By The Rev. Dr. Carl Grosse
You are a gracious bunch. Every food event I’ve been to displayed epic cooking and quantities. Your responses to genuine needs like flood relief or Family Promise are swift and generous. You’re so willing to pray for each other…half of the time in some classes goes to sharing prayer requests. Denise and I have personally experienced your kindness in so many ways, including the recent Pastor Appreciation hoopla.
What I also notice are the moments individuals show care and reach out to each other. Sometimes it’s talking through a problem with a friend who has a listening ear and wise heart. Other times it’s reacting to someone else’s quirks with tolerance and magnanimity. Often there are conversations after a class or worship service that suggest God nudged you and you want to help each other understand His message better and try to live it out. Many of you text, email, call and visit to check in and keep up with folks to keep God’s love fresh and the relationships growing. I’ve also seen people struggling and crying lean on someone else who has great understanding and deep faith for the moment.
These things might not make it into the Weekly Word, or have a line item in the budget, or show up in our Facebook feed. They are, in fact, the most significant work we do. Everything else is just a support for those moments: those interactions, the gestures of kindness and compassion, the happy food times, the crying on a helpful shoulder times. The building and our programs are packaging for people asking honest questions about the Bible and faith, and getting honest, helpful responses rather than just data dumps.
As we move through our Stewardship Campaign, try to keep a healthy perspective on what your financial seeds of the Spirit go for. The impact we have as followers of Jesus is less measured by numbers and quantities, and more by names written in the book of life. No names are there next to a dollar amount, but every single one of them is there because of love shown by someone else. Fountain City Presbyterian Church is a very special place for us to share that love with each other and all who hunger and thirst for the kind of world Jesus made possible.