Sept. 18 - 24, 2006
Sept. 18 - 24, 2006
SOLI/Update
Our editorialist is off this week, but here's an oldie but goodie column from 2004. PS: The kids still love the swing.
I learned a lesson happiness this past week when the family celebrated my daughter Kiki's ninth birthday, marked by an especially generous outpouring of presents from her parents, schoolgirl friends and out-of-state relatives.
Kiki's little bedroom became a virtual Toys-R-Us showroom of the latest gifts to delight the heart of any third grader. And she loved all her presents and expressed deep gratitude.
So I was surprised by her response a few days later when I finally got around to one of those items languishing for months on my “to do” list. Spending a few bucks on sturdy rope at the hardware store, I took an old tire and strung up a swing from a branch high up in the big maple out back.
Forsaking her fancy toys, Kiki spent hours after school playing on the swing with her six-year-old brother, Kristian, until well after night had fallen and the frosty chill of autumn set in. I delighted to hear their happy squeals as I made dinner, and then had to coax them into the house with shepherd’s pie (a favorite) and hot chocolate.
In the rite of baptism in The Lutheran Book of Worship, we reject the Devil and all the Devil’s “empty promises.” In our consumer culture, we are especially vulnerable to the Devil's empty promise that it is our possessions and consumption that will make us happy. Like all the Devil's deceptions, that empty promise leads us away from God and destroys our soul.
We reject that empty promise when we take our deepest happiness from the simplest gifts of the hand of God: Hope, love, faith, family, friends, the joy of play and being together.
Surrounded by the toys of her heart’s desire, Kiki found joy by pushing her brother on a tree swing made from an old tire and a length of rope. May all of us find bliss so near, so simple and so readily available.
-Rob Blezard, editor and webmaster
Reprinting rights available for nonprofits! See the note below.*
New This Week:
Heard These Excuses Before?
If members of
your congregation come up with one excuse after another for not giving
generously -- or if you find yourself making excuses for not leading them --
here's a resource for you! This file rebuts every excuse imaginable. Makes for
fun, interesting reading. Share it at your next Stewardship Committee meeting.
Click here for "Common Excuses," from
Generous Giving.
Fall is a great time to clean out your schedule
(
We are repeating this column because a technical difficulty made it impossible
to view last week. We have repaired it. -- Webmaster)
"What is it in your life that really gives life to you and to others, and what
merely takes your time? And even if some of the things you are doing are
important to others, maybe you no longer need to be the one to do them."
Click here for the latest weekly column by
Pastor Dana Reardon. To read past columns,
click here.
The starting point of stewardship
Why
do people make a commitment to stewardship? Is it an investment strategy? An
obligation? In this essay the Rev. John Indermark explores these and other
common reasons before offering one of his own.
Click here for "The starting Point of
Stewardship," posted on the website of
the
Manitoba/Northwestern Ontario Synod, the Evangelical Lutheran Church
in Canada.
Statement
of thanks
"Does your congregation give out statements of
giving? Well columnist Tuck Aaker says you should make them statements of
thanks. "We are not at Charlie’s TV Service sending out a bill for services. We
are a congregation trying to be helpful to the person by keeping them up to date
with what has been given thus far. "
Click here for this column by Tuck Aaker,
writer for ELCA
Stewardship Resources.
Vision
Fulfillment
Facing a major capital campaign? Here's one expert's step-by-step
strategy for accomplishing going from vision to fulfillment. "Every successful
capital campaign, whether for new construction, renovation, debt reduction, or
budget enhancement, has a structure and a timeline from inception to completion.
While campaign lengths vary, four years is typical, and a capital campaign firm
is involved at strategic points when expertise and organization are needed
most." In ChristianityToday.com.
Click here for "Vision Fulfillment," from
Your Church
magazine.