9/6 - Everything I Have Is a Gift From God

St. Andrew's Family

This week, we begin a seven-week journey through stewardship, exploring what it means to faithfully receive, care for, and share the gifts God has entrusted to us. Throughout these weeks, our worship will allow the music and hymnody to help shape that journey. Each week, the songs we sing, the music we hear, and the ways we respond will help tell the story of stewardship; not simply as giving money, but as a way of living with gratitude for all that God has given us.
We begin with This Is My Father’s World, a hymn that opens our eyes to the beauty of creation. Before we can consider what we give, we first recognize what God has already given. The earth, its beauty, and all that surrounds us remind us that creation itself is a gift. As we sing, we are invited to see the world not simply as something we live in, but as something entrusted to our care.
From there, Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing turns our attention toward the many blessings God pours into our lives. The hymn gives voice to gratitude while acknowledging how easily we can forget the source of those blessings. Its prayerful language invites us to remember that every good gift has its beginning in God's generosity.
Psalm 24:1 gives us the theological foundation for the day: “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it.” This Scripture reminds us that stewardship begins with a simple truth: we are not ultimately owners, but caretakers. Everything belongs to God, and we are called to faithfully care for what has been placed in our hands.
Our response, Lord Be Glorified, moves the music from recognition to response. Having remembered that all we have comes from God, we ask that our lives become a reflection of that truth. Our time, talents, resources, relationships, and daily choices can all become ways through which God is glorified.
The sermon, Everything I Have Is a Gift from God, brings these themes together and challenges us to look at our lives through the lens of gratitude. Stewardship begins when we stop seeing what we have as something we have earned or accumulated solely for ourselves and begin recognizing it as something entrusted to us by God.
The choir's offering of Simple Gifts continues that message by reminding us that God's gifts do not have to be complicated or extravagant to be meaningful. There is holiness in recognizing the simple gifts that surround us and in offering what we have with an open and grateful heart. Stewardship is not about comparing what we have with what someone else has; it is about faithfully offering the gifts that God has given to each of us.
We close with Lord, Whose Love Through Humble Service, to the hymn tune HYMN TO JOY sends us from gratitude into action. Having received God's gifts, we are called to share them through humble service. The musical journey of this first week therefore moves from creation, to blessing, to belonging, to response, to service.
As we begin these seven weeks together, may our music help us hear stewardship not simply as something we do, but as a way of seeing our whole lives. Everything is a gift. Everything belongs to God. And everything we offer can become an expression of gratitude, love, and joy.

Blessings 

Music Tom 

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