Church Board Members  2011

 Session:
     Sue Betcher
     Ann Brillhart
     Eric Burgos
     Patrick Kim
     Jessica McCormick
     Mike McGough
     Caroline Mescia
     Courtney Smith
     Walter Steinmann, Jr
     Beverly Winkler
   

    Dorman Craig- Clerk
 
      

 Deacons:
     Felicia Burgos
     Jody Freinkel
     Barbara Haimann
     David Haimann
     Karen Holmes
     Alex Karpinski
     Robin Karpinski
     Margie Koenig
     Eileen Kuhn
     Donna Lauckner
     Shelly May
     Michael McDonald
     Matt Millichap
     Marilyn O'Neill
     Stephen O'Neill
     Jim Primavera
     Dan Uniss
       

 Trustees:
    Dave Blake
    Djenane Duhaney
    Arthur Ferber.
    Douglas Hathaway
    Charles Heyer
    Robert McNinch
    Debbie Michelsen
    Anthony Pomponio
    Richard Williamson
   
  
    

 Church Treasurer:
                       Lew Brillhart

   Pastor’s Message
                   November 13, 2011

Baptism and Stewardship

Matthew 6:19-21

The question is not, as the TV commercial would have it, “What’s in your wallet?”  No, the first question is, “What’s in your heart?”   What are the things you love the most, what are the things that you value the most?  So, for you, what’s in your heart?  Can you tell me one thing?

These are the things we value most, the things that are closest to our heart.  And for Walter and Kerri, Trey and Ryan are what’s in their heart this morning. 

In baptism God makes promises, the church makes promises, and we as parents make promises.  God promises that we are God’s beloved children, called by name and created for God’s glory, that God will forgive us when we are not the beloved children we were created to be, that we are one with Christ, and that we are part of the church, the body of Christ.

The church promises to support us as parents and to help our children grow as disciples of Jesus.

And we as parents declare our faith, and promise to trust God’s love revealed in Jesus Christ, to model in our lives active participation in the worship and mission of the church, and to nurture our children in faith so they might study, know, love, and serve Jesus Christ.

Why do we make these promises?  We make these promises because our children are one of the most important things in our hearts and lives.  Because we love and value our children, we will do anything we can as parents to bring them to a joyful, loving, meaningful life.  As parents we are unwilling that our children live without the life-giving story of God’s love in Jesus.  The Good News has given our life meaning, we are committed to seeing that our children receive that gift of life to enjoy as they will.  Now, I’ve learned as parent that I can’t force children into faith; I can only see that they receive the gift, and trust that in time they will live with that gift.

Because our children are what’s in our heart, because we are grateful to God for the gift of our children, we will be the very best parents we can be.

Let me suggest to you that our stewardship commitments are based on the same premise as our baptismal commitments.  We are grateful to God for all that God has given us: our possessions, our talents and skills, and our time.  In gratitude for those gifts we commit to be good stewards, to care for those gifts to the very best of our capacity; to be generous with the possessions we have, to develop and use our talents and skills, to use the time allotted to us wisely.  Just as we treasure and nurture our children, so we treasure and nurture the other gifts God has given us of possessions, talents, and time.

Our baptism commitment as a church is to provide a place where our children will be loved and nurtured, where they feel safe, where they will hear the Good News, where they will see the Good News enacted in worship and mission, and where they will be invited to participate in service to Jesus Christ and to become leaders in that ministry.  That’s a big promise.  Let me share just a few examples of how that promise is kept.  To keep that baptism promise our Sunday School teachers take time out from worship to share the story of Jesus with their class; Charlotte takes time and utilizes her formidable talents to share the Good News in musical form; last week Eric Burgos and Christina Turkington risked their lives by putting sticks in the hands of our children and pointing them toward Halloween piñatas. We use our time and gifts to share the Good News and to develop the gifts of our children.

We also devote significant financial resources to keeping that promise.  We provide a safe, attractive facility, we employ staff people, Joyce and Andy, and we model lively worship and generous mission giving.  We are fortunate to have an endowment provided by the foresight of others to assist in this, but it is imperative that we as a congregation provide the lion’s share of those financial resources.

This morning we invite you to place in the offering plates your estimates of giving to the church for 2012.  We trust that you will keep in mind the baptism promises we made this morning to Ryan and to all our children.  

Jesus wanted to move us from storing up for ourselves treasures on earth, to storing up treasure in heaven, therefore, he didn’t asked What’s in your heart?  He asked, where is your heart?

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:19-21)

What happens to our stuff, to all the things we purchased because we thought at the time that we couldn’t live without them?  But what happens to the intangible things in our lives, the faith, the love, the joy, the generosity?  Those intangibles never wear out, never become obsolete, can never be taken from us.  The things stored here on earth are transient and will ultimately wind up in a dumpster; the things in heaven will endure.

Then Jesus added, Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  What you love and value, and how you spend your treasure are intimately related.  Are our children, are the promises made to our children at baptism close enough to our hearts that our treasure will generously follow those commitments?

Our stewardship commitments are made not just to the church of Jesus Christ, they are made to our children as well.

I read somewhere, Give God what is right, not what’s left.  We need to give the church of Jesus Christ and our kids what’s right and what’s best, not what’s left over.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.

                                                                        Pastor Erik Spencer