This week’s anniversary / stewardship theme is ‘a heart for service.’
What do you think of when you hear “A Heart for Service?”
Is this only an individual pursuit or can an entire church, an entire community have a heart for service?
The scripture passages for today are Psalm 100 and Luke 12: 13-21. On the one hand we give great thanksgiving to God, our hearts turn towards God with great gladness. Yet on the other hand we hold tight to what we’ve got because we think it’s these material satisfactions that give us the great gladness. We end up focusing our thanksgiving on the things, not on God. What a quandary.
And what, pray tell, does this have to do with hearts for service?
The 75th theme has us honouring the past and building the future. Over the next couple of weeks it’ll be fun to look into what we don’t yet know, maybe uncover some building blocks we didn’t notice before that will come in handy later on.
What has struck me in the scripture this week is the person who asks Jesus about the family inheritance. Inheritance. It got me thinking – what is our inheritance that we will give to the world coming after us? What will our hearts for service offer that we cannot yet see or know?
Last week I had the privilege of being on course with 30 other ministers from across the country to live in the ‘not yet’ and to discern what tools we might need to usher in a church we cannot yet see? If you click on this link you’ll get a very brief summary of some of the course content and goals.
Now, exploring ‘inheritance’ on Sunday isn’t totally set in stone. I’m also struck by Jesus saying “this very night your life is being demanded of you!” Ooooo - that raises the stakes. Let’s see what Sunday brings!