From The Pastor's Desk

November 2011

Something about our human nature causes us to feel the need for constant reminders of God's goodness and generosity toward us. The Bible is filled with reminders: God created us, breathed life into us, and has been constantly giving us what we need.

When we lose sight of God's Providence, we default into the mode of feeling like we need to earn God's favor. As a result, our belief in God and our church participation become in our minds a system of merits and demerits.

Regularly reading and listening to the Scriptures reinforces God's goodness in our minds. We attend to reading God's Word and to routine prayer in anticipation of what God gives us and wants us to have; Bible reading and prayer are not checklist items by which we hope to make God happy. Public worship is an opportunity to receive and appropriate God's gifts to us as a church family; it should not be motivated by guilt!

November is when our church typically plans to resource our ministries for the coming year. It is tempting to enter our campaign with a "scarcity" mindset, focusing on our deficits rather than our assets.

God created the heavens and the earth, along with you who are reading this. What has God not given to you? Everything about us—all we are, all we have, our ability to earn—comes from God. There is not a bit of us that won't return to God. So, ultimately, what is ours in this life? Whether we like it or not, it is all God's. 2 Corinthians 9:7 quotes Paul as saying that we should not give "reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."

God created all that is and called it "good". God blessed all life forms, saying "be fruitful and multiply". These are manifestations of a God who gives cheerfully. We humans are created in God's own image. So if we are to model God, it makes sense that our giving is to be with a cheerful attitude.

Very soon you will receive estimate of giving and estimate of service cards in the mail. You are invited to bring these cards on November 20, to be presented at the altar as a closing act of worship. For that Sunday be thinking about what you love and appreciate about Beach Lake United Methodist Church. Just after the 10:15 service there will be a FREE dinner in the fellowship hall. It is tempting to think that you should have to pay for the dinner. But in the spirit of being cheerful receivers of God's goodness, let us be gracious in receiving as we are in giving.

In Christ's service,
Pastor Mark