The following is my column written for "The Dialogue" a weekly newsletter of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), St. Joseph, MO.As we wrap up our stewardship campaign this week, three quotations keep running through my head:
“Life is a gift.”—Elaine McCool
“The opposite of poverty is not property. The opposite of both is community.” —Jurgen Moltmann
“Sometimes I think our greatest fear should be God giving us exactly what we want.”—Barbara Brown Taylor
The first quotation was said by our own Elaine McCool during worship this past Sunday as she shared her inspiring thoughts on what First Christian Church means to her and why she supports it by volunteering time and energy, giving financially and praying for its spiritual health. (I forgot to get a copy of Elaine’s words from her on Sunday, but rest assured they will be in next week’s Dialogue. If you missed them, you will want to read them. Even if you heard them, they are worth contemplating a second time.) Elaine is not the first person to utter this phrase, but for me, when the words came from her mouth, they were more stirring of my spirit than any other time I had heard them. Through her many years of life experience, Elaine has learned and lived the essential truth that we exist by the grace of God and that all we have and are comes from God. Gratitude is the proper starting place for any activity we do as Christians, especially when we contemplate what our giving to Christ’s church should be.
The second quotation comes from the German theologian, Jurgen Moltmann, who offers an alternative to our usual way of thinking about the rich and the poor in our culture. He reminds us that God desires more for humanity than rich people giving charity, sympathy or pity to poor people, and poor people receiving these things from rich people. God desires the abolition of the barriers of class and wealth that separate people from each other. For the church, this means being a community of faith where all people, regardless of their economic status, contribute their whole selves to the service of God and humanity. Understood in this way, each person is valued as a child of God and caring for the material needs of one member of the community is not charity but an expression of love between equals. Now that most of the pledges have been turned in, my hope is that each member of our church recognizes her or his own responsibility to God and to others. The amounts pledged may be different, but hopefully each pledge represents a meaningful sacrifice for the work of God in the world.
The third quotation comes from the renowned preacher and seminary professor, Barbara Brown Taylor. She offers us the crucial insight that our wants and needs are different from one another. Often our wants represent a desire for greater comfort and pleasure or simply for more stuff. We want the things that do not bring true fulfillment. Worse yet, these things often insulate us from the joys of knowing other people in meaningful ways and distract us from experiencing the true life we can only have in relationship with God. By giving financially to the work of God in the world, we have the opportunity to examine our lives and reorder our priorities so that our lives are more fulfilling and of greater service to others and to God. Our financial gifts to God can help us to receive what we need instead of acquiring more of what we want.
As we look forward to what God will accomplish through First Christian Church in 2008, I pray that through your gifts to the church you will experience the blessings of gratitude, community and receiving what you need from God.
Grace and Peace,
Chase
“Life is a gift.”—Elaine McCool
“The opposite of poverty is not property. The opposite of both is community.” —Jurgen Moltmann
“Sometimes I think our greatest fear should be God giving us exactly what we want.”—Barbara Brown Taylor
The first quotation was said by our own Elaine McCool during worship this past Sunday as she shared her inspiring thoughts on what First Christian Church means to her and why she supports it by volunteering time and energy, giving financially and praying for its spiritual health. (I forgot to get a copy of Elaine’s words from her on Sunday, but rest assured they will be in next week’s Dialogue. If you missed them, you will want to read them. Even if you heard them, they are worth contemplating a second time.) Elaine is not the first person to utter this phrase, but for me, when the words came from her mouth, they were more stirring of my spirit than any other time I had heard them. Through her many years of life experience, Elaine has learned and lived the essential truth that we exist by the grace of God and that all we have and are comes from God. Gratitude is the proper starting place for any activity we do as Christians, especially when we contemplate what our giving to Christ’s church should be.
The second quotation comes from the German theologian, Jurgen Moltmann, who offers an alternative to our usual way of thinking about the rich and the poor in our culture. He reminds us that God desires more for humanity than rich people giving charity, sympathy or pity to poor people, and poor people receiving these things from rich people. God desires the abolition of the barriers of class and wealth that separate people from each other. For the church, this means being a community of faith where all people, regardless of their economic status, contribute their whole selves to the service of God and humanity. Understood in this way, each person is valued as a child of God and caring for the material needs of one member of the community is not charity but an expression of love between equals. Now that most of the pledges have been turned in, my hope is that each member of our church recognizes her or his own responsibility to God and to others. The amounts pledged may be different, but hopefully each pledge represents a meaningful sacrifice for the work of God in the world.
The third quotation comes from the renowned preacher and seminary professor, Barbara Brown Taylor. She offers us the crucial insight that our wants and needs are different from one another. Often our wants represent a desire for greater comfort and pleasure or simply for more stuff. We want the things that do not bring true fulfillment. Worse yet, these things often insulate us from the joys of knowing other people in meaningful ways and distract us from experiencing the true life we can only have in relationship with God. By giving financially to the work of God in the world, we have the opportunity to examine our lives and reorder our priorities so that our lives are more fulfilling and of greater service to others and to God. Our financial gifts to God can help us to receive what we need instead of acquiring more of what we want.
As we look forward to what God will accomplish through First Christian Church in 2008, I pray that through your gifts to the church you will experience the blessings of gratitude, community and receiving what you need from God.
Grace and Peace,
Chase
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