Pastor’s eNote: Weekly Update

We continue our year-long theme of “For the Love of God” with a new worship series on stewardship called, “Stewards of Grace.”

In Christian Scripture the words for grace and gift are often related as they are in 2 Corinthians 9:15 which is quoted above. Generosity and thanksgiving work in a cycle where they “feed” each other. The word for “thanks” in verse 15 is charis, which is the same word for grace or favor in the Bible. What are we thankful for? The answer here is simple, God’s indescribable gift.

God gives gifts. We give thanks. Simple enough.

The lesson here includes an invitation for us to live in a cycle of generosity (giving gifts) and gratitude (thanksgiving.) God initiates as a way of life for us which we are called to imitate. We, too, are called to give our gifts with thanksgiving to God. Thanksgiving, in turn, generates more opportunities to be generous. It is a chain-reaction.

We are well acquainted with the opposite of this chain-reaction. Greed, brazen ambition, and hoarding are inherently sinful because they all breed the opposite of this life-giving cycle of thanksgiving and generosity.

During this four-week series we will explore many dimensions of God’s life-giving way to live as stewards of grace. We have been given the gift of grace. What are we to do with it? How will we become those who are known for our reckless generosity and spirit of love?

This radical practice makes a transformational change in the lives of other and the world. In one of his letters from the Tegel Prison, Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes:

“It’s a strange feeling to be so completely dependent on other people; but at least it teaches one to be grateful… In ordinary life we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.”

– Letters and Papers from Prison