, I'd give it to God, 
but I have just enough to support myself and my family.”  
And the same man said, “If I had some extra time, I'd give it to God, 
but every minute is taken up with my job, my family, my clubs, and what have you
--every single minute.”  
And the same man said, “If I had a talent I'd give it to God, 
but I have no lovely voice; I have no special skill; I've never been able to lead a group; 
I can't think cleverly or quickly, the way I would like to.”  
And God was touched, and although it was unlike God, 
God gave that man money, time, and a glorious talent.  
And then God waited, and waited, and waited.  
After a while, God shrugged and God took all those things right back from the man, 
the money, the time and the glorious talent.  
After a while, the man sighed and said, 
“If I only had some of that money back, I'd give it to God.  
If I only had some of that time, I'd give it to God.  
If I could only rediscover that glorious talent, I'd give it to God.”   
And God said, “Oh, shut up.”   
And the man told some of his friends, 
“You know, I'm not so sure that I believe in God anymore.”
This is one of those times when folks have a tendency to – at least inwardly – groan.  
After all, talking about money, particularly someone else’s money 
is not something we are supposed to do.  
Our mothers taught us that it is not a polite topic of conversation.  
Well, if that is really the case, then I’m going to be impolite and it’s even possible 
I might make you a bit uncomfortable.
But money also has a real attraction for us.  
We all know that it takes a certain amount of money to survive in our society.  
And there isn’t anyone in this sanctuary this evening who has not thought from time to time 
how nice it would be if they had just a little more.  
Money is attractive because it is a symbol of success; 
money is attractive because it lets us acquire things; 
money is attractive because it temporarily makes us feel secure.  
Money can even change the way we behave.
There was a man who called at the church 
and asked if he could speak to the Head Hog at the trough.  
The secretary said, “Who?”  Then she gathered herself and said 
“Sir, if you mean our pastor you will have to treat him with a little more respect than that 
and ask for the ‘Reverend’ or ‘The Pastor.'  
But certainly you cannot refer to him as the Head Hog at the Trough.”  
The man said, “I understand.  
I was calling because I have $10,000 I was thinking about donating to the building fund.”  
She said, “Hold on for just a moment—I think the big pig just walked in the door.”  
We all are subject to changing our tune when substantial amounts of money are offered.  
That is why this passage of Scripture from Mark 
has been an enduring image throughout the ages.   
When you go to a doctor for your annual check-up, 
he or she will often begin to poke, prod, and press various places, 
all the while asking, “Does this hurt?  How about this?”  
If you cry out in pain, one of two things has happened.  
Either the doctor has pushed too hard, without the right sensitivity, 
or, more likely, there's something wrong, and the medical doctor will say, 
“We'd better do some more tests. It's not supposed to hurt there!”  
So it is when pastors preach on financial responsibility, 
and certain members cry out in discomfort, criticizing the message and the messenger.  
Either the pastor has pushed too hard.  Or perhaps there's something wrong.  
In that case, I say, “My friend, we're in need of the Great Physician 
because it's not supposed to hurt there.”  
Now if this sermon makes someone cry out in pain, I don’t need to run tests.  
And although I cannot heal the hurt, I know what will.  
There is only one real cure, and that is faith.
The text from Mark this evening has two parts.  
Many have wondered why Mark joined these two parts together.  
Maybe it was the common setting of the temple, 
or maybe it was to connect the mention of the widow in verse 40 
to the story of the poor widow that begins in verse 41, 
or maybe it was to contrast the pride and greed of the scribes 
with the humility and faith of the poor woman.
The brief story in these verses is so dramatic and can evoke such strong emotions in us 
that we may miss the real point.  
The character of the poor woman is a figure of pathos in the culture.  
Her small act, unnoticed except by Jesus, 
is performed among the rich outpouring of generous gifts, 
a fact that would have further diminished her offering, except for Jesus.  
He is the one who properly evaluates her gift of two lepta, the smallest coins in circulation,
because it is he who knows that it is all she has.  
The canon by which Jesus weighs her gift is not sentiment, 
but the comparison of one’s gift to what one has remaining for oneself.  
Jesus does not criticize large gifts or romanticize small ones.  
He simply notes that some, having given out of their abundance, 
still have abundance for themselves.  
The widow, after her gift, has nothing – nothing except complete trust in God.
On our currency it says, “In God We Trust.”  Do you?  Do you really?  
It’s like the young fellow in Sunday School whose teacher asked her eight eager children 
if they would give $1,000,000 to the missionaries.  “YES!” they all screamed!  
“Would you give $1,000?”  Again they shouted, “YES!”  “How about $100?”  
“Oh, YES we would!” they all agreed!  
“Would you give just a dollar to the missionaries?” she asked.  
The boys exclaimed “YES!” just as before except for Johnny.  
“Johnny,” the teacher said as she noticed the boy clutching his pocket, 
“why didn't you say 'YES' this time?”  
“Well,” he stammered, “I HAVE a dollar.”
We all know what we are called to do.  The Bible is very clear on the subject.  
We all know the meaning of the word tithe.  
But that is difficult to do because at the moment of truth, 
the moment of clicking the offering bowl, 
we find ourselves not only reluctant to put in all that we have, 
but difficult to return to God even 10% of what was never ours to begin with.   
I understand the donation culture in Second Life, but you get the point.
I also understand the dilemma.  
There is an obvious push-pull in the real world with regard to money.  
On the one hand it absolutely permeates our existence.  
We are not obsessed with it; we are immersed in it as a major concern, 
an emphasis in our lives. We worry about it.  
We do all we can to protect it.  We seem to worship it.  
And above all we assume that the money in our possession is ours.  
It is, in a way, and it is not.  Consider this question.  Where did it all come from?  
Well, from our labor we might say and that would be true.  
Where did our ability to labor come from?  
That came from our learning how to earn our living. 
And where did our ability to learn come from?  
That might have come from the example of our parents 
and from our willingness to invest in our futures.  
And where did our future come from?  And our present?  And our past?  
Where did the time of our lives come from?  And, of course, you know where.  
Our lives – all the time we will ever have in this existence – are gifts in trust from God.  
It is a trust because even though we can hold it for a while, 
the gift of human life is not a gift that we can keep; we will be returned to the giver.
The widow in the Mark story understood that she was obligated 
to offer God the best that she could.  Period.  There was no hesitation.  
There was no hemming and hawing over percentages and budgets.  
There was just faith that the giver of all gifts would acknowledge the faith of those who give.
And so she gave back to God.  
The amount was not important, but the faith in God is beyond important. 
I want to tell you about another woman.  Her name was Rosemary.   
She seldom came to the church and never on Sunday.  
Rosemary lived in the urban center of a metropolitan city.  
Perhaps she called home a small apartment above a storefront 
or maybe it was one homeless shelter or another.  The pastor never knew.  
She would arrive on a weekday morning — 
sometimes with bags of possessions, sometimes empty-handed.  
It was difficult to communicate with Rosemary.  The pastor could not follow her lines of logic.  
Her sentences seemed incomplete.  Her words did not fit together in a comprehensible way.
There was, however, one exception when her words did make sense.  
She told him why she had come to church.  She gave the same reason each time. 
Rosemary had come to church to play the piano.  
“The piano.  I would like to play the piano,” she would say. 
He remembered the first time that she asked if she could play the piano.  
He was hesitant, but led her downstairs to the piano in the fellowship hall.   
It was an old piano.   It had not been tuned since last year's Lenten series, 
but he thought that it would fulfill her need.  Her disappointment was obvious.  
She did not want to play this piano.  
She wanted to play the piano in the sanctuary — the one that stood silently still, 
except for Wednesday night choir practice and Sunday morning worship.  
Didn't she know that only the choir director 
or the accompanist was supposed to play this piano?  
He conceded to let her play, thinking that no one from the church music committee 
would stop by in the few minutes that she would be playing.  
She entered the sanctuary, 
which was lit only by the diffused sunlight penetrating the stained glass windows.  
She sat down on the piano bench and placed her hands on the piano keys.  
She began to play.  
Her music filled the apparent emptiness of the sanctuary 
and filtered through the hallways and even down into the church office.
Sometimes she would play for fifteen minutes; other times, for hours.  
She played hymns — old ones, news ones, all types of hymns.  
Her preference was always to play the piano in the sanctuary.  
And I do not think that she played that one was because it was tuned the best!  
She was giving back to God a portion of the gift that God had given to her.  
When she had finished, she would leave quietly out the side door — 
apparently more at peace with herself and with God than when she had arrived.
God welcomes all our gifts.  God encourages us to be cheerful givers.  
God looks to us to give not for recognition, but as a response to God's love for us.  
Have you discovered the joy of giving?   
You see, that is what faith, like the woman’s in the temple can do.  
It can bring the joy that is what giving is supposed to be. 
Truly, it's not about the money!
And the people of God said...

HYMN FOR PREPARING FOR COMMUNION and COMMUNITY PRAYER:  "Communion Song"

If you have not already done so, and wish to participate in Holy Communion, 
please get a bit of bread, or a cracker and some juice or water
during this song.  You may also wish to think about your prayers for
our time of Community Prayer following Holy Communion.

CELEBRATION OF HOLY COMMUNION

This table is open to all who seek nourishment for the soul.
You do not need to be a member here, or anywhere else for that matter.
Participate in this celebration not because you must, but simply because you may.
Participate not because you are fulfilled, but because you are empty
and in need of God's mercy and assurance.
Participate not to express an opinion,
but to seek a presence and to pray for a spirit.

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Pray with me.
O Holy One, we call to you and name you as eternal, ever-present, and boundless in love. 
Yet there are times, O God, when we fail to recognize you in the dailyness of our lives.
Sometimes shame clenches tightly around our hearts, 
and we hide our true feelings. 
Sometimes fear makes us small, and we miss the chance to speak from our strength.
Sometimes doubt invades our hopefulness, and we degrade our own wisdom.
In these times forgive us and by your boundless grace renew our resolve.
We pray in the Savior's name.
Amen.

ASSURANCE OF PARDON

God has no pleasure in the death of sinners,
but would rather they should turn from their wickedness and live.
God has given authority to God's ministers to declare to God's people, when they repent,
the forgiveness of their sins.
God pardons and absolves all who truly repent and believe the holy gospel.
So we ask God to grant us true repentance and the abiding Holy Spirit,
that what we do now may please God
and that the rest of our life may be pure and holy,
so that at the last we may come to eternal joy;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
Amen.

PLEASE PICK UP AND HOLD THE ELEMENTS THAT YOU HAVE GATHERED.

We remember that on the night 
of betrayal and desertion,
Jesus took bread, gave you thanks,
broke the bread, and gave it to the disciples, saying:
"This is my body which is broken for you.
Do this in remembrance of me."
In the same way, Jesus also took the cup, after supper, saying:
"This cup is the new covenant in my blood.
Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me"

Breathe deeply.  Take the elements you gathered and eat and drink.

Let us pray.
In the strength Christ gives us,
we offer ourselves to you, eternal God,
and give thanks that you have called us to serve you.
Amen.

You are invited to type your joys and your concerns in nearby chat at this time.
We will lift them to God together as a community of faith. 

COMMUNITY PRAYER and PASTORAL PRAYER

MOMENT OF SILENCE

PASTORAL PRAYER

Such abundance!
Even when we struggle with issues of money
we remember
we have so much.
We have been gifted
not all in the same ways
but gifted uniquely.
In celebration of those gifts and more, O God,
encourage our generous instincts
to further the good work
the building up of the kingdom
in places real and virtual
in these challenging times.
Amen.

LORD'S PRAYER

Good caring presence within us, around us, and above us; 
Hold us in a sense of mystery and wonder.
Let the fullness of your goodness be within us and around us; 
Let all the world know your ways of caring and generosity.
May we find we have all we need to meet each day without undue anxiety. 
Overlook our many stupidities, 
and help us to release everyone from their stupidities. 
May we all know that we are accepted. 
Strengthen us that we will reach out to the best, 
always with the faith to rise above the ugly realities of our existence. 
And we celebrate the gifts you have given us – 
the rich kingdom of life’s possibilities the power to do good 
and the triumphs of good and the moments 
when we have seen the glory and wonder of everything. 
You are life’s richness. 
You are life’s power. 
You are life’s ultimate meaning.
Amen. 

BENEDICTION
I extinguish our candles; the light goes now with each of you.
Depart fed and nourished and ready for the journey
in whatever world you sojourn.
You will travel not alone
but with Spirit company.
Return when you feel empty and in need.
You journey just exactly as you were created to be
the beloved of God.
Amen.
CLOSING SONG:  "Give You Faith"