At the School of Leadership I recently attended, one of the presenters, Scott Pontier, shared something that intrigued me. He began by going back to the Exodus story. Remember when, by the grace of God, Moses finally convinced Pharoah to let the enslaved Hebrews leave Egypt to return to the land God promised their ancestors–the land of milk and honey?
The Hebrews had to leave in a hurry, before Pharoah changed his mind. So, they packed up quickly – no time for the bread to raise, and because most were traveling by foot, they couldn’t take much; just the essentials. But interestingly enough, Ex. 15 tells us, Miriam and all the women took tambourines and sang and danced before the Lord, giving thanks and praise to God for their deliverance to safety and freedom. Imagine that! When space and time were tight, they still packed their tambourines!
Like most study Bible notes cite, this song’s probably the oldest recorded song in the Bible and maybe in the world. Ex. 15:20-21, Miriam’s song is the start of it. The verses preceding it were Moses’ build on her song. In fact, Scott said this song of praise was so important, it was written down even before the story surrounding it. Interesting! But even more interesting is that these women were so sure God was gonna show up to do something so great among them that they knew they had to pack their tambourines to give God the glory, thanks, and praise God so richly deserved.
Well, as you know, we’re in the middle of our annual stewardship campaign. Today’s our Charge Conference where next year’s budget will be voted on for approval. Next Sunday will be Consecration Sunday when we’re all encouraged to fill out and bring pledge cards indicating the ways we’ll support our church with our presence, our prayers, our talents, our time and service, and our financial commitment (or gifts) for 2027. With so much administrative business to take care of, you might wonder what all this has to do with singing, dancing, and remembering to pack tambourines? Plenty!
For those of you who are full members of this or any UMC, whether that happened back on the day you were confirmed or whenever you joined the church, you took membership vows. Remember them? (Look at p. 38 in the UMH.) And now we’re supposed to add “witness” to the mix, because that’s what being a disciple does.
For those who haven’t fully joined the church, but still consider yourselves being a disciple of Jesus Christ, you pretty much commit to doing the same things as you “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything Jesus has taught, remembering he is with you to the very end of the age.” (Matt. 28:19-20) Being an active, living part of a faith community is committing to support it with your prayers, your presence your gifts, your service, and your witness.
So, maybe we get that, and I pray everyone will take a leap of faith and fill out their pledge card, whether it’s a usual thing for you to do or you’ve never done it before. Remember – it’s a pledge. No one will come knocking at your door and demand full payment if you don’t fulfill that pledge to the dollar. Things happen in life, and sometimes money at home is tight and we can’t quite stretch it enough. There’s always grace! Or, maybe some miracle of blessing happens and you decide to give more. That’s OK, too!
But the thing that I’ve learned about pledging and giving, whether it’s our presence, prayers, gifts, service, or witness, or a combination of 2 or more or maybe all 5 of them, is to pledge, commit, and then do what we can do and give what we can give with a sense of joy, gladness, and thanksgiving; an attitude of gratitude for all the grace and the ways God has already and continues to bless us.
Too many times, as a layperson and now as a pastor, I’ve seen people act like it’s gonna be the hardest thing ever to hand in that pledge card or put an envelope or a few dollars in the offering plate. Too many times I’ve seen people afraid to raise their hand to volunteer for something in the life of the church, to hesitate to offer a prayer out loud for another brother or sister or situation in need, or shake their head no when asked to teach a class, lead a Bible study, or help with a mission project or even share just a little bit about their faith and how they’ve experienced the love of God and the saving grace of Jesus Christ in their life. That’s so sad, esp. when back in the day, I was one of those people.
Jesus wants us to be cheerful and joyful about our faith and how and what we share with the church and others. Are we going to sow sparingly and just put in an hour or so when it’s convenient or we don’t have anything better to do, or will we sow bountifully and give Jesus our all and our best? Are we going to give and do things regretfully and under a sense of compulsion and walk away from Jesus and his blessings or are we going to be cheerful and joyful about it and discover how cool it is to have the Holy Spirit living and moving in us so we just have to sing and dance and give praise to God?
I hope and pray it’s more of the latter! God does love a cheerful giver! You know why? Because then we’re giving and doing like we want to share the love, give God the glory, and show our thanks for all the blessings God has blessed us with in ways more than we deserve. Even when we don’t know what each day will bring, if we get out those tambourines and give God thanks and praise for just being present in our lives, the blessings will continue to flow.
I’ve found this to be true in my life when I finally shook off the old ways of hesitation and fear of commitment and took that leap of faith to trust God, and I know many of you have, too. We have to share our stories of abundance and blessing and let go of that scarcity and fear mindset. We need to be like Miriam and those women so long ago -pack those tambourines and then get them out and sing praises, coz God is gonna show up and do amazing things for those who are faithful and trusting. “Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously!”
Each pledge card helps our church leaders plan for the future life of our church and how we’ll go forward as Jesus’ disciples. The budget is planned with great care. The finance team and our church leaders are good and faithful stewards of your gifts. And the Holy Spirit will smile on us as we joyfully share our presence, prayers, gifts, service, and our witness.
Sometimes we get caught up in the negatives surrounding the church, esp. over lower attendance, things that used to happen but don’t anymore, people don’t participate in the classes, projects, and events like they used to, and finances get tight because costs go up more than the giving sometimes does. But people still believe in Jesus – they love Jesus and want Jesus in their lives. The church is the best way to grow in our faith and discover the Holy Spirit living and moving in us.
So, as Scott said last week: “The church isn’t dying; it’s changing,” is so true. Here’s a chance to be part of that good change – pray about it and make your pledge. Then get out that tambourine and sing praises to our God, remembering these great words – 2 Cor. 9:11-15. Thanks be to God! Amen.