“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him will not perish

but have eternal life…”  John 3:16

I hope this finds you well. I have couple of things to write about this week.  

First is giving.   Our congregation is asking for your commitments to our church for the upcoming year, and I hope you have received our mailing about our 2022 giving appeal and have begun to consider how you can respond.  Our theme for this year’s appeal is derived from the passage from John 3:16 – sometimes referred to as “the gospel within the gospel.’  “God so loved … He Gave”.   I will be preaching on this text this coming weekend, emphasizing the character of God’s love. If you think of it like the sun whose warmth and radiance are ever flowing outward, then you can begin to understand how God's love influences the life of the believer.  We radiate back that which we have first received – our love ever directed outward.  Giving is an expression of love given in faith.  Yes, sometimes giving is a “have to" thing as in “Boy, I better get to the store because I forgot today is my spouse’s birthday!”. But giving is best done, as an intentional, regular, generous response to the God “who so loved … He gave.” 

Martin Luther famously said, “God does not need our good works … our neighbor does.”  In the famous story of the "Widow’s Mite (offering)” in Mark 12 (also Luke 21), the emphasis at first seems to be on the relative size of the offering made by a poor widow compared to those who were able to put “large sums” in the temple treasury.  Yes, it is a story of faith and our Lord always looked for opportunities to lift up those who demonstrated such. But easily overlooked in this story is the contrast between that same “temple treasury” and the financial state of this widow, who Mark says, “gave all she had to live on.” In truth, that is not how it was supposed to have been – at least not among God’s people Israel. The temple treasury existed in the first place, not primarily for God, but for the sake of widows and orphans who should never have sunk to such a level of poverty in the first place.   

Our Lord uses this story to remind us to trust in God who provides for us in all things. It is also a commentary on who needs our generosity.  The giving of those whom the Lord loves is directed to those whom the Lord loves, whenever and wherever we are given the opportunity and are able. If John 3:16 be our guide, the Lord loves the whole world.  

Our giving is a testimony to the kind of people we are. In obedience to the Lord, we dedicate ourselves to tend to the world God still so loves and “gets loved” through his church and his people.

Thank you for your commitments to our church in the past. We know that you are giving prayerful consideration to how you will respond in faith – again – in the upcoming year.

I also want to briefly mention a new Mission of the Month partner we are welcoming in November – Care Net Ministries of Milwaukee.  They are located on Central Avenue near downtown and dedicate themselves to caring for women who are pregnant and concerned about how they will care for their baby.  Often such women decide to abort their child. Care Net does whatever it can to help them choose life instead, equipping them through an array of services. These include basic physical needs such as baby clothing, supplies and nutrition, to classes on parenting, etc.  I am grateful our Mission and Outreach team chose this new ministry partner, and I look forward to introducing them to you through a special guest from Care Net this coming weekend.

Please do consider a generous Mission of the Month gift for Care Net.

Thank you,

Pastor Ken