Giving and Growing in Faith   

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“Where your Treasure is, there your heart will be as well…”     (Lk 12:32-34)

Yes, it is October and as usual this fall we will be doing our Stewardship program called Consecration Sunday.  It is also true that in the fall, we begin planning for the next calendar year and what you give to ministry at Good Sam will certainly have great impact on what we can accomplish next year.

But it is not true to say that our Stewardship program is about getting you to give to what we want to accomplish next year!  There is a very different focus, connection and emphasis in our Stewardship programs here at Good Sam.   My purpose here is to remind or tell you about this different focus here at Good Sam.

In worship, we sometimes remind you that, giving can be an act of Worship.  We hope you have had a chance to think about the giving you do at Good Sam and you are also in the process of learning how to make your giving, a worshipful experience.

Giving is learned.  And learning to give is also a part of our spiritual journeying.  Why is this so?  I think about it this way:  When we give, we have the opportunity to connect how we give with learning to set ourselves aside, to practice letting go, seeking to discover what God is doing with us, as opposed to what we would do with ourselves.

Jesus invites us to love God with all our Mind, strength and will and to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:34-40).  It is pretty hard to do this if we continually focus mostly on ourselves and what we want.  Learning to place ourselves in God’s hands is an essential activity in the journey of faith.  Learning to celebrate God’s activity in our lives and respond to that Grace with Thanksgiving is also an essential movement in the journey of faith.

At Good Sam, each fall, we invite you to pick up your own progress and growth in these movements of faith and decide with God what steps you might take to grow in giving, letting go and trusting God will your whole life, and then turn to God with Thanksgiving.

When you start receiving information about this year’s Stewardship program at–called “Giving and Growing in Faith”–we hope you will stop to reflect on your own need or interest to grow in faith and invest yourself in this essential movement of growing in faith.  As always, we will make good and faithful use of everything you share with us to support life and ministry at Good Sam and our work in the community of St. Mary’s County and beyond.

Peace and Faithful journeying,

Pastor Mitch