A message from Pastor Becca Messman about our 2025 stewardship campaign:
This year, our campaign theme is “Grounded in Gratitude.” When thinking about our church, our stewardship team could imagine the firm grounding of a tree in the earth, roots that have grown deep and wide, and copious branches and leaves of a church that is alive. We could envision a trunk that is strong but also flexible, reaching to heaven and yet firmly planted in this particular community.
But it’s more than a nice metaphor. We are truly grounded in gratitude to God. God replenishes this church with nutrients of God’s word, rinses us and quenches us with the grace of Christ, and sings through us in every season of the Spirit.
My gratitude rises when I think about the IMPACT youth choir singing with Maple Leaves on their t-shirts last summer, or community meals, a new outreach program that serves 150 meals in the community every month. I am grateful for the past few months that I have called baptism-palooza. Rarely am I more grateful than at funerals for people who were like great trees themselves, and who keep my heart grounded in resurrection hope.
Theologically, when we give, we feel closer to God because God is by nature the giver.
As a way of practicing your faith, I invite you to make a pledge to this year’s giving campaign. I challenge us all to dig deep and reach out even more than we have before.
That is the cycle of grace. Receive love. Give love. Repeat.
Gratefully,
Rev. Becca Messman