"A Personal Commitment" I Chronicles 29: 10-22; 2 Corinthians 8: 8-15

As we continue through our "Shining Our Light" capital campaign, the campaign consultant requested that I share my own personal commitment to the campaign.  It has been interesting to reflect on my personal commitment in the context of our theological understanding of stewardship.

Several thoughts that have not made their way into a sermon yet.

1.  Each of us has a different context out of which we give and connection to this church and this particular capital campaign.  I am not a member of the congregation, as I am a member of presbytery.  I am the minister, however, which has its own set of implications.  As someone who is very dependent on the AV system each week, I am particularly interested in that aspect of the project.

2.  Leslie and I give our offering every two weeks out of our earnings, as we will do our giving to the capital campaign, as opposed to having an investment portfolio or pool of savings which we can use to fund our giving.

3.  I like the challenge of giving and the opportunity it gives us to establish in our own budget how we value our giving back to God relative to the other things we do and enjoy in life.

4.  I observe in myself a tendency to be more of a "obligation" giver, if you will, who wants to make sure that we meet our giving goal (10% of income) when we tally up our income and giving totals at the end of the year.  I bring to that a lack of generosity if the giving would extend me much beyond the goal.  My wife, however, is a more joyful giver -- she gets excited about a project or feels sympathetic toward a group and is willing to give, regardless of whether we have already given our quota for that month.  In other words, I feel the joy of giving more as a sense of the satisfaction of accomplishing a goal; my wife feels the joy of giving because she is invested in the particular projects we support.

5. In the I Chronicles passage, David speaks of a "freewill offering" of the people.  How "freewill" is it when the King is asking you to do it?  Likewise, how "freewill" does it feel when your church is asking you to give?

6.  I love the enthusiasm David feels for giving.

7.  Paul calls the Corinthians to a sense of "eagerness" in their giving.  As we think about giving now, we do so in uncertain economic times, in a time of political unrest, and in a time when friends and family are being deployed to serve in harm's way.  How do we "eagerly" give?  On the other hand, Paul is writing to people who are in a  fragile place as a minority group that is at risk in the larger society and in the context of their Jewish tradition that is at odds with them, so they knew something about uncertainty as well.

not sure how this is going to fit together in a sermon, but ...

Peace,

Richard