6 Ways to Sunday: Service
By Susie Riley SERVICE: noun / serv·ice 1. the action of helping or doing work for someone. synonyms: favor, kindness, good turn, helping hand; More assistance, help, aid, offices, mnistrations 2. an act of assistance. Depending on the dictionary you are using the word "service" can be a noun or verb with up to 20 different uses. I believe the meaning above is best suited for my purposes. As a young person just beginning to serve, it honestly was not always what I wanted to do. Coming from a family where doing community service was very important, I had little choice. For me my service to our church and in the community has been a discovery of myself. The act of doing for others has helped me evolve and grow in my faith. Through service I feel I have become a member of the community of Christ, not an individual who is out to save the world but a piece of a very large puzzle. Jesus set the perfect example of how to love and serve those around Him. At baptism, we promise to serve others. We can serve others as Jesus did in many ways, helping family members, sharing the gospel with others, performing simple acts of kindness and giving of ourselves when it is not always easy. Trinity United Methodist Church attracted me because of their commitment and spiritual connection to service. Jesus taught spiritual maturity is never an end in itself. The journey includes service to others. It is important to practice what we believe in order to avoid spiritual stagnation. Through my service, I started to see aspects of my life, past and present, somewhat differently and with a much greater sense of understanding and gratitude. Trinity is blessed to have such a service oriented congregation and I feel grateful to be one small part of that!
2 Comments
 6 Ways to Sunday: Gifts
By Peter Gray One of the ways we can (and should) support the church is by contributing money. It is through our monetary gifts, as well as our spiritual gifts, that God's word is spread on earth. We enjoy learning about how we can better utilize our spiritual gifts, how we can respond to the needs of others, how our prayers helped someone feel the presence of God in the midst of crisis, and how we can act more like Christ. Why is it then, that we shun speaking about how to grow in our financial giving? I believe, we welcome advice on spending our spiritual gifts because we recognize we need help. On the other hand, I think we believe we are already experts on money and we don't want anyone to break through that thin facade. I'm as guilty of this as the next guy. We seem to give little thought to shelling out higher prices every year for season football and basketball tickets, yet we take great offense when the church asks us to consider increasing our giving. Do you notice the dichotomy? We are okay with higher prices being forced on us, but get upset when we are asked to just think about giving more. We pay more for gas, for food, for entertainment all the time. We have our favorite movies on VHS, DVD, AND we're in the process of building our Blue-Ray library of those very same movies. I'm not making any judgments here, simply pointing out the difference in thought patterns. Over the years, I've heard a number of discussions (and rationalizations) on tithing. Is 10% the "right" tithe? Is it 10% of gross income or net take-home pay? Are college expenses I pay for my children excluded? Can I include the time I volunteer as part of my monetary tithe? Do I count what I give to the capital campaign as part of the 10%? We want to claim we are tithing and justify our stinginess at the same time. What if we consider wanting to pay for our child's college education, yet being restricted to ONLY providing 10% of our income. In order to maximize the amount I could give my child, I would be counting every thing possible; gross pay (before tax-free deductions), tips, everything sold on eBay and during yard sales, the birthday card money from Aunt Bessie, the value of gasoline that my brother put in the tank when he borrowed my truck. The list could be endless. But, we generally view church giving from the other end of the spectrum. The amount of money I give to the church is between God and me. Similar to the time I volunteer and the time I spend in prayer, is between God & me. But, at the same time, it is important for my spiritual growth to participate in activities, attend worship, study the Bible and, yes, donate money to the church as well. While the amount given is confidential, the act of giving should be a topic that can be openly discussed. Jesus wants us to be engaged in all aspects of his ministry; from the spiritual highs to the mundane daily administrative tasks. Trinity has many great resources in people and in physical assets. It takes money to maintain and to grow both of those resources. As you consider how you can support Trinity and its missions with monetary donations, think about the positive impact Trinity has had on past generations, on current generations and all the generations that will come. |
Trinity VoicesSee what people are saying about Trinity. Read and watch testimonies. Categories
All
Archives
December 2020
|
RSS Feed
Trinity United Methodist Church
Growing in love and service through relationships with God and community
Connect with Us:
|
|
