What an Easter! There was something really wonderful about our worship together on Easter morning. Perhaps it was the fact that more of us were gathered together than at any other time in recent memory, perhaps it was the celebration and reaffirmation of baptism, or perhaps it was the recognition that the good news of the empty tomb still has power 2000 years later. Whatever it was that made that day special, the result was the same: a milestone in our lives together as a congregation. Having passed that milestone, it is now our responsibility to prayerfully consider the path ahead.
A fork in the road. One of the great things about Easter is that it comes around every year. Every year we are reminded that hope can overcome despair, that light can overcome darkness, and, most importantly, that life can overcome death. In some ways, that reminder feels more necessary this year than in years past. In spite of marked growth in both worship attendance and programmatic activity as a congregation, our finances remain a challenge. As we have announced in letter form as well as during worship, our finances have not kept pace with the growth of our congregation. As a result, we are at a point where we have some hopeful decisions to make.
Some decisions are personal. One of the requests that went out in the letter to the congregation a couple of weeks ago was that each member and friend of the congregation might prayerfully consider increasing their pledged giving to the church. As I mentioned in that letter, Emily and I are prayerfully considering what we might be able to give above and beyond our current tithe. To be clear, this is a necessary step towards securing the financial stability of our church for our continued mission together, but this is not the only step we are taking.
Some decisions are communal. As our “mission moments” have continued to show during the last few months, we are a congregation who is committed to our mission. We are not a congregation who is going to let the amount in our bank accounts prevent us from responding to God’s call to “feed more sheep.” In order to do that, however, we have to purposefully decide together to take the path towards life. This means being willing to use the gifts that we have each been given to meet the needs of those around us. It will require creativity, hard work, and prayerful consideration of the opportunities before us. The good news is, we do not lack for any of those resources.
The path towards life. We each found our way to this church through various channels and by various means, but we have arguably all stayed for the same reason: we can feel God at work in this church. God is present in the way in which we greet one another, in the way in which we support one another during hard moments, and especially in the way in which laugh together. The good news is that there is a spirit of life that is already at work within this congregation. In other words, we are already on the path towards life. Our job now is to not get side-tracked by those forks along the way. If we can do that, then we won’t have to wait another year for a reminder of new life. We will just need to look to one another.
Grace and Peace,
Stephen