Not what you’d expect to hear from me…
Not what you’d expect to hear from me and certainly not what I’d EVER expect to say…
I’m writing to you with a very strong sense that God can do amazing things with changing hearts AND He has the ultimate sense of humor! I’m hoping you can allow him to be at work in your heart as he has been in mine lately…
I recently learned that money is mentioned at least 2300 times in the Bible – second only to love. Wow! I had no idea! I have confessed to Pastor Steve and others that I am one of the people who sits in the pew when stewardship sermons are preached and I try to listen with an open heart. When pastors talk about time and talents, I usually enjoy it and feel challenged to think about other creative ways I can be a better steward. But somehow, when the pastor gets to the part about tithing, I immediately want to do what my first grade students sometimes do – put my hands over my ears and shout, “I can’t hear you! La, la, la, la!” Money is scary and personal – I’m not very good at handling it. (My “Frazzled Frieda” puppet a few months ago is not a work of fiction – she is me!) And giving 10% seems to be the impossible dream, so I immediately feel guilty, inadequate, etc., etc. But (and this is where God is working on changing my heart) the more I learn about God and managing money, the more I think that our connection to THINGS is a form of bondage. Just having the latest ______________ (you fill in the blank – car, gadget, outfit) is NOT going to bring me everlasting happiness. There’ll be some other newer product to replace it next week. There are entire industries designed to make sure of that. Debt is NOT a necessary and unavoidable burden. Think about how many marriages have ended because of arguments over money – it’s not the lack of money but the fighting about what to do with it that is the problem.
What if we as Christians could be free from those anchors? What if we didn’t have to worry about whether there was going to be money left in our households at the end of the month? What if our money wasn’t a source of stress, but a source of joy in our lives? We could really give back to God (kind of a funny concept since it’s really all His anyway!) a TRUE measure of our gratitude for all of the amazing blessings He’s given us. That’s a vision I could “buy” into!! (Pardon the bad pun.)
Over the next few months,money is going to be a topic of conversation around Trinity even though it is uncomfortable for some of us. (Here’s where God’s ironic sense of humor is at work – I am truly THE LAST person I would ever have predicted would feel led to raise this topic!) Our society works so hard to make us feel dissatisfied – “you need the newest, latest, greatest gadgets. You can’t possibly be happy driving that car,” and so on. I believe that the church must speak out with another possibility and in order to do that, we have to talk about money! The Discipleship Team, in conjunction with the Stewardship Team, will be offering a budgeting course from the “Good $ense”ministry of the Willow Creek Association. Its focus is on our individual spiritual and financial health. Whether you can’t seem to make ends meet, or you’ve got plenty of money, I believe this course can touch your heart.
I’ve only learned about it in a general way and it’s already touched mine! Watch for announcements!
But our personal growth with regard to money isn’t the only ticklish topic. Our session adopted a budget last fall that included a deficit. We prayed hard about it and felt God was leading us into the ministries that are represented by the budget this year. But so far, we haven’t even met that deficit budget – we are $7000 short and that’s just through March. We are going to have to struggle as a church family with how we, as a group, are to be stewards of the resources in this place. God has done wonderful things here at Trinity – just look around at the new faces, the children, the wonderful outreaches to the community and feel the energy! He IS with us! part of my heart (and hopefully OUR hearts). I know that he will work with our church as well if we just let Him. I hope you’ll look forward with me to learning together as we search for His wisdom moving forward. It’s not an easy topic to talk about, but it’s through the most difficult struggles that we grow the most. I look forward to growing together in the next few months!
- Sue Goodwin
May 2nd, 2007 at 9:22 am
[...] hasn’t usually made me think about my faith either. Before we go on, if you haven’t read Sue Goodwin’s blog entry yet, please go do that. I’ll [...]