I love the people. I love the atmosphere of hospitality. I love how people will step forward and help out in various and wonderful ways. I love that we serve with different agencies here in Ocala, like InterFaith and Sisterhood/Brotherhood among others, to reach out to those that need assistance. As believers, as disciples of Christ, we are called to be in mission to this community, finding ways to reach out and bring the hope and grace of Christ to everyone.
Over the last several weeks in worship, we have looked at the life of the Apostle Paul. We talked about how God’s grace redeems, we talked about how Paul mentored a young man named Timothy, and we talked about how Paul adopted for himself a servant mindset as a new way of life. Paul did all of this to be more like Christ. Paul did all of these things to draw himself closer to God.
As believers in Jesus Christ, made in the image of God, we become transformed. We have our values reworked, our priorities reorganized, our perspectives shifted. What was once of paramount importance, may no longer hold truth for us. We take all that we are and we willingly turn it over to God. We also join communities of faith to help us in this new life and to give us strength on this new journey. In fact, when you join the United Methodist Church you take a vow to support this church with your time, your talent, your gifts, your service, and your witness. That means we give of ourselves, we give of our time, and we give of our finances to support our church. We hold nothing back, opening the door for God to hold nothing back from us. We give of our time, talents, and finances, not out of a pursuit for reciprocation, but as a response to our faith. We give all of this as an outward response to the inward grace we receive when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord.
As this community of faith, as Druid Hills United Methodist Church, we give of ourselves and talents in extraordinary ways. The lives we touch as we serve dinners, the souls we help as we donate out of our material abundance, is wonderful to witness and moving to see. But we have decreased in our financial giving this year. It has been a decrease that has grown over the last several weeks and a decrease that will not allow us to do everything we want or used to do in the life of this church. Right now, I believe that we can get back on track with a group effort to increase our giving. There will be a few changes we have to make, but nothing permanent or drastic. However, this will not hold true if we continue down our current path.
As a family, I want all of you to know that things are tight financially. The Finance Committee is in the process of setting up several fundraising dinners and we are always looking at our expenses. But we need you. Please be in prayer about this so we can all work together and get our finances back on track.
I always reserve this space each week for the thoughts that pop into my mind; reflections on what is going on in my life. This topic has been weighing heavy on my heart. Our finances are not separate from our faith, they are part of it. This church, this congregation is too important to me, to you, and too many others for us to lessen our ministry and outreach over finances. Thank you for listening and thank you in advance for your consideration.
Have a great week and I will see you Sunday!
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