Attendance has slipped across all services. This makes me uneasy. I know a segment of our congregation is aging but the drop off is seen in the Wednesday service, too, which includes many young people. Are you included in the numbers, or are you one of the missing?
Financial giving is down about $11,000 from last year, but by this time last year we had already celebrated Holy Week and Easter. I encourage you to keep your spiritual connection to God through your giving. It will be a blessing to you and to your church. And, as I like to say, “See you in church!”
What do you think the slip in attendance and giving means? Click on "comments" below to add your feedback
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The Red River flooded last week. If you have not heard the news, you probably weren’t paying attention. Fargo and Morehead were in the direct path of record amounts of water leaving hundreds of homes and businesses in danger. But last week, the American spirit proved stronger then a river - the people of the region stood together and saved their towns. Truth be told, less than 10% of homes and businesses in the Red River Valley were ever in actual danger. So what is the real story here and why did we all follow their struggle so closely?
ReplyDeleteA news agency did an interview of a man who said that he had been out sandbagging around his home when he ran out of sand and physically he could no longer continue - even though he knew that by quitting, his home would be lost. That was when a large truck full of sandbags that had been filled by volunteers miles away arrived. It was followed by hundreds of strangers who quickly formed lines and went to work protecting his home. In the end, the flood was held and bay and this home was saved.
Never once did I hear anyone from the region complain that the people living by the river shouldn’t have lived there (even though I heard plenty of complaints from the rest of the country). Never once did I hear the people complain about the amount of backbreaking work that went into saving their neighbors homes. When you consider that 90% of the volunteers built their homes on solid, dry ground, it would have been easy for them to stand aside and watch their neighbors lose everything – but they didn’t. They showed the rest of us what is truly right about our country. That we are not a nation of whiners and complainers but a nation built on the spirit of community and perseverance. We are a nation that knows that what is good for our neighbors is good for us.
Our entire country is now facing a flood of a different type - a flood of bad economic policy. As with the flood of the Red River, it is still true that less than 10% of our neighbors are suffering. When the government offered “trucks of sandbags” in the form of mortgage help, our nation whined and complained. Often I heard the phrase, “why should they get help when I have paid my mortgage on time every month.” When community organizations offered food and clothing for those who have now lost everything, our nation whined about giving a handout rather than offering a hand. And, as our neighbors lost their jobs, our nation whined that now there will be more government debt because unemployment checks are going up.
Where are the volunteers? Where is the spirit that made this country great? After all, are we not “One nation, under God, indivisible?” Now is our time to stand up together and prove to our founding fathers that this is Our country and together we will bring forth “Liberty and Justice for all!”