Hearts Ablaze - On the Water!
Last November, the Holy Spirit brought Ecclesiastes 11:1 to my mind. It’s a verse I had memorized at a Bible study a decade earlier, but hadn’t thought about much since. It reads,
“Cast your bread upon the waters and, after many days, it will return to you.”
At first glance, it’s a strange and cryptic verse. A Hebrew proverb of sorts that doesn’t immediately connect with our modern mentality. But, if you substitute “money” for “bread,” the deeper meaning and significance begins to emerge.
Ecclesiastes 11:1 encourages godly people to have a sense of adventure, to recognize that doing something meaningful requires risk. In short, to trust God! A year ago, the “all in” members of our congregation were challenged to respond to our Hearts Ablaze campaign – to cast our bread upon the waters – and then to wait “many days” to see what God will do.
Now, a year later, it’s safe to say that God is already doing great new things in our midst. Our ministries are growing, we’ve added great new hires to our staff, and our mortgage debt has been more than halved already! The first and primary goal of this Hearts Ablaze season has always been 100% participation. If each and every member of our community asks, “What is God desiring to do in and through me?” and then responds with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, everything about this campaign will continue to fall into place. It all starts with prayer.
To help us reaffirm and share our commitments, every worshiper will receive a commitment card on Sunday (see below) — or there is also an online commitment guide.
At the bottom of the card, there are spiritual behaviors listed upon which all of our financial commitments rest. God desires more of us! He desires all of us! Leading us to give back to God through the work of his church is a sure-fire way for the Holy Spirit to open our hearts and deepen our connection to God’s own sacrificial, generous, self-giving love.
Hearts Ablaze has moved many of us to a new level of generosity. Some in our midst have started giving to God’s Kingdom for the very first time. Some of us have been challenged to give sacrificially rather than merely out of our comfortable excess. Some of us have been encouraged by the Holy Spirit to simply continue faithfully doing what we have been doing for Jesus’ sake.
God already knows how all the dots of this two-year journey are connected. God’s Spirit knows how to weave together our stories, and even all of our commitment cards, into something beautiful. I’m so hopeful, and trusting that we are living in the middle of a season in which we will, one day, look back on this and say, “God did that!”
– Pastor Gregg
