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Quilt Sunday is one of my favorite Sundays! We get to wrap ourselves in the beauty and warmth of the quilts that the women have created. I don’t want to spoil their fun this morning, but I have watched them take bits of fabric, cut it into squares, lay it out on the floor, stack those squares up in some mysterious order, and then start sewing the pieces together. It’s a regular assembly line of workers and products as they do their thing. Then, of course, there’s always the coffee time with goodies and much laughter. They all really seem to enjoy their work. These quilts are created with love, laughter, and quite a bit of skill.
It’s also WELCA Thankoffering Sunday; the day when the women of the congregation share their offerings of money to further add to the mission work of the congregation. These things remind us what is important to our congregation as we live out our congregation’s mission statement: “We are claimed, gathered, and sent forth to serve and witness in Jesus’ Name.”
Using our gifts and resources to further the Kingdom of God here on earth is how we can live in the abundance of God. God has blessed us with so much, has given us more than we need to live on, and God calls us to share with others. Not just our money. Not just our excess stuff. Not just our time. But all those things together. This goal of ministry our women’s organizations show us so profoundly.
The person in the Gospel today asked a very important question, for which Jesus gave a very straightforward answer. He wanted to know what HE HAD TO DO to inherit eternal life—to get to heaven.
What really did Jesus tell him? LOVE. Love one another, and in so doing you love God. The man asked Jesus what it was that He could do. Jesus told him. But there really was nothing he could do, because it was all up to God in the first place. Believing in God’s Son and following Him, would be the answer. Belief in Jesus involves making Jesus a part of all we do and are. It involves going with Jesus on our journey in life, seeing Jesus as the partner we take with us in whatever we do. It’s not seeing Jesus or the Christian life as a token part of life, but it involves every day, everywhere.
Hopefully this Thankoffering Sunday can remind us that Jesus goes with us always, and that every day is lived in thankfulness for the One who has given us all things and calls us to respond in love toward others.
Thank you, Women, for sharing your gifts and talents with the people of God, but thank you even more for sharing your faith and your love.
AMEN.