Growing up in my Presbyterian, middle class family, there were three areas of absolute privacy: who my parents voted for; what went on behind the closed parental bedroom door; and how much money my father earned.

When asked by his children for whom he had voted, my father always replied, "I fought in World War II to preserve the right to a secret ballot, and my ballot's secret!" When my parents' bedroom door was closed, no one entered without knocking and getting permission. And no one except the IRS, was ever allowed to know my parents' household income. That was their business, not ours . . . and not the church's. The three taboos of polite conversation politics, sex and money were maintained in my family of origin.

Yet, what do you think is the most frequent topic in the Gospel of Luke? Faith? No. Love? No. Justice, prayer, salvation? No to all. We like to think these are Jesus' favorite topics. But the most recurring subject in the Gospel of Luke is money. Luke uses practically every literary vehicle available to him to put the subject before us: the song of Mary, the sermons of John the Baptist, the prophecy of Isaiah, blessings and woes, the parable of the rich fool, warnings about anxiety, advice to guest and hosts, the parable of the rich man and Lazarus and, today, the parable of the dishonest steward.

In addition, there are variations and nuances in what Jesus says about money. Woes are pronounced on the rich and yet the rich are saved. Missionaries on their itineraries are to take no provisions, and yet those who have the means to give food and lodging to them are blessed. Beatitudes are spoken to the poor and yet possessions can be used for good. In the early church, those who had shared voluntarily with those who did not, and the ministry of Paul included receiving and delivering offerings for the famine-stricken poor in Judea. Luke understood as well as we that the issues of wealth and poverty are complex, that anxiety about money is a disease among both those who have it and those who do not, and that a generous sharing of one's goods can free one from the danger to the soul which lies coiled in the possession of things. It is no accident that in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus speaks about our proper relationship to money while on his way to Jerusalem where he will be crucified.

This parable has troubled the church for centuries. It seems strange, that Jesus would find anything honorable in a dishonest employee, but then we remember that everyone, even a dishonest employee, is a mixed bag of the commendable and the less commendable. Jesus does not praise the dishonesty, but rather the man's shrewdness. A boss hears that an employee might be mismanaging his funds and calls him in for an accounting. Knowing that he will lose his job, that he is too weak to do manual labor and too proud to beg, the man tries to find a way to survive. He calls in everyone who owes the boss money and reduces the amount of their debt on the books so that when he is unemployed, they will remember and be kind to him. When the boss finds out what the employee has done, he commends his shrewdness, for, says Jesus, "the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. Make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.

"Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much . . . . No one can serve two masters; for you will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth."

This strange parable is a story of hope and good news for us. Jesus says we do not have to wear burlap, wash our hands of money and financial resources and live on the sidewalk in order to follow him. I do not believe God want anyone living on the sidewalk. Rather, we are to use everything within our means to further God's work and to bring about God's will. We are to use the money of this world for God's purposes, and to do so wisely and shrewdly and fully.

God knows, literally, that money is not neutral. It has an insidious power that easily creeps into our hearts, blurs our ability to see the world as God sees it, dulls our ability to hear the cries of those in need, and ultimately pulls us away from God. Jesus knew this; that is why he spoke of money so often, of its proper use and its destructive power. Money can be a tree of good that provides fruit for God's people, or a creeping vine that chokes off life in ourselves and others.

This parable is a story of hope and good news for us. Jesus does not commend the employee's dishonesty. He praises the employee's ability to realize the critical nature of his situation and change course immediately in order to put his focus on his future life. The employee changes his focus from the present to the future, and therefore shrewdly changes his course of action. So too, Jesus wants us to realize that our focus is to be on the future, and our eternal home.

It's as if the United States decided to change over its entire currency to British pounds, that the moment it did all U.S. currency would be worthless, but that we were not told when the monetary conversion would take place. In that situation, the wise course would be to turn our money into British pounds, keeping only enough American currency to live day to day. This gives us something of the picture Jesus means to convey when he tells us to store up treasures in heaven and to make friends with unrighteous wealth (The Challenge of the Disciplined Life, Richard Foster).

The proper use for money is not for living high down here; that would be a very poor long-term investment indeed. The proper use of money is for investing as much of it as possible in the currency of the Kingdom of Heaven: that is, investing in people, in ministries that glorify God and further God's work of peace and shalom, of justice and compassion, in ministries that share the love of Christ and transform lives here and now. That is the currency of heaven that we are given to use today.

When David Steele was in third grade, he was chased home from school by a bully. David escaped by climbing over a fence, but his new winter coat was torn. His parents explained that their 1930's family budget had enough money for a new coat every second year for a growing boy, and he had just gotten his. He would have to wait two more years. They put adhesive tape on the tears, and sponged off the dirt. The longer he wore the coat, the dirtier and dowdier the tape looked. His plea for a new coat fell on deaf ears. One Sunday in church, as he passed the offering plate, David stole a peek at the check his father had dropped in it. He was flabbergasted! When he got home, he checked the Sears catalogue. He was right: each month his parents gave away more money than a new coat would cost. He searched for understanding.

The answer his parents gave was simple. As they explained it, they had two kinds of money. Some was theirs, and some was God's. They bought coats with their money. They supported things like churches and colleges with God's. God lets God's money pass through their checkbook, but it was clear that an extra new coat was not its proper use. In two years their money would be used for a new coat. Right now, there were more pressing needs.

It takes a little getting used to, but it takes a good deal of Christian sense. God's money, God's currency, merely passes through our checkbooks, no matter how large or small our checkbook is.

One final story, this from Doug Oldenberg, retired President of Columbia Seminary, a wonderful pastor and former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A.

Doug tells of an early time in his pastoral ministry when he was serving on the board of a homeless shelter and in that capacity, called upon a wealthy member of the congregation to ask for a generous donation to the shelter. Doug made the request with chagrin in his voice, expecting to be turned down, for he had just recently asked the same man to be a lead contributor for a building campaign with the YMCA and he had agreed. Doug felt uncomfortable returning to the same well. But the man wrote a check for even more than Doug had requested, and then walked Doug to his car.

All these years later, Doug Oldenberg - who eventually raised millions of dollars for Columbia Seminary, for the Presbyterian Church, and for local ministries - still remembers the gist of what the church member taught him that day.

That day, standing by the car, the church member said to his pastor, "I know you feel uncomfortable, but never stop asking me for money. You are my pastor and I need you to do that. I have been given resources that are to be used for good, and I need you to help me know how to do it. It is your honest, honorable, God-given calling to ask me to use my money to further the purposes of God. Never be ashamed to ask for money for the church or for ministries that benefit God's people. You do me a great disservice when you do not ask, and you do me good when you provide the opportunity to give.

Since hearing that story, I no longer dread Stewardship Sunday sermons, nor do I feel embarrassed to invite you, even to challenge you to give ever more generously to God's work.

I actually look forward to Stewardship Sundays now, for it is a holy and righteous calling to stand before you and invite each of us to put an ever larger portion of our resources God's currency into the service of God through the church. It is a holy and righteous calling for each of us when we respond generously to God's invitation to give.

So today, on Stewardship Sunday, I joyously and boldly challenge you to keep your focus on your eternal home, to put the money God has given you to work for the Kingdom of Heaven, and to increase the amount of financial resources you give to God through the ministries of Pasadena Presbyterian Church. It is my calling, and it is yours.