Dear Church,
If going to church has taught us anything, it’s this: you really need to be okay with metaphors to get very far with the Bible. Floods clapping hands? Hills singing together for joy?
These are impossible. Of course, that doesn’t mean they aren’t true, or that they can’t happen. That’s why I have such hope for our church’s giving campaign. Sure, there’s plenty of fear and uncertainty to go around — living with a global pandemic (is it an endemic yet?), a fluctuating economy, anxiety around climate change and our collective future… Viewed from this angle, asking folks to commit to our Giving Campaign seems like a lot to expect.
And yet, we are people who believe in beautiful impossibilities, who shape our lives around the happening of things that supposedly cannot happen.
This Sunday, we will be celebrating the conclusion of our Giving Campaign. We will celebrate the ways that our church is a spiritual home, an anchor to many. We’ll celebrate the many hands, the endless hours, that go into caring for this community, because we know it takes more than money to make a church thrive. We’ll celebrate — yes celebrate! — the act of choosing to be a part of it all through our financial commitment, no matter the size.
We know that the God for whom floods clap and hills sing is with us, is walking with us every step of the way, through struggles and triumphs alike. And no matter what each of us, with God’s help, decides to give, we’ll all be praying this prayer together:
Great One, for you the floods clap, for you the hills sing. You know my situation better than anyone.
Take my credits and debits, ins and outs, pluses and minuses, surpluses and lacks,
and show me how to use them to join the great chorus of Creation.
Amen.
Together, our prayers and our labors and our hopes clap their hands. Together, our promises and our hopes sing for for joy. Together, we join God in doing marvelous things here at Suquamish UCC.
Together for Joy,
Pastor Amara
p.s. I heard a rumor there’s going to be cake on Sunday. 🙂
p.p.s. Here’s a link to a pledge card that you can download.
