We have either entered or inherited a goodly land,
but it is not one of our own making.
For all our strength and ingenuity we did not make ourselves
nor fashion the land on which we dwell.
That is the Lord's doing.

The hills around us are covered with good things,
iron and copper, stone, wood and bricks.
Our homes are warm, larger than our basic needs
and our tables are full of food. We are well off.
But let us not say this is simply the work of our hands or the sweat of our brows.
It is the Lord's doing.

The water beneath these hills sparkles in hidden darkness,
the crisp air blows where it wills. The earth around us is fruitful season after season.
Whether or not we planted or watered any of it, it was God who gave the increase.
It is the Lord's doing.

It is God's nature to be creative: to utter a word and to fill the world with life.
It is God's hand that scattered the universe with stars and planets.
It is God's will that has filled our hearts with both love and longing.

In the secret quiet of our hearts surely we know that even in our abundance
the things that we possess are not enough to make life meaningful
nor is our wealth a ransom sufficient to secure eternal life.
We cannot save ourselves,
that is the Lord's doing.

It is our nature to seek fulfillment in outer things,
and to sometimes confuse the ephemeral with the eternal.
This is why Jesus speaks of food and clothing,
and addresses our anxiety over where we will live. God knows we need these things.

God also knows that it is our nature to focus on the outward and visible signs
and to forget that we are always moving from gift to gift.
We move like thirsty people so focused on seeking stable stepping stones
that we forget to drink from the river of life flowing past our feet.
The stones are just part of the journey. They are not the point of it.

Each breath and heartbeat that sustains us
is given one at a time by the God who made all things.
We receive them without thought or reflection, day in and day out.
We overlook a thousand such ordinary miracles as we scramble
for more things, more power and more control.

But we possess nothing; we simply manage it for a little while.
And what is our power in comparison with the one who stills the wind and the waves?
Do you or I control love or life or death or anything that really matters?
No, that is the Lord's doing.

Everything we have and everything we are is a gift.
We are stewards of the abundance we have been given not the master.
The land, our lives and all the other good things belong to God.
We are not here simply to accumulate things,
to gather greater territory or to pass our time only in the pursuit of things that please us.

You and I are here for a reason, made for a purpose,
and called to something greater than the fulfilling of our own desires.
The discovery of that deeper calling is the reason we are here in this building.
It is the reason we live and move and have our being.

In this church we can choose to be earnest in the search for God's purpose for our lives.
We can decide to remember the source of our life and the author of our salvation.
We can fall on our knees and give thanks-
thoughtful, prayerful thanks for the shower of miracles that is our daily life.

In this church we hear the Word each Sunday,
but every day we decide again whether or not to be doers of that Word.
We choose where to focus, what to fund,
and how we will dole out our energy and our attention.

We live in the midst of abundance. But not all of us.
Not far from here there are widows and orphans, people without adequate food or shelter,
all manner of want lives a stone's throw from where we dwell.

Not far from our abundance is a world of hurt, a world of need.
We who are comfortable have heard the Word of God this very hour.
We have before us the example of Christ who gave his life for the needs of the world.

In the field after the liturgy, members of the Hunt
will take up a collection from the crowd.
These funds will go to the Hereford Food Bank.
It is a gracious act and a good beginning.

In our church our work of stewardship is ongoing.
Many pledges are in, and many are not.
Our ability to do the ministry of the church depends
on the will and the understanding of each of its members.
God offers us everything, then awaits our response.
What will we give in return for our life?

Do we choose to be doers of the Word?
Or just people who hear the sounds and walk away forgetting?

A crowd is assembling out on the hillside even as we stand, sit or kneel.
Inside these four walls notes will swirl through the air, rise from voices,
and sing out from organ pipes and the brass bell of a single trumpet.

Outside a hunting horn waits its turn to sound,
while horses and hounds stand still in the field.
They wait in restive anticipation for their time to come. But it is not yet.

Let us be in the moment with which we have been gifted.
Let us draw warmth and light from the words of Scripture.
Drink deeply from the cup of life when it is offered for you.
As we promise every time the water of baptism flows,
we are pausing with intention to break the bread, say the prayers
and share in the fellowship of the apostles. The fields will wait.
The crowds outside will wait.
All creation holds it breath as we seek to remember,
as we seek to catch a glimpse of something just beyond our lives as we now know them.

God the creator spoke the world into being, caused the planets to travel in their courses
and God made you and I for His purpose.

God, in Christ the living Word, came to be with us, and to show us
how to seek the kingdom of heaven first -
love God above all things, and your neighbor as yourself.

God the Holy Spirit whispers in our ears and in our hearts:
the world is weeping; the world is waiting.
Be doers of the Word, not just hearers. Continue the work of Christ.

The liturgy is almost over; the Hunt is about to begin.
But the space between the blowing of the trumpet
and the final sounding of the horn could be an hour, a lifetime, or only a heartbeat.
We cannot add one hour to our lifetime by effort or anxiety
so the time to respond to God's grace and God's gift is now, right now.

Give in God's field; pledge in God's church,
act for others in the time God has given you.

Be hearers of the living Word.
Then go and do likewise.