Our church quietly has helped many people in need in our immediate area over time, typically with groceries and sometimes with utilities help. The amount we offer is fairly small but can help a person get through until they can access help from bigger organizations. Right now, our “Silent” fund (so called because it’s entirely confidential) is depleted. Our current goal is to raise $1,000, which should get us through until the end of the year. Please consider helping your neighbors and fellow church members in need.
We’re also thinking about the background, the things that happen that we don’t see, in one more way right now: the gifts of African-American musicians to our church history cannot be underestimated. We have all sung spirituals from our hymnal; my personal favorite is Swing Low, Sweet Chariot. Given that many of these songs were composed and passed on by people who were enslaved—often by other church members, including Methodists—and that there were entire generations of people whose labor went unpaid, the Conference passed a resolution encouraging all churches to make a donation to African-American education or arts funds in remembrance of these gifts and their labor. Out of love and out of our joy in the music which we have been given, please consider contributing to our gift for that as well.
I’ll see you in church, celebrating our common life, on Sunday!
Becky
Prayer
Ever-generous God,
You give us so much.
Many of us know or have known need,
But we also know community, and love,
And your persistence and your redemption.
We thank you for all the gifts which we have been given.
We thank you for a loving church community.
We thank you for the hope you give us.
Thank you for the gifts you keep on giving,
even when we live our lives oblivious to them.
Teach us to notice and to treasure,
not only your gifts but also each other
and those who are in need around us.
Truly, as so many have said before us,
Blessed are you, O Lord, God of all creation.
And blessed are we, that you give us so many gifts. Amen.