Getting rid of all the junk, conference giving, and Ukraine

$800 was raised to be directed to Ukraine through UMCOR. Thank you for your generosity. Please continue to pray for those suffering through the war, for the local churches, and that funding can be used in a way that glorifies God in the midst of all the chaos.

The Missouri Annual Conference is just a month away, and there will be two offerings collected during the event. The information about the offerings was just released, and although we have some previous giving to support these, if you’d like to give for either offering, please do so.

Saturday’s offering will be collected during the opening worship service and goes toward a ministry that St. Andrew’s has supported for many years: Mozambique Initiative! Giving will be used to initiate an income-generating agricultural project at the Gondola Training Center (GTC) in Mozambique. Bishop Nhanala has appointed project leaders, and GBGM has sent a Malawian agricultural specialist to design a project that will provide healthy food, develop plants resistant to climate change, and offer instruction on business development and food cultivation. Funds from this offering will help purchase plants, secure irrigation and invest in livestock. This self-sustaining project will impact countless families across Mozambique for years to come. Be sure to include “MI” on your giving envelope or memo line to support this ministry.

Sunday’s offering during the Commissioning & Ordination service will be directed to the church’s work with diverse people. As the Missouri Conference seeks to become a Church for all God’s people, we celebrate the work churches are already doing to become a brave, empowering Church of diverse cultures and generations. Our desire is to accelerate growth in these areas by supporting and learning from these existing ministries. Financial gifts made during this offering will go to accelerate this work in local congregations by 1) cultivating welcoming environments for all God’s people 2) facilitating courageous conversations and/or 3) initiating and activating change in local church policies, practices, networking and recruiting strategies. Funds will be distributed by the Mission, Service, and Justice Team to Missouri churches within the 2022 calendar year. Be sure to include “United” on your giving envelope or memo line to support this ministry.

Now about that junk…

Then he said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.”
Luke 12:15 NLT

The father of small children was commiserating about how hard it is to keep the house clean with energetic, active, creative kids at home. “What really gets to me about cleaning the house,” he said, “is all the junk.”

Junk. Not just the toys and stuffed animals that overflow from toy bins, under beds and closets. The adult stuff, too – the gadgets crowding the kitchen, the cleaning products jammed under the sink, the stuff crammed in the medicine cabinet, the yard junk all over the lawn, and on and on.

The junk factor comes to mind in Jesus’ parable of “the rich fool” in Luke 12:17-20. The fool has so much stuff, he wants bigger barns to hold it all. The parable should strike a chord with us in America, where accumulation is such a big problem that self-storage (our ”bigger barns”) is booming business.

A man of few possessions, Jesus kept everything simple. He must have known how hard it is to focus on godly living when are lives are cluttered with stuff. Of course, Jesus’ parable talks about possessions, but the same principle applies to the mind and heart’s clutter of ideas, loyalties, and desires that distract us from God.

How cluttered is your house? Your mind? Your soul?

For the month of May, consider a house cleaning to get rid of unneeded, unnecessary stuff. And prayerfully consider what “clutter” may be in your mind, heart, and soul as well. What needs to be tossed out, recycled or donated in order that your house and your spirit can focus on what’s truly important? That is, the things of God.

–Rob Blezard