226 years ago, in the year 1799, a twelve-year-old boy named Conrad Reed, skipped Sunday School to go fishing. He found a place to fish along Little Meadow Creek on his family’s farm in North Carolina. While standing by the creek, young Conrad saw what he thought was a “yellow rock shining in the water.” He waded in, and with some effort he pulled it out of the water and noticed that it wasn’t like a normal rock.  Instead, it seemed to be some type of metal. The large wedge-shaped piece weighed 17 pounds. He lugged it home and showed the rock to his father, John Reed. John was unable to identify what it was, but thought it looked pretty cool, so he put it use as a doorstop in their home. There the shiny rock sat for three years almost unnoticed, while the Reed family tended to their farm.

In 1802, Mr. Reed decided to take the interesting rock to someone in a nearby city to see if they might know what it was. So, he picked up his doorstop, and took it to a jeweler in Fayetteville, North Carolina. The jeweler recognized the metal immediately and asked Reed if he could buy it from him, so that it could be refined. “I’ll give you $3.50 for it!” the jeweler enthusiastically offered.  In 1802, that was a respectable sum, and so Mr. Reed, not knowing anything about the value of gold, accepted it.  Estimates have placed the value of the gold in that rock at approximately a hundred times that amount.  In today’s dollars, that chunk of gold, pulled from the Little Meadow Creek, would be worth well over $895,000.

Now, Mr. Reed wasn’t the first person, nor will he be the last, to not recognize the value of something. We hear stories like that all the time. People sell something or give something away not knowing its true value. It’s why we scan Facebook Marketplace, or O-Town Auctions, right?  We go searching for treasures.

In our Gospel reading today, we heard Jesus’ instruction to his disciples about recognizing what is mostvaluable, and what is least valuable.  Jesus gave his disciples a new way of looking at possessions…at stuff.  To most of us, our “stuff” seems so valuable…so important.  But in today’s Gospel, Jesus says, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom… For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

We continue our sermon series today on what it is to “belong.”  We belong to God…we belong to each other…we belong to the church…to this faith community.  So, what does that mean?  Well, one of the things it means is that as people who “belong,” we give.  Belonging is not just showing up. It is giving of our time, our energy, and yes, even our finances. Not because the church has bills to pay, but because generosity is one of the important ways we participate in God’s work, and in doing so, we find joy and purpose far beyond ourselves.  To belong…is to understand our treasure.  To belong, is to be generous.

When Jesus says, “Do not be afraid,” he is naming the core obstacle to generosity: fear. Fear that we won’t have enough. Fear that if we give something away, we will lose something essential. Fear that our treasure will run out.

But generosity, as Paul reminds us, is never loss. It is planting. It is sowing. It is investing in God’s mission. And if you’ve ever planted seeds, you know that what comes up is always more than what you put in the ground. Martin Luther once said, “God’s goodness is so abundant that he gives far more than we need, yet not so much that we may live without sowing and cultivating.” In other words, God gives plenty, but we are invited to join in the planting.

Generosity flows from trust that God will provide. Trust that the one who made the lilies of the field and the birds of the air will care for us too. And once we trust, our fear begins to melt away, and joy takes its place.

Let’s think really practically for a moment. Imagine you buy a gym membership. Every month, you are paying to use that gym. If you never show up, that money is gone. If you go once in January and never return, that money is gone. But if you commit, if you actually show up, sweat a little, stretch a little, and make the investment of time and energy, you see results. Your body changes, your health improves, and your outlook brightens.

Belonging to the church is not about buying a membership card. It is about showing up and investing your life: your time, your skills, your laughter, your prayers, and yes, your money. Really, your whole self.  And just like with the gym, when you invest, you grow.

I’ve heard a story about a child…a little girl…in another congregation up in the cities, who brought a crumpled dollar bill to the offering plate every single week. The dollar came from her allowance. It wasn’t much by most measures, but to her it was a lot.  One Sunday, as the usher walked by with the offering plate, the child asked her, “Where does my dollar go?”

The usher knelt down and said, “Your dollar keeps the lights on, it helps pay for the church staff, and helps feed people who don’t have enough food. Without your dollar, we couldn’t do any of that.” The child’s eyes got wide, and she said, “Wow. My dollar is powerful.”

She was right. That dollar is powerful.  And the same is true here…here at Trinity.

That dollar, multiplied by others, grows into ministry that reaches the community:

• That dollar becomes part of mission trips, Bible studies, food pantries, and baptisms. 
• It helps fund Community Pathways and Lighthouse of Southern Minnesota.  
• It provides ministry programs for children, youth, and for those of us who are older.  
• It buys Bibles that we give to 3^rd graders.  
• It buys music that our children’s choirs sing in worship.  
• It travels all the way to Singida, Tanzania, where it helps to build a church, and a school for girls.
• It goes on to our synod…and then to the ELCA, where it funds world hunger initiatives and disaster relief.  
• It pays for missionaries around the world.

That little girl wasn’t just putting a dollar in the offering plate. She was planting seeds.  And seeds, when you think about it…are powerful.

This is what the apostle Paul is talking about. This is what Jesus means when he says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Our gifts tie us to God’s work. They connect our hearts to something eternal.

Luther himself once said that “God does not need your good works, but your neighbor does.” The same could be said of our giving. God does not need our money. God is not sitting in heaven hoping to make ends meet. But our neighbor needs it. Our community needs it. The hungry, the hurting, the lonely, they need it.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote that, “The Church is the Church only when it exists for others.” That means we belong not simply for ourselves, but for the sake of others. And generosity is how we make that real.

Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber puts it this way: “Grace is free, but it isn’t cheap. It cost God everything. And when we live in that grace, our lives are no longer about protecting what is ours, but sharing what God has given.”

Generosity is not an obligation. It is a response to grace. God has already given us the kingdom. God has already given us salvation. Our giving is gratitude in action.

When Paul writes about sowing generously, he isn’t just talking about crops. He is talking about legacy. About what grows long after we are gone.

Think about this: every hymn…every song we sing was written by someone who never met us, but planted the seed of a melody that still blesses us today. The beautiful church building we worship in was built by people who gave money, time, and sweat long before we arrived. Every baptismal font has been filled by the generosity of past generations.

We are here because someone planted generously. And now, it is our turn. Our turn to sow seeds that will bless the next generation.

Let me be clear: generosity is not just about money. It is about living generously with our whole lives. 

• It is about the volunteer who shows up to lead youth group on a Wednesday night after a long day at work. 
• It is about the choir member who practices for hours to lift our hearts in song. 
• It is about the person who prays daily for others. 
• And, it is about those who quietly write a check, or give online, or drop cash into the offering plate.

Each of these is a seed. Each of these is planting for God’s kingdom.

And when we live generously, we discover that belonging is not about keeping. It is about giving. It’s not about protecting our treasure, but about letting our treasure shape our hearts toward God’s mission.

So, do not be afraid, little flock. It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. And when your heart belongs to God, your life will overflow with generosity, planting seeds of faith, hope, and love that will grow for generations to come.

Thanks be to God!

Amen.