Our worship this Sunday will be rooted in 2 Corinthians 8.1-15. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians in chapter 8 was not a scolding, but a joyful vision of God’s abundant love and an invitation into our freedom to be generous. According to the opening lines in this chapter, the churches in Macedonia were growing deeply in faith and giving generously in response to God’s love.
As part of our series on growing more deeply in faith, we are inviting you to reflect on how you will support the ministries of our church in the coming year through your financial offerings. Walter Brueggeman writes,
In 2 Corinthians 8, Paul directs a stewardship campaign for the early church and presents Jesus as the new economist. Though Jesus was rich, Paul says, “yet for your sakes he became poor, that by his poverty you might become rich.” We say it takes money to make money. Paul says it takes poverty to produce abundance. Jesus gave himself to enrich others, and we should do the same. Our abundance and the poverty of others need to be brought into a new balance. Paul ends his stewardship letter by quoting Exodus 16: “And the one who had much did not have too much, and the one who had little did not have too little.” The citation is from the story of the manna that transformed the wilderness into abundance.
How does the joy you experience in this community of faith move you to want to give? When you think about sharing a portion of your income on a regular basis, with whom do you imagine sharing? How will you determine how much you will give financially to support the ministries of our church? What kind of help do you need in this determination?
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