Finding Love In Our Differences Series

Note: The idea for this series and the sermon title came from outreach.com.

Have you ever laughed and cried at the same time? On Tuesday night our EdgeWomen’s ministry sponsored Operation Christmas Curbside as a way for us to give to four of our Go Team partners and a non-profit. Your giving was outlandish and over-the-top! Youth Hope received a bus full of Christmas presents for children. The Domestic Abuse Shelter received hundreds of hats, scarves, socks and gloves. Safe Families received over $5,700 in donations!

On Wednesday, Pastor Dan and I had the joy of delivering toilet paper, paper towels and napkins to Christian Care, the homeless shelter in Rock Island. It was impossible for Dan to see out the back window when he was driving because the van was full to the top. Dan remarked, “If there’s a toilet paper shortage in the QCA, we now know why!” Then he gave one of his trademark laughs. Dan’s laugh is contagious, isn’t it? It didn’t take long for both us to start chuckling as we anticipated how Christian Care would respond. There was so much in the van it took 8 of us 20 minutes to onload!

Also, we delivered approximately 140 gift bags to Pregnancy Resources. We kept smiling and giggling the whole time because it is astonishing how giving our church is!

Here are some highlights from Tuesday night.

• A staff worker from Youth Hope brought three high schoolers to help who have been involved with this ministry since they were young. All three were saved through Youth Hope. They were just beaming as people dropped off items.

• I saw a junior higher get out of his parents’ car and put $10 in the box for Safe Families. I gave him props and asked if this was his own money. He gave me a huge grin and said it was.

• Many families had their children buy gifts for those in need. Their joyful generosity was palpable.

• I talked to one man I didn’t recognize who told me he received gifts from Edgewood as a child when he was brought to church on the bus ministry. When I thanked him, he smiled and humbly said, “This is my chance to give back.”

• Some people brought gifts for all 5 ministries.

• Many came with trunks or backseats overflowing with items.

• One guy had the back of his pickup full of gifts.

When the deacons met that night, we prayed for each of these organizations while thanking God for the joyful generosity of God’s people at Edgewood. We also gave thanks for how God used Sheila Kuriscak and the EdgeWomen to mobilize us to live and give as missionaries on mission for His glory. After we finished, I had tears running down my cheeks.

I went home thinking about 2 Corinthians 8-9 where Paul wrote to the church at Corinth to help them see their responsibility to give to the poor in Jerusalem. Their giving was a loving expression that Jesus had torn down the walls of hostility between Jew and Gentile. Listen to verse 2: “For in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.”

Two things characterized these Christians: abundance of joy and extreme poverty. People don’t give when they have more money. People start giving when they have more joy!

Verse 3 indicates, “For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord.” Amazingly, they gave what they were able to give, and they gave beyond their means because God had enlarged their capacity to be generous. When our hearts are captivated by the desire to give, God enables us to give in ways we could not have anticipated.

I’m reminded what Corrie ten Boom once said, “The measure of a life is not its duration but its donation.”

In verse 4, we read how the Macedonians begged to become givers: “Begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints.” We generally think of the person trying to raise money as one who has to do some begging. It was the other way around with these people! They were saying, “Please, please, let us give!”

Edgewood is filled with people just like this! Our Financial Secretary told me several people have asked if they could direct their year-end giving to help pay down the principal on our construction and renovation loan. That’s amazing to me, but I shouldn’t be surprised. If you’d like to do the same, simply write “Grow Time” in the memo portion of your check or select “Grow Time” from the drop-down menu if you give online. Others of us have extended our Grow Time commitments. Your continued giving will save us multiplied money in interest.