EXPRESSING GRATITUDE

            So how are we at expressing gratitude? I’d like to think that when someone gives me something or expresses something positive, that I say thank you. But I don’t know that I really do that. I think I’m more inclined, when someone compliments me to say “oh this old thing—I’ve had this top forever or do you need new glasses?” Also, when someone gives me a gift, I feel guilty receiving it and immediately start to think what to give the person in return, instead of just saying (and meaning) thank you.

            Completely the opposite of how we sometimes approach gratitude, there’s Paul. He new hardship, imprisonments, stoning, shipwrecks, beatings, hunger, but he wrote, while he was imprisoned the following words: 11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:11-13)

            Have we considered being content in what we have and thankful for what we’ve received?

            How are folks in your church. Are they expressing gratitude and thanksgiving? Look around. Who is giving their:

·         Time

·         Groceries for the hungry

·         Service on committees

·         Their spiritual gifts

·         Their financial gifts

            Too often we are too focused on the negative and ignore the positive. It’s that way in our lives, and it’s that way in our churches.

 

Look around and see what God is providing. Be thankful. Express gratitude.

 

Feel free to contact me at sranousacctg@twcny.rr.com or susanranous@unyumc.org

 

                                           WHAT IS A STEWARD?

            I have a devotional book sitting on my desk at the church. I usually only have office hours one day a week, so I don’t read this daily. The book is Giving to God: The Bible’s Good News about Living a Generous Life by Mark Allan Powell. Chapter 2 starts with a verse of scripture: Think of us this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mercies. (1 Corinthians 4:1).

            We talk about stewardship in the church, but I think we focus on it as a way to raise money. Are we really practicing stewardship? Are we stewards? Remember, God created everything, so that means we don’t have ownership; we are only stewards. If you hired (or asked) someone to keep an eye on your home when you’re on vacation, they are a steward of your stuff. They don’t own it; their only responsibility is to make sure your stuff stays safe and is in the same condition as it was when you left.

            I think we forget that we are stewards. Too often, we forget we’re only stewards and start to think that the property entrusted to us is actually our own.

            We are stewards of what God has done. We didn’t choose to be. We just are. Don’t feel bad; I’m not trying to make you feel guilty. How about if we look at being a steward as something better than just a hired hand? What if it is part of our calling as Christians and disciples? God has entrusted us with caring for God’s creation.

            “We are the agents through whom God has chosen to bring about God’s purposes: love and joy and peace.” [1]

            Look around God’s creation. How can we be God’s agents?

            Look around the church. How can we be God’s agents?

            Look around what you have “control of”. How can we be God’s agents?

            Don’t focus on how what you see betters your life and you. Try focusing on how what you do with it changes lives.

            So what do you see?

 

Feel free to contact me at sranousacctg@twcny.rr.com or susanranous@unyumc.org

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[1] Giving to God, p. 29

 

           NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION OR WESLEY COVENANT PRAYER?

 

            I wrote my last blog the day after Christmas, and I am writing this one two days after the new year. As promised, I wanted to revisit The Wesley Covenant Prayer.

            But before that, I wanted to talk about New Year’s Resolutions…you know that thing we do, listing the things that we’ll accomplish in the new year. I don’t know about you, but, for me, these are usually things I wasn’t able to accomplish in the prior year, so with the coming of a new year, everything would change, and I’d be able to do it.

            I looked up New Year Resolution Statistics and found that 23% quit in the first week; only 36% make it past the first month; and only 9% successfully keep their resolutions. So I guess that means that the likelihood that I’ll be successful in something that I haven’t been successful in before is…well…pretty low. Should I be surprised.

            I don’t think so. I started wondering if I’m unsuccessful because my New Year’s Resolutions are often all about me: what I need, what I want, what I think I should do, I, I, I.

            And that leads me to The Wesley Covenant Prayer. The first lines of that prayer say: “I am no longer my own, but thine. Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt. Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee.” This is a completely different slant. No longer all about me, me, me, but about God (thine, thou, thee).

            An article on this prayer in UMC Discipleship by Steve Manskar says that this prayer “informed (Wesley’s) theology and preaching. He expected the people called “Methodists” to pray this prayer at the beginning of each new year as a way of remembering and renewing their baptismal covenant.”[1]

            Baptism isn’t something that is done and then forgotten; baptism leads us into a life of faith. This Covenant Prayer also isn’t something we just say at the beginning of a new year and then forget. The article by Steve Manskar goes on to say “It tells us that being a Christian is more a way of life than a system of beliefs. The Covenant Prayer describes the Jesus way of self-giving and self-emptying love. This way of living and loving is possible only in a community centered in the life and mission of the crucified and risen Jesus Christ.”[2]

            Whereas a New Year’s Resolution is all about me, the Covenant Prayer is all about Jesus and how we fit in.

            So what does Jesus want for you and with you in the new year?

 

Feel free to contact me at sranousacctg@twcny.rr.com or susanranous@unyumc.org

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[1] “The Wesley Covenant Prayer and the Baptismal Covenant” by Steve Manskar (umcdiscipleship.org, January 2018)

[2] Ibid