Walk In Love

Friends and Fellow Travelers in Christ,

As we prepare for our annual Stewardship Campaign, I am writing to invite you into prayer about the journey we make together as a congregation – our spiritual home. We are companions for each other as we navigate the ups and downs of our shared lives. It is a walk of love that we make with each other.

Throughout this year, I have been inspired by how we hold each other in all the triumphs and heartaches of life. We also share the quiet moments of reflection and sharing that bond us together and to God. I have witnessed the way you care for the sick and shut-ins in our congregation. I have eaten at the table with you as you share your recipes and efforts for our community meals and potlucks. I have watched you support each other when you were struggling or needed a hand or a shoulder. You have helped me when I needed it.

This is what it means to be in community with each other – this is what walking in love looks like.

We have so many gifts to share, gifts of time, talent, and treasure that we freely give to support our ministry and do the mission work in our neighborhoods and communities. We do this not out of a sense that we will get back but because we are motivated by love. When Paul wrote to his friends in the Church at Ephesus, he reminded them that the very spark of love that founded their community of faith was one of giving. God showed God’s love for humanity by giving us a part of the Divine.

Certainly, this is what we do when we place our gifts on the stewardship altar – we bring our whole selves and share the best part of our love and labor. As you consider what you will share with the Church this year, I invite you to give thanks to the many people who have walked with you in love, supported you in your faith, and shared their gifts with you.

We should also give as a thanksgiving for all God has provided and how, through Christ, he holds all of us in a loving embrace.

Walking with you in Love,

Scott Hilton, Senior Warden