Wednesday; April 6

I grew up in a faith tradition that asserted there are five acts of worship that should be conducted during our worship services: singing, praying, preaching, observing the Lord’s Supper and giving. These five acts of worship were so ingrained in us that when the pandemic started influencing the way we conducted worship (even having to do it online) we did everything we could to incorporate them into each of our gathering. Interestingly, we were able to address four of the five without much trouble – but the most challenging was “giving”. When we are separated from each other how do we follow through with Paul’s direction, “On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come.” (I Corinthians 16:2)? In all honesty, I was a bit worried about this because of the old adage, “out of sight, out of mind”. Yet, I am thrilled to report that, according to most church leaders I visited with, people were faithful in their giving. Whether it was online, through the mail or even dropping off a donation at the building, people kept up with their giving.

First of all, I would like to say “thank you” for your commitment to giving. While God has all the wealth at His disposal, churches need local contributions to carry out the good works they do. Yet, secondly, as the pandemic starts to fade, let’s not forget our need to continue to give. While the modern way we handle finances might differ from how they did it in the First Century, the need to support the work of the church continues into the 21st Century.

I am glad we are getting more comfortable with being together again. Let’s make sure we keep (or restart) doing what we are supposed to be doing.

Think About It!

Popular posts from this blog

Thursday; May 3

I have a fish tank that allows my three Bettas (Larry, Darrell and Darrell) to live in the same structure, but remain hidden from each other – well sort of.   When I go to feed the fish, I believe that one of the Darrell’s can sort of see that the other Darrell is getting fed and he will linger over on that side of the tank even after I put his food in his tank.   I have to tap on the side of the tank where his food is floating to help him refocus and eat.   I get the impression that he is so interested in what is going on in the other Darrell’s tank that he can’t enjoy his own food. I have been told that the brain of a fish is pretty small – which explains their inability to process “blessings”, but are we guilty of the same malady as Darrell?   Are we so worried (or consumed) by what happens to the people around us that we fail to realize what is going on with us?   Are we envious of the blessings that others are receiving and end up missing out on what we have been given?   Are w
Read more

Thursday; February 14

         While most of us are familiar with today being Valentine’s Day, there are some who actually refer to February 14 th as “St. Valentine’s Day”.  This title is often affixed to a criminally historic event known as “The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre” on February 14, 1929 in Chicago, but that is another story for another time.  Not knowing much about the history of “Saint Valentine” I did a little research and found out he was a Roman religious leader who was martyred in 269 AD.  According to my limited research Valentine was killed because of his encouragement of Roman men (especially soldiers) to marry which was in violation of Claudias’ edict that prohibited marriage to keep their minds singularly focused on their task of defending the Empire.  Somehow, from this beginning – and possibly embellished by Chaucer – St. Valentine became intertwined with the concept of romantic love.           I am not really sure how February 14 th became connected with love, but inspired by thi
Read more

Wednesday; December 6

What does it mean to be a leader? I subscribe to the belief that a leader is someone who seeks the best for others and works with them to achieve their potential. There are others; however, who define leadership as the ability to have a vision and the tenacity to get their own way. Leaders who are this way are often portrayed as having developed the maturity to manipulate people to do things their way. However, is the ability to drive people in our direction mature or is it childish? The Christians of the 1st Century came from a lot of different backgrounds and had to work hard to work together. As the Apostle Paul challenged Christians in the city of Ephesus he challenged them to accept individual differences, “… until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. “ (Ephesians 4:13). Bossiness was not to be viewed as a sign of maturity, a willingness to wo
Read more