Every week in our church we take up an offering. It's good to remind ourselves from time to time that the offering is symbolic as well as practical. We know that it is through pledges that we build our budget and fund our yearly programs and ministries of worship and religious education, pay our staff and professional religious leaders, and finance the comfort and beauty of our buildings. And we know that we could easily submit those pledge checks to the church at any convenient time.

But we pass the plate during our worship service to make a community expression of thanks for the blessing of abundance; to visibly bring in the harvest at this most cherished hour of our week. Our Offering says that the act of giving is as essential to our spiritual well-being as anything else we do here on Sunday mornings.

The morning offering will now be given and received in the spirit of grateful fellowship.