As we were reminded in Sunday’s worship service, Jesus’ Greatest Commandment is to Love God and Love One Another as you love yourself … which is a powerful message for all of us to remember every day.
As we begin November, it’s a great time for us to put these commandments into practice by focusing on both our gratitude and our generosity. If we spent the month of November focused on all the ways we’re thankful every day (not just on Thanksgiving), we can develop our gratitude culture as individuals and as a church family.
While celebrating the 50th anniversary of our church a few weeks ago, we reflected on the many blessings we’ve had as a church family through the years … as well as enjoying a wonderful Sunday worship service and luncheon.
We invite you to take a “30-Day Gratitude Challenge” this month to reflect on your personal gratitude and generosity to ignite change in our church and in our world. Gratitude helps us turn our hearts toward God’s commandment to love God and one another. To help support this effort, we are sharing a gratitude calendar with 30 ideas to help develop a heart of thankfulness, as well as 30 Bible verses for a Grateful Heart. (See attached)
Some ideas found in a recent article on gratitude:
- “Gratitude makes what we have enough.”
- “When we are grateful, we acquire the capacity and strength to fulfill the wishes, wants and needs of others regardless of how hard it might be to serve them.”
- “Ultimately, gratitude is the essential spark that then ignites generosity … and generosity ignites change in the world!”
On Sunday November 19 (the Sunday before Thanksgiving), we invite you to join us for a worship service where we will focus on how “Generosity Ignites Change.” As part of our worship, we will all have the opportunity to submit what we will individually pledge to the ministries of UMC Monroe out of gratitude for what God has already provided to us. This will come in the form of a prayerfully considered “Pledge Promise” to not only commit to do your best to support that pledge, but also to help us to properly budget and plan for the expenses and ministries for the next year.
As we recall from 2 Corithians 9:6-7, Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
How can we change the world together through our UMC Monroe family generosity?
Click here for a 30 Days of Gratitude Calendar.
Click here for 30 Bible Verses for a Grateful Heart.