Yesterday was an important day in the life of Central United Methodist Church, gathered as one body, one service, for Commitment Sunday. I know the words "commitment" and/or "pledge" spoken in church invoke a wide, varied, and tangle of emotional responses, some of them negative. I've been thinking about all the things we make pledges to with our money. That's basically what a subscription is, or chasing Starbucks star rewards, or a free trial of an app you will use one time and forget to cancel before the end of the 14 days (guilty, and I hope my husband doesn’t read this). Sometimes I'll accidentally agree to a subscription and never even realize it. Apps or game subscriptions or coffee rewards have no eternal value, cannot give us life or bring contentment. Our membership vows include our pledge to participate in the life of the church by our prayers, our presence, our gifts, our service, and our witness. These areas to which we pledge ourselves are important because they are all things that draw us closer to God and closer to one another as the Body of Christ. They are not something we are supposed to do, but who we are supposed to be. We have vows and make pledges because we must remind ourselves over and over again and because, as the sin-blessing cycle of the Old Testament proves, we have short memories and shallow faith if left on our own. Pledging or committing our generosity in advance isn't in exchange for products or goods, but a spiritual practice, a means of grace, that keeps connected to God, which furthers us towards fulfilling our purpose, which takes us deeper into peace, love, hope, and joy.
After Sunday Thoughts with Rev. Ann | October 17, 2022