“What are you grateful for, Daddy?” I remember my son Chris’s then-small voice coming across the dining room table as we blessed our dinner. Each of us, in turn, would give God thanks for the things we were grateful for, whether a special moment, a kind word, a dear friend…or a new Lego. I am grateful for those moments of childhood wonder in my sons, who are now young men in their 20s.

Many years ago, my mom wrote a mealtime blessing that I didn’t fully appreciate until I was an adult…when I stopped taking life’s blessings for granted. “For love and friends, for home and health, we are most thankful for this wealth. Teach us, Lord, to be kind to all, and to appreciate your bountiful blessings. Amen.” My mom was no theologian, but I remain thankful for her words and for the fact that she and my dad shared the experience of a life of faith with me and my siblings.

I am grateful today for the United Church of Christ and its bold, faithful witness across hundreds of years. I am thankful for Second Congregational UCC in Greenwich, Connecticut, where I was confirmed and for First Congregational UCC in Boulder, where I was ordained. I am grateful for all the people who reflected God’s love and helped me become who I am today.

I am grateful today for Plymouth…for the generations of people on whose shoulders we stand today. For the Volgadeutsch immigrants who founded this church with the help of the Congregational Board for Homeland Missions, which reached out to immigrant communities. I am grateful for the ministry of my predecessor, Fred Edmonds, who served Plymouth for 23 years and helped transform it into a congregation with a heart for social justice. I am grateful for the hundreds of people who form this church today and that it is a beacon for progressive Christianity in northern Colorado.

It’s important to say, “Thanks!” isn’t it?  It’s important to express our gratitude, both in word and in deed. “Thanks” to all the people who nurtured us along our life’s path, to the people whose hard work built the church where we now worship, to the people with whom we are bound in covenant.

A few weeks ago, I included this sentence from Desmond Tutu as our Call to Worship: “What we are, what we have, even our salvation…All is gift; all is grace, not to be achieved, but to be received as a gift freely given.” Who is the giver? Who makes the gift of life itself possible? Just as it is important to thank the folks who help us along life’s journey, it’s important to say “Thanks!” to God as well, which is why an offering is a part of our worship. In non-pandemic times, we sing our offering forward with a Doxology: “Praise God from whom all blessings flow!”

What are the ways you say “Thanks!” to God?

This Sunday is Consecration Sunday, when we ask for God’s blessing on our pledges of financial support for our congregation in 2022. It will be a celebration you won’t want to miss, either online or in person, with Beatles and Burritos!

It has been an incredibly tough 20 months of pandemic for all of us, but I am grateful that God has not abandoned us, nor have we abandoned one another. We are making it…something that none of us could do on our own. We are All Together Now! Things still aren’t back to normal, but aren’t you grateful for the ways we are able to connect at Plymouth and with God, even now?

I hope you’ll join me this Sunday as we celebrate, offer thanks, and consecrate our pledges for 2022.
 
With gratitude,

P.S. If you can’t be with us on Sunday, you can pledge online anytime! Just go to plymouthucc.org/pledge or take a picture of this QR code with your smartphone.

Looking around, Jesus said to his disciples,
"It will be very hard for the wealthy to enter God's kingdom!"
His words startled the disciples, …
"Children, it's difficult to enter God's kingdom!
It's easier for a camel to squeeze through the eye of a needle
than for a rich person to enter God's kingdom."
They were shocked even more …, "Then who can be saved?"
Jesus looked at them carefully and said,
"It's impossible with human beings, but not with God.
All things are possible for God."… 
Peter said to him, "Look, we've left everything and followed you." …
[Jesus said,] “…many who are first will be last.
And many who are last will be first."
Mark 10.23b -25, 28, 31 *

I don’t know about you, but Hal’s sermon this past Sunday really challenged me to think again… and again and again….about my financial resources. Hal and I may live in the same house, but we rarely hear each other’s sermons before the worship services on Sunday morning. We often surprise one another. Echoing Jesus’ words, Hal’s words us challenged how we look at ourselves and at our lives as Americans. None of us may be in the top 1% of the wealthiest, but we are in the top echelons of the wealthy in comparison to most of the world’s people. If we have a place to live, food to eat, education, healthcare of some kind and opportunity for work – and meaningful work at that -  we can consider ourselves “rich.”
 
The difficulty of being “rich” in our world is that it has the potential to cut us off from the wealth of God’s kin-dom or realm that is here and now on our earth. The possessions and accoutrements of first world wealth, even middle to upper middle class wealth, can distract us from seeking God first in our lives. We get distracted with taking care of houses and cars, etc., etc. We are distracted with worrying about investments or getting ahead in jobs so we can make more money. We think we have built our small “kingdoms” of family and resources all by ourselves. We forget that God is the giver of all we have! Living in God’s economy, in God’s song of abundance, there is more enough for all!
 
Jesus invites those of us who are “first” in line in the world’s eyes to move to the back of the line. My imagination shows me a line of people waiting to receive food — perhaps in a buffet or cafeteria situation or maybe it’s an abundant potluck. Some of the people are emaciated and look as if they have not eaten for days while others are healthy and robust. It is quite apparent that there is enough food for all on the table. Which group should go first in line? It is too obvious for words. Yet this is not the justice in which our contemporary competitive systems always operate, is it? Even if we care deeply about changing the world for justice, we are often overwhelmed by the challenge.
 
What is an action item we can each do to move from “first” to “last” even as we remember that there is really no linear order in God’s realm. We are ALL God’s people interconnected in love. What can we do – each of us, right now?
 
We can consider our resources, their abundance. Some of us are at a more abundant time in life than others, true, yet we all have something to give. And we can each give out of what we have to build the ministry of Plymouth as part of God’s realm on earth.
 
What can you give that challenges you to acknowledge and celebrate God’s abundance? $10 a month? $25? $100? $150? $300? $500? $1000? More?
 
Give out of prayerful consideration, out of a full and grateful heart!  Yes, you will be helping others as our budget dollars go to our Outreach and Mission partners, to supporting the spiritual formation of children, youth and adults, to facilitating inspiring worship, to building the administrative infrastructure of our church that provides transparent communication and a solid logistical foundation for our ministries. More importantly, you will be intentionally remembering that your whole self, body, mind and soul, live and move and have their being in God and God’s Spirit of Abundance. 
 
The prophet Amos reminds us. Seek the LORD and live, … Seek good and not evil, that you may live; … the [Holy One], will be with you. (Amos 5. 6a,14a) “All things are possible for God," says Jesus. Even giving more than we might imagine at first glance that we can give!
 
Take the challenge with me,

Friends,

First … a Big Thank You to All who have pledged for 2021! We deeply appreciate your faithfulness in sharing the abundance that God has shared with you!

And it is not too late to pledge…just go to the Plymouth Pledge page on our website to fill out an online pledge card. If you would like to become an Evergreen Partner and have your pledge deducted automatically from your bank account each month you can go to our Evergreen Partner page. Thank you in advance for pledging for 2021!

Performing in the musical Godspell for an entire year during my sophomore year in college was a life-changing and life-shaping experience for me. It still impacts my life. There is a prayer of thanksgiving in the back of our New Century Hymnal, #844, which I have used many times in worship to dedicate the offering because it is good theology – and because it reminds me of one of Godspell’s most beloved show tunes, “All Good Gifts.”

“All good gifts around us come from you, O God. You have given us life, and new life in Christ. As you have given us gifts, so we offer our gifts that we may be gifts to one another, even as Jesus so taught and lived. Amen.”

I offer you the video below this week to celebrate our 2020 pledge campaign, “Pilgrims on a Journey.” It is a beautiful rendition of Godspell’s “All Good Gifts” recorded by the ensemble, “Trumpets.” And it is dedicated by them to all our frontline workers during the pandemic. Here in northern Colorado we can offer up thanks and prayers particularly for the firefighters still working on the front lines of the Cameron Peak Fire as well as all the other folks who have been on the job throughout the pandemic.

With you, my fellow pilgrims, on the journey,

It’s Stretch Time at Plymouth! We have a Big Stretch Goal in our 2020 budget! Let’s rejoice! Stretching makes us strong! This Sunday is Consecration Sunday, the day we bring our pledge cards to the communion table in worship and ask God to bless them. (If you won’t be here, you can pledge early online or by mail or in the office.) 
 
According to the Harvard Medical School website and David Nolan, a physical therapist at Massachusetts General Hospital: Stretching keeps the muscles flexible, strong, and healthy, and we need that flexibility to maintain a range of motion in the joints......Regular stretching keeps muscles long, lean, and flexible, and this means that exertion "won't put too much force on the muscle itself," says Nolan. Healthy muscles also help a person with balance...
 
What does this have to do with our 2020 budget? We have grown as a church, built muscle strength in staff and programming. We built a governance structure that breathes life into our aerobic fitness as we agilely recruit volunteers who respond to the crucial issues of our times and develop the spiritual formation of our congregation. We are larger and stronger that we were  ten years ago with more professional staff that give us better infrastructure. 
 
Now it's time to stretch ourselves with a large budget goal for 2020 so that we maintain our muscular flexibility in our growing staff support of God’s work through Plymouth. We need to stretch so we can have a larger range of muscular motion in our extravagant welcome to the northern Colorado community and to CSU students, staff and faculty. With a larger congregation we need to maintain healthy balance in our programming and in balancing the work shared between staff and volunteers. Stretching keeps us flexible and agile, as well as strong and  balance, for the movement of the God’s Holy Spirit in our mission and ministry as a vital congregation. 
 
This past Sunday, our conference minister, the Rev. Sue Artt, thanked us for the great generosity of Plymouth as we are the largest contributor in the conference to Our Church’s Wider Mission that provides basic support to our conference and national staff. We also excel in our four other special UCC offerings and our own community-wide and international mission giving. Sue also challenged each of us to S-T-R-E-T-C-H in giving to our 2020 budget so we can continue our strong work for God’s realm. She quoted the late Joseph Campbell, who said, “Money is neither spiritual or non-spiritual. Money is congealed energy. Releasing it is releasing life’s possibilities.” 
 
The energy of money can release life’s possibilities when spent well. When our intention, integrity, and stretching toward a meaningful goal are aligned, we release the energy of our treasure, time and talent. Generosity is generated in surprising ways! (If you were not hear this past Sunday morning, I invite you to listen to Sue’s sermon.)
 
The strength and flexibility of Plymouth as an outpost of God’s realm in a troubled world will only be maintained through the willingness of each Plymouth member to take the risk of releasing our individual congealed energies of money. Where can you take the risk of stretch in your budget? Some of us can release large amounts of money’s congealed energy. Others small. Either way it’s the s-t-r-e-t-c-h that counts. 
 
Join me in this opportunity to stretch and release God’s possibilities through Plymouth.
 
Blessings,