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It’s that time of the year again. Giving! Giving! Giving! Each year ends with the idea. Thanksgiving provides an opportunity to gather and give thanks to god for our many blessings. Then it’s Christmas: who shall we give to? What shall we give? In the midst of the frenzy there is Jesus, God’s gift of a savior to redeem each of us
Beginning in October, Clinton Presbyterian Church also asks you to consider the idea of giving:
Why do you give? What do you give? To whom do you give?
The Bible has answers to these questions. This year the stewardship ministry is focusing on John 6:1-14. This is the feeding of the five thousand by Jesus. We urge you to reread this familiar miracle and experience the abundance of God’s love, not just in our spiritual lives, but also in our everyday physical ones. Jesus cares about our practical needs like food and clothing. He uses us to take care of these when we give.
The Bible tells us to give to our neighbors and honor God:
Deuteronomy 15:10 Give generously to him (poor man) and do so without a grudging heart, then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.
In the New Testament this message of glorifying God and loving our neighbor through concrete acts continues. Your pledge to CPC helps us as the body of Christ to minister to the world.
This year when you pledge, start by thinking that everything you have really belongs to God. It’s an old idea in the Bible. It comes straight from Leviticus 23:9-14. It’s the idea of firstfruits. FIRST, God gives us everything and we set part aside—dedicated to Him and His use. THEN, we use the rest. FIRST, we love the Lord with all our hearts, all our souls, and all our mind. THEN, we are called to love our neighbors as we do ourselves.
Our giving is really a way God gives us to draw closer to Him, to the holiness that is God. He gives. It is His nature. He allows us to give so we can be more like Him.
Your Stewardship Ministry,
Dorothy Battaglia, Carol Kotopoulis and Ester Thambidurai