Last evening's news announced the tragic details that occurred in our church neighbourhood. No one is an island and the loss hits home to our schools and congregation. Through the day we have been busy handling details for the God Rocks concert while in the background there's a sorrowful note playing. Ironic isn't it that juxtaposed with this news, we celebrate this month The good news to all people.
Last blog I mentioned the spiritual gift of simplicity - making room in our lives by consciously ceasing in consumerism's push on time and resources. But making room and simplifying is only good if there's a goal in mind. In a sense, there's a similarity between Hugh Hefner and Scrooge - both are incredibly self-centred in their choices, one uninhibited or restrictive - both selfish. So, Simplifying needs an other-centre. This is the second and valuable spiritual gift of the 21st century - hospitality. We simplify to give more - more of our time, more of our resources, more of our home to those that Christ came to reconcile to God.
Even as a congregation, how do we open our resource of this church building, of our volunteer hours, simplifying our structure and programming so that we have room to give more? As I have been personally mulling it over I realize that profound structural changes need time to make things change. What are you thinking?
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2 comments:
I'm thinking...
...that if the call on our church is to give more, (which I believe is true), then we are going to look different than other churches. I asked my husband the other day, "If we as a family decided that God was asking us to give a third of our income to charity, how would our family look different than other families? We wouldn't take vacations, we wouldn't buy new clothes, we would probably sell one of our vehicles and maybe even (gasp!) take the bus!" Wouldn't it be awesome if our church began to talk about our "different-ness" and embrace it?
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