I have a different perspective on giving this year.  As many of you know, my mother has been facing a lot of challenges in her life lately.  I'm spending a lot more time with her, interacting with her caregivers, doing care myself, shopping, bringing her meals, other errands.  This has wrought havoc in my life and unavoidably pulled me away from some things, including to some extent my participation in the life of our congregation.

These increased demands on my time mean that I've had to cut back on not just committee and other "extra-curricular" involvements, but often my time in worship as well.  Similarly increased demands on my finances have left me falling behind on my pledge commitment. This feels awkward and unhappy to me, because I receive support from this congregation and I want to offer my faithful support in return.

But guess what?  My congregation is still there for me, despite my decreased financial giving, no worries that I'm not on three or four committees, never mind that I'm not in worship every Sunday.  Pastor Marlene still visits my mother regularly; I know that many of you include us in your prayers; and I receive emails, phone calls, and other, more concrete expressions of care.  The Body of Christ is not a country club where you have to pay your dues or you may not participate. Life has been hard for me in 2018, but the experience has reinforced for me that I am part of the right faith community.  Chances are, if you're reading this, so are you!

These are exciting times for our congregation, and we are at a true turning point.  We now have the opportunity to grow and reinvent our community in new ways that we simply couldn't imagine before.  This will be both more rewarding and more work than we may be able to imagine. We cannot take on this challenge empty-handed.

What shall we bring?  Whatever we can. What shall we bring?  Anything we can. What shall we bring? Everything we can!  No one of us can do it alone...but all of us can do it together!