I really appreciate hearing from members of our congregation each fall about the ways Plymouth has changed their lives and why they support our congregation. They are poignant, honest, profound, and sometimes even funny. About ten years ago, Bob Sturtevant did a great talk (with apologies to David Letterman) centered around his Top Ten Reasons to Give. Number One was “Because through his son’s teachings, God asked me to.” <Mic Drop>

There are a lot of reasons Jane Anne and I make giving to Plymouth a priority, but for me, giving to the church has been an important part of my spiritual journey. Back when I was in graduate school and we had a newborn, it was hard to pledge, but we managed to give $1,200 a year to First Congregational UCC in Boulder. When we moved to Connecticut, I was the minister responsible for stewardship and mission giving in our conference, and with another young son, we found ways to increase our pledge to First Church in Windsor, UCC. And our move to Fort Collins in 2002 brought new responsibilities and new perspectives. I heard Tom and Paula Dille talk about tithing (that’s 10 percent) their income when they were young adult members of a UCC church in Missouri. I heard Larry McCulloch say that he invested in the church, because it has been the greatest agent of change over centuries. I witnessed Jackie and Kevin Schneider pay their full pledge when the pandemic started to help ensure we didn’t have cashflow problems. I saw one of our members who recently lost a job submit a pledge…that’s an act of deep faith. I have learned so much about God’s abundance from the people who form this congregation. You are an inspiration.

God imbues the universe with “the lyric of abundance,” as Walter Brueggemann puts it. There is enough of everything to go around — that’s God’s intention. The problem lies in distribution. I want to be part of God’s movement, to sing the lyric of abundance not the dirge of scarcity, and I want to do everything I can to support the realm of God. That’s why I support Plymouth financially.

You and I have witnessed incredible injustices in our nation. We are living through a deadly pestilence of biblical proportion. How are we to respond? We can sit back and wring our hands. We can vent on Facebook and feel righteous indignation. But how does that change the world or change lives? Even as I write, our Immigration Ministry Team is using our North Wing to sort donated clothing and supplies for PSD students who arrived in this country not just without documentation, but alone. I want to support that. Carla is developing a lay caregiving program that will have far-reaching impact. I want to support that. When this pandemic is over, we are going to come together to celebrate and sing and offer thanks to God for our deliverance. “O Lord, I want to be in that number,” and I’ll support that!

We have choices about whom we will serve. As for me and my family, we will serve God.

Blessings!

P.S. You won’t want to miss worship on Sunday…jazz, inspiration, blessing, and celebration! And you can pledge online right now at plymouthucc.org/pledge You don’t have to wait!

Do you ever want to make a bigger difference in the world?  Are you overwhelmed at times with all the issues that need crucial action and wonder how you should take action? Me, too!
 
I often wonder what difference I make in the big issues of our times. I am not regularly on the front lines protesting. Though I vote each time I get the chance, my time seems taken up with everyday actions that while helpful to others, don’t shift political or economic policy. I am deeply moved by so many human rights issues, environmental issues, peace making issues. I pray for the people on the front lines of these issues – people in our own congregation. I pray for God’s mysterious healing action in these issues. Still I am at a loss as to how I can tangibly help.

This past Sunday night as I led our 6 p.m. service I had an epiphany about a way that I am making a difference of which I was not aware. This revelation came as I watched the most recent Stewardship video for the third time that day:

The video features Arpi Miller, one of the most active members of Plymouth’s Immigration Ministry Team. Arpi told of our Ministry Team’s involvement with a legal clinic for Dreamers after the termination of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival in September 2017. I realized at a deeper level that through my yearly pledge to Plymouth, I had helped these young people. The termination of DACA broke my heart. So unfair. However, my financial support of Plymouth made a difference in the lives of people I don’t know, but care about deeply.
 
It came back to me that the pledge Hal and I make each year to support Plymouth’s mission and ministry has a ripple effect in ways that we may never know.  Not only do we support the obvious – our three worship services, wonderful music program, our Christian formation programming for all ages, our mission and outreach in the Fort Collins community and beyond, our numerous fellowship opportunities, our beautiful building and grounds and our staff – we also make a difference in the world in surprising and unexpected ways.
 
We have a big challenge at Plymouth this year as we pledge to support our 2020 budget. Some years our budget increases in incremental ways. This year we need to make a leap of faith for the future. We need to increase our pledge income 15.4% so we can continue to make big differences in the life of our faith community and in the wider world.
 
On Sunday, our guest preacher, Dr. Charles Buck, spoke to us about “heavenly economics,” God’s economics of abundance and plenty rather than human economics of scarcity, limitations and competition. (If you weren’t able to be in worship check out his sermon here.) Dr. Buck encouraged us to look around and recognize God’s abundance. Its everywhere! Then to share it! Like love multiplies when we share love, so does God’s abundance. In fact we see abundance better when we take the risk of sharing it, of working out of heavenly economics. And sharing multiplies abundance, multiplies the difference we make. Think of it. An abundant increase of 15%+ in our budget will make an exponential increase in the difference we can make.
 
Join Hal and me in an increased faith promise pledge to Plymouth in 2020. Click here to make your pledge. Let’s make a BIG difference in God’s world!
 
Blessings,

It seems a man was very troubled with many problems.
He took an oath promising
to sell his house and all its furnishings
and give them to the poor
if his problems were ever solved.

And there did come a time when his problems were solved.
Life became peaceful again.
But by this time the man was not sure that he wanted
to sell his house and all its furnishings
to give the money to the poor.
He considered what to do.

       Finally he decided.
He put his house up for sale for one piece of silver.
But in order to buy the house
one also had to buy the cat that lived in the house.
The cat sold for 10,000 pieces of silver.
Soon the man had a buyer for the house
and all its furnishings
AND the cat. 

      When the deal was done
the man gave the one piece of silver to the poor
and pocketed the 10,000.

“The Oath”
from Tales of the Dervishes;
Teaching Stories of the Sufi Masters
over the Past Thousand Years
by Idris Shah.)

What do you think? Was he an ethical man? Who did he serve first – himself or the great good? Where was his heart? I think he would have struggled with Jesus saying, “You cannot serve God and wealth.” It is one of his most demanding. We hear him say it twice in the four gospels. Once in Matthew 6 and then again in Luke 16. 

"No one can serve two masters;
for a slave will either hate the one 
and love the other,
or be devoted to the one and despise the other. 
You cannot serve God and wealth.”

His saying echoes his ancestor, Joshua, who asked the people of Israel who were new to the abundance of the land of promise, “Whom will you serve?” (Joshua 24. 14-24) Will you serve the gods of your new neighbors, the Amorites, in this land of abundance? OR Yahweh, the Lord, the God who had brought you out of slavery and through 40 years in the wilderness to live in the Promised Land? Joshua said to the people, “As for me and my household we will serve the Lord.” 
 
Joshua’s question and Jesus’ blunt statement are still relevant for us today. Who will we serve? Yes, we must make a living, do the best we can for our children’s welfare and education, pay our debts, save for retirement. But as we do all of this, who will we serve? God or wealth. We cannot serve both with ultimate allegiance. 
 
I know this is hard stuff. When it comes down to our most important decision making what comes first? Our fears and concerns over money? OR our faith in the abundance of God? If we are trusting the God we know through Jesus who lived out God’s self-giving love, will God ask us to put the families that God gave us in danger, in order to give back to God? I don’t think we serve that kind of God. Remember the God of the Joshua and the people of Israel was the God who delivered the people from slavery and oppression, who preserved them in the wilderness. The God of Jesus was with him through death into resurrection. God has given us the abundance of life that we enjoy. Won’t this God help us make decisions about the use of our money? Doesn’t the God who gives us life here on earth and life eternal deserve our trust as we prioritize the use of all we have been given? 
 
Who will we serve? And where is our heart’s first allegiance?

Blessings on the journey,