COMMUNITY OF PRAYER — WHAT SHALL WE BRING?

/ Union Avenue Christian Church/
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This SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, we celebrate WORLD COMMUNION SUNDAY with communities around the globe gathering at Christ's Table, seeking Christian unity, ecumenical cooperation, and a call to a life of generosity. Beginning with World Communion Sunday and the four weeks following, we turn our attention to a five-week stewardship focus – "WHAT SHALL WE BRING?" – as we seek to be the best stewards of God's love through all the many ways we give of ourselves. 

This Sunday Rev. Michael Riggs asks us to consider our life of discipleship "FOR THE LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME," drawing inspiration from II Corinthians 5:17 – 20 and I John 4:16B – 21. 

Hopefully you have picked up a copy of “COMMUNITY OF PRAYER” at church. This October, our whole congregation is reading this short and simple book of daily devotionals as we come together in prayer and explore a theology of stewardship. Much more than just “giving money to the church so we can make budget,” stewardship is actually about living a life of gratitude and generosity as part of our overall discipleship. We love and share with and do for others lavishly just as Jesus did, just as we were fashioned by God to do from the beginning. While such a definition of stewardship is for every day of our lives, October is a special time in the Church year where we explore what it means for us as Church.

Ideally we all started reading/praying through the devotionals (as individuals or as families) beginning this past Monday, October 1, but you can jump in anytime and read/pray at your own pace. Every day of the week, we’ll read a new devotional, ponder its message, and pray for God to touch our lives in new ways. And on Sundays during worship, we’ll focus on different aspects of stewardship beginning with how we share the gift of love as Christians and as Church. We’ll hear inspiring stories of how other congregations are doing justly, loving kindly, and walking humbly. We’ll explore what it means to share the gift of one’s time, to treasure what truly matters, and to shine the light of God in the world. 

Please be sure to pick up your copy of “COMMUNITY OF PRAYER” so we can discover together a life of abundance, gratitude, and generosity in Jesus’s name.