Today we announced that our church has received a great financial blessing that I as pastor and most of the rest of the congregation had no idea was coming. We received a very generous gift from the estate of the late Ken Seymour. Ken considered Copper Hill UMC to be his church and Ken’s mother, Maida Griffin Seymour, was a long-time treasurer of our church. We say a great big word of thanks to Ken and his family. Ken’s sister Shirley Young is the estate executor.
We stopped in service this morning when it was announced and sang a hymn of praise. God is the ultimate source of all our blessings and we can see his sovereign hand orchestrating the circumstances of this year already. As pastor I say, “We believe that God has entrusted us with this gift and we are to be wise stewards of it. Since the church will celebrate the 200th anniversary of its organization in 2016, it may be that the plans for the two will work together.”
The church leaders believe the gift will not be used to meet regular expenses. Rather they believe the gift should be used to accomplish extraordinary things that our small congregation could not otherwise do. Our church leadership will be guiding our church in the process of decision-making over the next many months. It is expected that it will take a little time for us to discern together God’s plan for the use of this gift.
When a church receives such a gift, it can tempt us to become slack in our own stewardship. May that not be! Rather, may this exemplary act of stewardship by Ken and his family inspire us to be committed and faithful in our own weekly practice of giving to God as God has prospered us.
As pastor, I encourage us to keep our focus on the purposes we have reviewed this summer. As a congregation, we are, in the providence of God, preserving the past, sharing God’s love in the present and preparing for the future.