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New
Message as of Nov. 24, 2010 |
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The sun came up this morning
Just as we take little notice that the
sun came up today, we also conveniently forget
our need to give to the God who enables us to
give; who accepts our gifts. We get angry that
we are reminded to give. Yet, if we weren't
reminded, many of us would neglect this
important aspect of our relationship with God.
Money is one of the things about which we have
the most fear. Therefore, it is also where we
need to exercise great faith. |
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New
Messages as of Oct. 27, 2010 |
Doubt with a dab of mustard
A
good infusion of mustard can transform an
otherwise bland dish into something with
pizzazz, vitality, life. Even a tasty roast beef
can be given extra spark with a bit of good
mustard. Sometimes I even purchase a particular
kind of meat as much for the mustard that I will
use to enhance it, as for the sausage itself.
And so it is with our faith lives. Most of us
would benefit from a dab of mustard there. the
transforming power of mustard is a good reminder
of the transforming power of mustard seed faith.
(Matt 17:20)
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Give the money to the poor
Coming
upon a pile of cloth that turns out to be a
homeless person serves as a reminder that
we
are surrounded by those in need and continually
are challenged in our ability to help. But we
are called to do all that we can. Jesus’
observation “For you always have the poor with
you..”(Matt. 26:11) doesn’t let us off the hook.
Earlier in Matthew, Jesus proclaims "If you wish
to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and
give the money to the poor and you will have
treasure in heaven; then come, follow me."
(Matt. 19: 21) |
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Recipe for bad tasting cookies
God has a plan for each of us. Jeremiah 29:11
is one of the popular expressions of this
certainty. “’For surely I know the plans I have
for you,’ says the
Lord,
‘plans for your welfare and not for harm, to
give you a future with hope.’” God provides us
all the ingredients we need to carry out his
plan for us. He gives us resources. He gives us
abilities. He gives us our very lives. And he
gives us a plan, a recipe, for our lives through
Holy Scripture and by directly inspiring our
actions. But few of us follow God’s plan
completely. Tithing is a particular area of
challenge |
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New
Messages as of Oct. 17, 2010 |
Playing big with God
When the Chilean miners were rescued, they did
not hesitate to give glory to God for that
rescue. This reflection builds on the miners'
story to call people, as they think about their
pledge, to prayerfully consider what big plans
God yearns for the local congregation to
undertake to his glory. It concludes with the
observation that God "did not bring us together
in our faith community to play small. He will
work miracles when we step out in faith."
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Damn the tithe... full speed ahead
The
tithe is as onerous to many Christians as
oncoming
torpedoes. Understandable. We live in a
market-driven culture that strives to convince
us that God has it wrong. This short reflection
gives guidance for using an annual increase in
proportionate giving as a means of growing
towards tithing.
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The frog in the pot
Drop
a frog into a pot of boiling water and it will
leap out to safety. Put that same frog in that
same pot. Start with the water at a comfortable
temperature and very gradually heat it to
boiling. The frog will adjust to the rising
temperature, stay put, and die. Our relationship
with money, and the belief system with which it
gradually ensnares us, is much like the frog and
the pot of water. The reflection focuses on
God’s economy and our need to live in
thanksgiving. |
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Miscellaneous
Topics
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table of contents |
A Statement of Faith….. and
Gratitude
The
more that we live our faith in our daily
actions, the more that we experience the fruits
of our faith. In living out our belief in God’s
gracious giving, the more we open ourselves to
receive His blessings.
Non-denominational. Focus: God's faithfulness,
tithing.
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A visit to the u-pick-it farm
Visit
a u-pick-it farm to gather your own produce.
Spend a couple of hours in the fields engaged in
hide and seek with the fresh vegetables and
fruits. The wonder of food on the table engages
your spirit and puts one in touch with the
spirit of Genesis 1:29 "See, I have given you
every plant yielding seed that is upon the face
of the earth, and every tree with see in the
fruit; you shall have them for food.
Non-denominational. Focus: God's gracious
provision.
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Bad news..the Lord's calf
is dead Reflections
on a humorous story that deals the reality that
most
of us struggle continually with the question of
what it is that we should give to God.
Non-denominational. Focus: what is
God's, tithing.
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Bless This Fish
Thankfulness
experienced through connection with
caught-and-released fish and the boat ride home
in limited visibility.
Non-denominational.
Focus: connecting with God's abundant provision,
faith that God will provide.
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The Depths of Wonder
Regaining
a sense of wonder over all with which we are
blessed and our God "from whom all blessings
flow." Non-denominational. Focus:
remembering the source of all of creation and
giving thanks in response.
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Don't vote!
Our
pledge should be in thanksgiving for God's
gracious and abundant provision, not a vote on
whether or not we agree with church governance.
Non-denominational. Focus: right thinking about
pledging.
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End of Season Sale
Our over-hyped culture has us convinced that the
malls and big-box stores have what we need and
we really need it when it is on sale. But what
we really need is offered by Christ through our
congregations, free AND with free parking. Our
giving is in thanksgiving for God's provision,
not as admission. Non-denominational.
Focus: God's free provision, responding in
thanksgiving.
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Faith... works... a
headache
A consideration of faith and works focusing on
James 2:14 and 2:17; John 3:16; and the
stewardship of our lives in terms of every
action we take.
Non-denominational. Focus: Faith
and works. James 2:14, 17; John 3:16.
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For what am I in a boundless creation?
Taking in the early
morning, star-filled sky causes the writer to be
aware of how small he is in God's creation, yet
God is aware of, and cares for, him.
Non-denominational. Focus: the
Father's awareness of each of us and how we
should respond. Sir 16:17, Matt 10:29.
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The gated Christian
community
Following "The Episcopal Church Welcomes You"
signs in an unfamiliar community brings the
author to a church surrounded by a fence and
locked gates. This leads to a reflection on how
often churches proclaim welcome but fall short
in actually offering it.
Episcopal orientation. Focus: offering
intentional welcome.
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General Convention re-affirms tithing Tithing
is such a fundamental expression of our need to
give. The General Convention of the Episcopal
Church has continually reaffirmed the importance
of the tithe. Episcopal orientation.
Focus: the importance of the tithe to our
spiritual well-being. Trusting in God.
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Giving abundantly of ourselves
"My vows to you I must perform, O God; I will
render thank offerings to you."
(Ps 56:12) We do that by living up to our
Baptismal Covenant and through our giving.
Episcopal orientation. Focus: Stewardship of our
lives in the context of our Baptismal Covenant.
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Good news! God does not want your money
God wants our love above
all else. But, we are so in love with our money
that it acts as a barrier to our love for God
until we learn to give of it freely.
Non-denominational. Focus: Our need to give,
Hosea 6:6
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Here am I; send me
We all have ministries to
carry out in God's creation, not just the
ordained. The Episcopal Catechism is clear about
the ministry of the laity as well as the
ordained.
Episcopal. Focus:
The ministry of the laity. Is 6:8
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How can we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign
land?
The
atmosphere of doubt brought on by the 9/11
terrorist attacks have upset our sense of the
familiar. Yet, God is our rock and we are to
make a joyful noise to Him in thanksgiving.
Non-denominational. Focus: faith in God,
our rock, in times of doubt. Giving in faith and
thanksgiving. Ps 137:4, Ps 95.
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If God had a bazillion
dollars
No need to speculate what God would do if he had
a bazillion dollars. Everything is His. But, he
provides for the work of His churches through
us, providing us the opportunity to demonstrate
our faith in His loving provision.
Non-denominational. Focus: God's abundance. Our
need to give.
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Navigating the faith buffet
Part
of the human condition results in us exercising
our faith much as I work my way through a
wedding reception. We have a tendency to be very
energetic about being faithful, but also
selective in what we choose to act upon.
Non-denominational. Focus: The dangers of being
selective in the exercise of our faith.
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O Holy Bless
my tongue- (gratitude as death nears)
The author reflects on his
mother's expressions of gratitude for the Lord's
gracious provision as she neared death.
Non-denominational. Focus: gratitude, wisdom of
the old,
1Cor 13:12
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Okay, let's see you make
one
We
tend to see human endeavor as the power behind
the creation we experience. God’s creation is
background. It’s not a conscious thought for
most people. Were we conscious of it, we would
stand in great awe, and appreciation, of every
single thing around us. The appropriate response
is to joyously dedicate all that you have; one's
life, abilities, and possessions, to the glory
of God. Non-denominational. Focus:
awareness of our blessings, living in
thanksgiving.
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Sharing Abundance- a
parable
Jonathan was happy to provide, for free, all of
the lumber Zachary needed for his cabinetry
business. All that he asked of Zachary was that
he use 10 percent of the freely given lumber for
some projects to help people around the
community. But, Zachary was continually too busy
making use of Jonathan's abundant provision for
his own purposes to use any for Jonathan's
purposes.
Non-denominational. Focus:
overlooking our need to give.
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Should cats be encouraged
to break dance?
A cat's play as a consideration of our
responsibility to encourage others to use their
God-given gifts.
Non-denominational. Focus: encouraging the
development and use of God-given gifts..
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Singing the Lord’s praises
with our lives
A
reflection on Psalm 137 (singing the Lord's song
in a foreign land) in the context of
"proclaiming by word and example" from our
Baptismal Covenant. It means is praising God
every moment of our lives through every action
we take and every thought we conceive, and
publicly acknowledging God’s presence.
Episcopal orientation. Focus: singing the Lord's
song in a foreign land, our current culture, by
"proclaiming by word and example."
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Struggling with the economy
... whose economy is it?
Mankind’s
folly is that we continually make our plans for
God’s creation without adequately consulting the
master planner; the owner of the household.
God’s plan includes putting His work first.
Having a plan for regularly increasing our
proportional giving until we achieve
tithing is good medicine for what ails our
personal finances.
Non-denominational. Focus: comparing God's
economy to humankind's economy.
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Summertime, summertime,
sum-sum summertime According
to the Episcopal Catechism, the ministry of the
laity includes bearing witness to Christ
wherever a person may be. And the duty of all
Christians includes weekly corporate worship.
Summer church attendance would seem to belie
those duties. The reflection shares some
thoughts about being true to our Baptismal
Covenant during the summer.
Episcopal orientation. Focus: lay ministry.
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Things built by man may
crumble, but God's life-giving presence persists
A visit to ancient church
ruins in Great Britain brings to mind that human
creations eventually crumble but God's
creativeness persists eternally.
Non-denominational. Focus: The eternal value of
work in Christ.
Mark 14:58
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Through the looking glass
An
indoor and a former "free range" (feral) cat
look out at Morris, our daily "free range"
visitor.
Sometimes it might as well
be Alice’s looking glass that separates us from
an understanding of just how blessed we are,
even when it may seem that we are falling a bit
short on blessings.
Non-denominational. Focus:
Awareness of our blessings.
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Time, a precious gift
Time is a precious
commodity, perhaps our most precious. We were
created to do Christ's work in our allotted time
on earth and must be faithful in the way in
which we use our time.
Non-denominational. Focus: The stewardship of
our time.
Ecclesiastes 3:1
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Value Added
Everything that we do to
participate in God's process of creation has
value in God's eternal plan. Created as stewards
of God's creation, we are each created to add to
his creation in some way, according to his plan.
Non-denominational. Focus: The stewardship of
all creation, being partners in God's care for
his creation.
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We are all the work of
God's hand
God is the master potter who
blesses us with all that he creates. When we
impose our clumsy will on the Potter's clay, the
result is often quite messy. Our stewardship is
to exercise the freedom to cherish God's
creation as he intends it, and to do so
thankfully.
Non-denominational. Focus: Living in
thanksgiving for all with which God blesses us.
Isaiah 64:8.
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Wisdom of the fortune cookie
A
fortune cookie advises "If you continually give,
you will continually have." That is the nature
of God's economy in a nutshell.... or fortune
cookie. The din of messages of our consumer
culture often convince us that we need to
consume and acquire.
Non-denominational. Focus: The contrast between
God's economy and the secular economy.
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"You give them something to eat."
We are dependent on God. He is generous in
providing. But in return he expects that we will
acknowledge our dependency, respond in
unfettered love, and participate in his acts of
love and creation by letting go of what he has
given us so that he can work miracles with it.
Non-denominational. Focus: God's miracles start
with our giving. Luke
9:13.
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Your stewardship of your
vote
While the First Amendment to the Constitution
prevents government from creating a religion, it
is our responsibility to ensure that we have
Godly government carrying out God's plan for his
creation.
Non-denominational. Focus: exercising
stewardship of creation at election time through
our vote.
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Pledging
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table of contents |
But I can't afford to...
A common reason for people not increasing their
giving is that they believe they can't afford
to. But that, then, says that they don't believe
in God's promise to provide. Proportionate
giving is a way to grow towards tithing.
Non-denominational. Focus: growing towards
tithing through proportional giving.
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Of fresh fall mornings and pledge cards
God provides the resources to carry out his unique
intent for each of his congregations by giving
those resources to members of the parish. They
in turn are given the opportunity to demonstrate
their faithfulness through their giving. The
fall pledge campaign is both the time to commit
to that giving and a needed tool for the
leadership of the church to carry out its
stewardship of the congregation's resources.
Non-denominational. Focus: God provides for his
work through each of us. The fall pledge
campaign is a necessary planning tool for the
congregation's leadership.
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The parish budget is not a
matter of eternal importance
There is nothing in scripture about the parish
budget. Instead we learn that God does not need
our sacrifices, but he does need us to give of
ourselves. By taking our first fruits and giving
them to God and his work we remind ourselves
that Christ is at the center or our lives, that
Christ comes first.
Non-denominational. Focus: our need to give,
giving from the first fruits, right priorities.
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To give you a future of
hope
God has plans for a hopeful
future for us. When we seek God with all our
hearts, when we use what he has provided us as
he intends, we will find him.
Non-denominational. Focus: Tithing as faithful
thanksgiving for God's faithfulness to us.
Jeramiah 29: 11-13
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This
remainder of the library is under
reconstruction. The links all work as we add
article summaries.
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Seasonal messages
(seasons follow the
Gregorian rather than church calendar for ease
in coordinating with readily available calendar
forms) |
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New Years
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table of contents |
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Lent
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Created for good works |
Of Dust and Gratitude
God does not need or want anything that we can
give Him other than a return of the same
unbridled love that He gives us. A seminal way
in which we demonstrate our dedication to the
Source of all that we are and have, is to devote
the first ten percent of our time, our talent,
and our treasure to God’s work; we tithe. This
is not “burnt-offering.” This is our stating
“God comes first” through the way we live.
Episcopal orientation. Focus: tithing all aspects
of our lives.
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Sticks and stones may break my bones |
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Thinking about dust |
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Use the present opportunity |
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Easter Season
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Filling the God shaped hole
Each
of yearns
for a relationship with our Creator.
In our culture
we tend to fill any
yearning with a consumerist approach that tends
towards the flashy and the comfortable. This
leads us to missing the reality of the
sacredness of the gift with which we've been so
abundantly graced.
Non-denominational. Focus: the stewardship of
all creation as a continuation of our Easter
celebration.
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Thanksgiving
Season
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table of contents |
It's all about thanks-giving
Thanksgiving Day, the
day set aside to give thanks for all of God's
blessings, has become another secularized
celebration. This reflection focuses on the
Episcopal "Litany of Thanksgiving" and gives
some ideas for putting a focus on God into your
Thanksgiving Day.
Non-denominational. Focus: returning the focus
of Thanksgiving Day to giving thanks to God.
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"Not only with our lips, but in our lives"
We are taught from an early
age that it is good manors to thank someone who
gives us something. But most of us don't thank
God, who gives us everything, sufficiently. And
on the day set aside for thanking God, many of
us are focused on other things. Taking time on
Thanksgiving Day to recite and think about "The
General Thanksgiving" and the "Litany of
Thanksgiving" in the "Book of Common Prayer"
helps to put the focus of the day where belongs.
Episcopal orientation. Focus: returning the
focus of Thanksgiving Day to giving thanks to
God.
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Plenty to be thankful for
The 1942
Bing Crosby movie “Holiday Inn,” renowned for
its Irving Berlin score that introduced “White
Christmas,” has the crooner musing in song about
Thanksgiving. While the film preceded by decades
the abundance and hectic lifestyle we experience
today, the words of the song feel timeless. They
make a thought-provoking meditation for
Thanksgiving Day.
Episcopal orientation. Focus: returning the
focus of Thanksgiving Day to giving thanks to
God. |
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Advent/Christmas seasons return to
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Advent is Door Time |
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Everything for Christmas! |
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Happy New Year (Advent message) |
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Inflated expectations |
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I was a stranger |
Nine Swans a Swimming
A visit from a resident
family of swans brings to mind the nine swans in
the "Twelve Days of Christmas." The nine swans
are thought to be representative of the nine
fruits of the Holy Spirit. When we fully live
our Baptismal Covenant, the nine fruits are
active in our lives. With the nine fruits
active, everything that affects our fellow man
becomes our concern- our stewardship. All that
we have is given us by God to do his work.
Appropriate for denominations that have a
Baptismal Covenant. Focus: The stewardship of
our very lives, responsibility to serve others.
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O come, O come, Emmanuel |
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Prepare the way of the Lord! |
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