Lutheran Church of Mahomet, The Invitation 2018 Programming Invitation | Page 4

Many of us have heard of this
story from Luke before. Usu-
ally, churches use this text
sometime in October or No-
vember to remind people of
the church’s financial need
before people pledge their
giving for the following year.
Unfortunately, this text
sometimes gets a little mis-
construed, a little warped.
Sometimes, churches use this
excerpt from Luke to guilt
people into giving beyond
their means. This text has
been used to shake people’s
change from their pockets
and accuse people of small
faith.
I remember a time when
I was a Christian concert—
lots of different Christian
bands were there. But, there
were also a lot of Christian
financial interests there, too:
Christian colleges and uni-
versities, Christian movies,
Christian tourist attractions,
etc. The list goes on. In some
ways, the concert felt very
commercial. Someone on
stage shared a story about a
single mother who was hav-
ing trouble paying her rent
and utilities. And, the per-
son on stage used this story
of the widow to proudly tell
us that this single mother
gave her last dollars to his
organization.
When we talk about
generosity in the church, I
hope we are talking about
responsible stewardship—
that is, caring for and using
what we have for the better-
ment of the world. We are
not talking about endanger-
ing your life or the lives of
your children for the coffers
of the church. Instead, we
are talking about giving
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