The Big Secret of Giving
Stewardship Theme Materials for 2007
[Stewardship materials will be sent this week, including a brochure, a pledge card and a return envelope. We encourage you to consider your pledge prayerfully for 2008. Stewardship Sunday is November 11th. We invite all who can to return their pledge by that date.]
The theme of our Stewardship season at ORUCC is “the big secret of giving.†It is based on Paul’s words in Philippians 4:12-13
12 I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need.
13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Consider these stories from around the United Church of Christ throughout the world:
- • It was a surprise party when the church that built its own addition with all congregational labor – eighteen months of Saturdays – had so much fun they wanted to keep doing things together.
- It was a surprise party when the church that decided to space-share with an Indonesian congregation learned “Silent Night” sounds like angels when it’s sung half in English, half in Bahassa.
- There were two surprise parties for the discouraged teenagers from New England when a regional youth event was cancelled. Two different outdoor ministry sites opened up to them and, in the midst of nature, God did the speaking.
- It was a surprise party for the Philippians who believed Paul’s promise that contentment with available resources and an intentional focus on the true, honorable, just, pure and excellent would spread peace past human understanding.
It’s never a party when we worry about the needy-side and hungry-side of our own situations – the not-enough of our personal finances or our church finances. When we realize the plenty-side is more about attitude than quantity, we walk in the door. It’s still dark in the room under budget gloom, and we all fumble for a magic switch. When we really discover that we can live with what we have and give with what we have – the lights go on and we see the balloons, the friends, the piñata, and Christ who has been strengthening us all along. The secret is out! The surprise party is us!
