“The concept of downsizing so that others
might upgrade is biblical, beautiful...and nearly unheard of.
We either close the gap or don't take the words of the Bible literally.”
We either close the gap or don't take the words of the Bible literally.”
It’s been a long while since I last posted…
Our lives have been nothing short of a whirlwind these past
few weeks as we found an apartment, packed up our house, found a new home for
our beloved dogs, moved into the new place, closed on the old place, unpacked
everything we had decided to keep, took the rest to the Goodwill & somehow
managed to celebrate Christmas with all that that entails for a pastor’s
family. To say that we are exhausted is quite frankly, an understatement. This
morning, as I filled my coffee cup for the second time & settled in to
write at my desk, I became very much aware that today is my first real day at
home without an agenda or a box to unpack. Whew!
It’s been a little crazy at church too… we moved into our
beautiful new sanctuary the same weekend that we moved into our apartment. As we worshiped together that first Sunday I
was completely overwhelmed. The Holy Spirit was thick, the music beautiful, the
message powerful. But it was even more than that. More personal than that.
I kept thinking… our church is getting bigger… as we are becoming
smaller.
Some people don’t understand why we are downsizing. They think we are crazy or worse, that we are leaving Avon. Neither could be farther from the truth. I guess I can't really blame them. Our
culture, sometimes even our Christian one, encourages us to invest our money in
our homes, our stocks, bonds & retirement funds. It tells us to invest our
time & energy in becoming more successful at our jobs so we can set aside more,
invest more, own more.
I wondered in that moment, if this is how we are expected to
view where we are in the life of our church. Should we take more for ourselves
as our church grows? Because we are working so hard ,right? Or should we maintain the
lifestyle we are currently living? Because we deserve it, right? Or instead, should
we live simply, below what we earn so that we can invest more money, more time
& more energy in the work of the ministry?
Ah yes…
& so we get to the heart of it... We are
decreasing so others can increase. Because we want to invest ourselves… our
best selves to Avon Community Church & to her growing ministries. Because
we love our church family. Because we love Jesus.
“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths
eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and
rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of
your heart will also be.”
–Matthew 6:19-21
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