Towards the end of May we had a congregational meeting to talk about the finances of the church.  At the meeting we talked about how we were not taking in enough money to meet our monthly obligations.  Our President, Terry Meket, talked about the different things which people in the church do to save the church money, such as choosing not to do certain things, deciding not turn in receipts, paying for things out of their own pocket or other things.

Carl Fetsko talked about the finances and explained in black and white terms the fact that we need to take in more money each month to pay all our bills.  This is simply the reality of being a church—we need funds to operate, and those funds come primarily from the members of the congregation.

In preparation for the meeting, I challenged the board to show their own support for the congregation in a real, tangible way by increasing their giving and asked them to let me know what their increase was so we could show the congregation that the board was truly behind this church.  As a board ,we increase our giving anywhere from 10 to 25 percent.  That individuals would increase their giving because they believe in the mission of God in this place is something to praise God for and I know other individuals who have told me they have increased their weekly giving as well.  For this I am extremely thankful, not just to the individual, but to God who has put such people in this church.

To those of you who were not there, I wanted to share with you just a bit of what was talked about and hopefully motivate you as well, not with the budget, not with the fact we need money, but to focus on why those who have given do give.

We give to the church because we want to, not because we have to.  We give because giving to the Lord feels good, not a matter of needing to pry open the wallet and reluctantly take out a few dollars.  For many of us, it is something that is at the top of our budget, and gets money even before rent or bills.  It is something we do joyfully because we love the Lord and we love His church and we want His church, Our Savior Lutheran Church, in Mayfield Heights, Ohio, to succeed and grow and flourish.  We give because the love of God is at work within us in such a way that we willingly want to support His work here.

We give because we are motivated by the Gospel.  We are motivated by the love of Christ.  I talked to someone a few weeks after the meeting.  They said they had increased their giving and felt really good about it.  I could tell just by the attitude and demeanor of the person that they truly did feel good about it.  You could almost see the physical happiness that person felt over the fact they were giving in a better way.  It was awesome to see the physical response to a positive, spiritual change.  It is change, growth, and ultimately spiritual well-being like this, which only comes from a heart changed by God.  I pray that each one of us allows our heart to be changed by God in a way that exhibits this change, because it is a gracious and wonderful thing to feel the love of God coming out in our very actions and warming us from within.

God’s blessings on the rest of your summer.  Hope to see you on Sunday!

  Pastor Nick