Oh Lord our God and Shepherd,
You feed us
and restore us
and guide us into all righteousness.
You give us hope in the midst of death
and lead us with Your mighty right hand.
You have chosen us
and have blessed us to overflowing.
You have given us a home through faith in Jesus Christ.
May we bless others with the blessings You have given us.
May we not hold back
as we joyfully bring glory to Your holy name
through our giving.
It’s in Jesus name that we pray,
Amen.
The Pastor -|—
Creator God,
giver of all things;
You have set us up as stewards
of Your beautiful and wonderful creation.
You have gifted us in so many ways
to bring You praise and honor.
You have sent us out into the world
to bless one another.
May we be found faithful;
being good stewards of all we have.
And,
may we never forget
that all we have comes from You.
Oh Lord,
You are worthy and we thank You.
In Jesus name we pray,
Amen.
The Pastor -|—
Today I am preaching on Mark 12:41-44 ~ “The Widow’s Offering”.
It is a story that always hits close to home as it challenges me how I give back to God. It is so easy to focus on budgets and worry about income and bills; so much so, that we often times cut back on our giving in order to get by. But what if we actually believed that everything we have belongs to God (which it does). How would that direct our giving?
Hmmm…
You see…giving is a matter of faith. Do you actually believe that God will provide for you? If you don’t then you don’t have much motivation to give. If you DO believe God provides for your needs then faith tells us that in order for God to provide for others God needs us to provide for them. God blesses us so we may bless others.
What a novel idea 🙂
When you place your gift in the offering plate you are:
~ Praising God for is abundance
~ Thanking God for His blessings in your life
~ Blessing others
~ Showing trust
~ Worshiping God
The offering is not just part of the worship service, it IS an act of worship. May you know God’s blessings so you may bless others with the love of God.
We give thee but thine own, whatever the gift may be;
all that we have is thine alone, a trust, O Lord, from thee.
May we thy bounties thus as stewards true receive,
and gladly, as thou blessest us, to thee our first-fruits give.
The captive to release, to God the lost to bring,
to teach the way of life and peace — it is a Christ-like thing.
And we believe thy word, though dim our faith may be:
whatever we do for thine, O Lord, we do it unto thee.
[Evangelical Lutheran Worship book #686]
Praise be to God!
edh -|—
“Give all you can because no one ever saw a hearse pulling a U-Haul.” [701 Sentence Sermons]
On Sunday I told the congregation that each and everyone of them lives in poverty; for they own nothing. All we have belongs to God. So giving just makes sense…we are blessed to be a blessing.
-edh-
“Stewardship is not about the church’s need to receive but rather about YOUR need to give.”
I heard the above quote at a stewardship seminar I attended a couple years ago (I may have even blogged about it but I can’t remember). I bring this up because this coming Sunday, Nov. 8 is “Stewardship Sunday” at Salem.
“Stewardship”…Sunday…isn’t every Sunday about stewardship?
Isn’t every day about stewardship?
I mean seriously…shouldn’t we talk about stewardship as something we do everyday as a response to what God has done for us in Christ?
–Aren’t we stewards of the Gospel?
–Aren’t we stewards of our time, gifts and talents?
–Aren’t we stewards of “our” possessions?
And if we answered “yes” to all those questions (and we should) then “Stewardship Sunday” is something that needs to be done away with because “Stewardship Sunday” should happen every single day.
I also bring all this up in light of the Gospel text for this Sunday which is from Mark 12:38-44. This is the story of the woman giving her two small copper coins (all she had) and Jesus commending her for giving out of her need (as opposed to the rich who gave out of their surplus).
–Is this text about us being better stewards?
–Is Jesus calling our attention to the fact that she felt driven to give despite her poverty; knowing God will care for
her?
–Do we use this text to highlight the church’s need to receive, our need to give, all of the above or none of the above?
I wonder if I need to do something different this year and totally throw people off. Maybe I need to just rename this Sunday to “Turkey Dinner Sunday” because after all that is what we are also doing on Sunday.
Do you have a “Stewardship” Sunday?
-edh-
This strategy may or may not work, but wouldn’t it be fun to try?
(Copyright Gospel Communications International, Inc – www.reverendfun.com)
-edh-
The Heart of a Pastor 