A WING AND A PRAYER "Doing is Believing"

Our giving can do something about the sixty thousand people who die every day from hunger and lack of basic medical care. Paul says in his wonderful letter, "We have this treasure in clay jars so that it may be clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us." The extraordinary power he's talking about is a result of believing and doing something about that belief. When we know the powerful reality of God's love, we can change the world. The same attitudes that permit or overlook poverty and racism in our towns and cities lead to similar realities in Louisiana and Mississippi, as well as in Asia and Africa. Our neighbors are not just the folks next door, and we are meant to be servants of them all. How we use our abundance is a very real statement about what it is we do believe. - p. 50

I hadn't planned on writing on a Sunday, but I thought I'd read ahead, and this sermon just does me in. I am reminded that God does not ask us to check anything at the door when we enter the sanctuary to worship. We bring it all--our wealth, our strength, our minds, our hearts--and we bring it willingly to share and to see how it is actually God's gifts that we offer at the altar.

If we're wondering what to do with our offering, we are given plenty of opportunity, locally and globally. We have wealth--we share it with the needy here in our community but also in generous donations toward the Millenium Development Goals. We have strength--we use it to better our facilities, or we offer it during summer projects here and abroad. We have intelligence--we engage one another in discussions, we teach our children, we use that gift to learn even more about God's wonderful and diverse ongoing revelation in creation. He have passionate hearts--we lift are voices in praise, in song, in speaking out.

God's gifted each of us so abundantly. How are we using God's gifts, not just on Sunday mornings, but throughout the week? How is God's love made manifest in how we reach out to those in need?