9/13 - God Is Generous and I Am Made in God's Image

Church Family

This week, our worship lets the music tell the story of stewardship. We also welcome back some of our contemporary musicians as we offer our music in praise to God. Please join us in welcoming Thomas Pool and the Tita Boys as they share their gifts with us in worship!

We begin with For the Beauty of the Earth, quietly noticing the gifts that already surround us. Creation, love, community, the Church, and finally Christ, the “best Gift Divine.” Stewardship begins here: not with what we are asked to give, but with recognizing what we have already received.

From there, the music begins to move. Build My Life turns our attention from the gifts we receive to the life we are building in response. In My Life, Lord makes that response personal. If we are made in the image of a generous God, then God's generosity should become visible in the way we live, serve, love, and give of ourselves.

Then we arrive at Goodness of God. What began as quiet gratitude has become testimony. We have received God's goodness, we have recognized it, and now we sing about what we have seen.

And finally, the music opens wide. How Great Is Our God leads us into How Great Thou Art. The gift becomes gratitude; gratitude becomes response; response becomes witness; and witness becomes praise.

This is the movement of our stewardship: we receive, we respond, we witness, and we celebrate. We are not generous because we are trying to earn God's love. We are generous because we have already encountered it. In the Wesleyan understanding of grace, God gives first. Our lives become the grateful response.

As we prepare to worship together this week, listen for that movement. Notice where the music begins, where it takes you, and where it finally leads us. May our singing become more than something we do together, may become our response to the generosity of God.

With Love, 

Music Tom