| PASTOR'S MESSAGE MAY 2007 |
Life is a gift and I think I speak for a lot of people when I say, most of the times we take life for granted. We
tend to think of life as a given. It's just here. How about you? How do you feel about your life?> Is your
attitude of life not so much that you have it to live but that you have to live it? Does one day seem very much like
the day that's gone before it? Is life just a given for you?
That's how many people feel until those times in life when something happens, and the awful vulnerability of life
is exposed, and we see that every moment of our life is hanging over an abyss - an abyss of nothingness -- and
that it is only by a gift that each day comes to us. And it is in these moments that we realize that life is not a
given. Life is a gift.
In church, in our place of worship,m we realize, perhaps more acutely than any other place in our lives, that life is
a gift and that is comes from God. Every breath you take is a gift form God. Every step you take is a gift from
god. Every time your heart beats you are experiencing a gift from God. Life is a gift and at any moment it can be
taken away from us. All that we give of ourselves is an offering back to what God has given us.
Think of it as breathing. When we breathe in, we receive the very air that is a gift, and then we have to breather
out. Over the years I have come to this conclusion that the meaning of life is to receive life as a gift and then to
offer it back as a gift. It is as important as breathing in and out. Think about how terrible it would be if we only
breathed in, if we were only on the received end. If we were only takers. We would soon burst. We receive and
then we give. We breathe out. We share the gift that has been given to us.
This is truly the basis of our life and the basis for our stewardship. If nothing else happens this Fall during our
stewardship campaign, I really want us to get the sense that life is a gift that God has given us.
God is with us. God is with us in our joys and sorrows. Jesus lived a life of love. He taught love. In fact, Jesus
is love. Jesus poured out his life in love and it lead him to the cross. He has given us his all. That God should
love us so much as to give life for us - and then to give it back again - it should take our breath away.
You and I receive life as a gift. We offer life back as a gift. Our entire program of stewardship is based on this.
Stewardship of the church, yes, but of all life as well.
Pastor Steltzer
tend to think of life as a given. It's just here. How about you? How do you feel about your life?> Is your
attitude of life not so much that you have it to live but that you have to live it? Does one day seem very much like
the day that's gone before it? Is life just a given for you?
That's how many people feel until those times in life when something happens, and the awful vulnerability of life
is exposed, and we see that every moment of our life is hanging over an abyss - an abyss of nothingness -- and
that it is only by a gift that each day comes to us. And it is in these moments that we realize that life is not a
given. Life is a gift.
In church, in our place of worship,m we realize, perhaps more acutely than any other place in our lives, that life is
a gift and that is comes from God. Every breath you take is a gift form God. Every step you take is a gift from
god. Every time your heart beats you are experiencing a gift from God. Life is a gift and at any moment it can be
taken away from us. All that we give of ourselves is an offering back to what God has given us.
Think of it as breathing. When we breathe in, we receive the very air that is a gift, and then we have to breather
out. Over the years I have come to this conclusion that the meaning of life is to receive life as a gift and then to
offer it back as a gift. It is as important as breathing in and out. Think about how terrible it would be if we only
breathed in, if we were only on the received end. If we were only takers. We would soon burst. We receive and
then we give. We breathe out. We share the gift that has been given to us.
This is truly the basis of our life and the basis for our stewardship. If nothing else happens this Fall during our
stewardship campaign, I really want us to get the sense that life is a gift that God has given us.
God is with us. God is with us in our joys and sorrows. Jesus lived a life of love. He taught love. In fact, Jesus
is love. Jesus poured out his life in love and it lead him to the cross. He has given us his all. That God should
love us so much as to give life for us - and then to give it back again - it should take our breath away.
You and I receive life as a gift. We offer life back as a gift. Our entire program of stewardship is based on this.
Stewardship of the church, yes, but of all life as well.
Pastor Steltzer