I get a kick out of Christ's answer for two reasons. First, there's the simple beauty of the way he escapes entrapment by the Pharisees and gives a pithy teaching point at the same time. But second, his response, while clear-cut on one level, is deceptively open-ended, for it begs the question, aside from the concrete case of the temple tax, of what is Caesar's and what is God's.

I believe the simple beauty of Jesus' response stands on its own, and needs no further commentary, but that second thing, the deceptive open-endedness of Jesus' answer, requires us to ask ourselves: "What does belong to Caesar, and what belongs to God?"

Of course, the easy, pious answer is "Everything belongs to God." Sure it does. That's a no-brainer. But how do we live out that truth? For when I look at my own life, it seems to me that I all too often render much more to Caesar than I do to God, "Caesar" being shorthand for the proportion of time, talent, and treasure I expend in pursuits that distract me from the pursuit of God and service to God's people. But perhaps that's just the way of the world. Still, it leaves me feeling uneasy, wondering whether God might be calling me through this text to re-evaluate my stewardship.

Now, I have heard several sermons that have used this text as a jumping-off point to examine the stewardship of money, but I am concerned this morning about another, perhaps even more precious commodity: time. How much time do we give to God, and what does it mean to give God our time, anyway?

I've been struggling with this question in the particular context of the work I've been given to do with the youth of this place. Last year, for instance, I helped a marvelous team of lay leaders from three different congregations plan and execute two regional youth groups a month. That left two Sunday afternoons free for me to do with as I pleased. But this year, I have intentionally filled that gap with our new Head to the Heart confirmation program, which blurs the line between confirmation prep and youth group. While I was reluctant to give up the other two Sunday afternoons, this change came about after a careful process of evaluating our past confirmation program and looking at the needs of the community. To put it bluntly, the youth found the old way of doing things boring, and we found that it was bad stewardship to be using the time and talent of so many wonderful lay leaders in this place in trying to prepare our youth by using a format that just didn't work. We had good seeds and good sowers, but the seed was falling on stony soil. Or, to borrow someone else's phrase, we weren't opening the kid before we opened the book.

And so I and a wonderful team of lay leaders, along with an ever-growing core of high schoolers have committed to take four more hours a week, on Sunday evenings, to complement our already strong Regional Youth Group by offering what I believe is the most fun (and content-rich) way of preparing our youth not only for confirmation, but for lifelong ministry in the church and world. And so far, the support we have received both from our youth and our parents has been phenomenal, with fifty-three young people involved in one way or another with Head to the Heart.

Of course, there's been a price we've been asked to pay, in that we already live in an over-programmed world, so what makes this program different and worthwhile so that the time we spend on it is actually dedicated to God, and not just another program? For I am personally astounded by the energy and level of logistical sophistication it takes for a family, for instance, with just two children to juggle two different school schedules, school sports, music programs, equestrian lessons, league sports, dance class, scouting, homework time, family time, church time…have I left anything out?

"Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's." Yeah, easier said than done!

The simple fact is, our week is packed with just so many hours-168, to be exact, and some of those hours really ought to be spent asleep. The last thing this church needs to do is burden its parents with yet another program, another commitment to add to our already over-committed lives. Instead, Saint James ought to be the sort of place that gives parents and youth a precious gift: the time to be together, to know each other better, and to grow together in the knowledge and love of God. And I believe (this is the good news) that we have in fact found a way to do that, to support the family as the primary place of Christian formation. Let me literally show you how.

[Get pitcher with styrofoam packing "peanuts"]. One week is quite literally packed with only so much time: in this pitcher are 168 packing "peanuts," used to surround and protect objects on their bumpy journey from one place to another. If you imagine us, and especially our youth, as the precious cargo packed with these 168 hours, the question becomes, what sort of packing peanuts do you want to use? Obviously, you would not use something hard and inflexible, something incapable of absorbing pressure and stress. You'd want something like these "peanuts."

Let's say that at least 58 of these should be sleep "peanuts," that's a good 8 hours a night for absorbing the shocks and jostlings of the day.

And several more, 10 perhaps, should be sports peanuts, good for protecting the precious cargo of our bodies by strengthening them through exercise.

And then there's school or work: at their best, they sharpen our minds and stretch our imaginations, and give us a sense of accomplishment: that's another 40 minimum.

That leaves us with 60 packing peanuts for homework or other projects-say another 12. That leaves just 48 hours.

Then there's entertainment: how many hours do experts say we spend watching television? Let's be conservative and say no more than two hours a night, 14 in all.

Down to 34 hours. Throw in piano lessons and dance lessons and equestrian lessons and tennis lessons, whatever lessons you do for fun and enrichment, and let's not forget simple errands like the post office and the grocery store, shopping, fixing things around the house, housecleaning, yard work, all those little tasks. Let's say that all takes about 28 hours.

Let's see now, what shall we do with the final six hours? What have I left out? [Pause. Wait for response.] Ah, yes. Church! How could I forget! That's another 2 hours, to be generous, for travel, worship, coffee hour, and Christian Ed. on Sunday morning, and then another 2 hours each Sunday afternoon for the youth to attend Regional Youth Group or Head to the Heart.

That brings us down to the final two hours. And of course I have a proposal for these. In all we've talked about, how much time do families get to spend together talking about their highs and lows for the day, of praying for each other's lows, that God would give them strength and guidance, and in giving thanks for each other's highs? What if every night, in every home, parents sat down with their youth before going to bed and had a simple Christian practice for checking in with each other? I wonder what that would do?

Fifteen minutes a night adds up to 1 hour and 45 minutes: less than two peanuts. A simple thing that doesn't require parents to have all the answers but that just allows parents and their kids to get to know each other a little better.

Well, in my devious agenda for Christian formation of youth and families, this is the final frontier: the home. And those of you who are involved with Head to the Heart either as parents or youth already know that we have sent home these things called "thought time" sheets that help families do what I've been talking about. [Hold up sheets and explain that they are not homework, but a gift: a resource for growing in relationship with each other and with God through Christ. The mission of the church.]

Think it won't work? Let me leave you with a story of a couple whose teenage daughter had been using this resource with her parents regularly through middle school. The parents' goal was to use this resource until she left home for college, but one day near the beginning of high school, she came to them and said, in typical teenage fashion, that she was tired of it, that she didn't need to share her highs and lows any more or pray with her parents any more or talk with them any more. So thank you very much, but I have better things to do. Well, this took her parents by surprise. But they weren't easily dissuaded, for they reflected that it was their responsibility to make sure their daughter was formed as a whole person, and this included as a spiritual being. She could choose for herself how she was going to live that out once she moved off to college, but that they needed to share their highs and lows and pray together for the sake of their own sanity as parents.

So each night, all through high school, they would come in to their daughter's bedroom and sit on the edge of her bed while they shared their highs and lows with her and then prayed. For three and a half years, she said hardly a word. Each night, they would ask, "Would you like to share your highs and lows?" And she said "No." So it went. But these were persistent parents, not easily discouraged, though I wouldn't have blamed them had they just given up on their daughter after a few weeks of stony silence from her.

The daughter graduated from high school and went off to college. Then Christmas break came and she came home for the holidays. Her first night back at home, her parents were watching TV and she said "Good night, Mom and Dad. I'm going to bed." "OK, sweetie," they said. She went in her room. A couple of minutes later, she came out again. "Good night, Mom and Dad. I'm going to bed." "Uh-huh. Good night, dear." A minute later, she storms out of her room: "Would you two get in here, please?"

At that point, her parents are thinking "Uh-oh. She's flunking out of school or pregnant or something." With fear and trembling, they go in and sit down on the edge of her bed.

"Remember when we had all those great talks in high school?"

She may not have been talking, but she had been listening. Most of all, she knew that her parents cared about her, even when she was pretending not to care about anything at all. If a simple Christian practice, less than two hours a week, fifteen minutes a night, could crack that hard nut, imagine what it could do for your family or the families you know. It's worth more than just a try. It's worth all the time in the world, but costs almost nothing.

"Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's." Amen.