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The misconception at Christchurch is, given our size, given the resources people imagine
we have, that I'm not important, that I'm not necessary, that I'm not needed.
They can do everything they want to do and my presence there may or may not even be noticed.
What I'd like to say is that really we have room for everybody at the table, that everybody needs to be at the table,
that we're incomplete, that our capacity to accomplish the ministry that God's invited us to share
is diminished when everybody's not at the table.
When we gather around the table, we've come to receive gifts and so the very first thing that we do
is to offer our own thanks. I think the world teaches us that resources are scarce and what we give thanks for
at the holy table is the abundance of God's love and presence in our own lives.
There's no scarcity. God's love and abundance for our lives is overflowing.
The natural response to receiving a gift is to want to share the gift.
And so one of the blessings that we have at Christchurch is a desire and a willingness and an ability
to move out from the table from which we've received gifts and expand that table.
Last March we had the opportunity to take a part in a program, or stop hunger now, which package meals to take to Haiti.
In 45 minutes we packaged over 40,000 meals. I think we were all so blessed to be a part of that,
to know that those people, over 40,000 people in Haiti, were going to be fed for our work that day.
We're asking our church family to accept the invitation to come to our table, to be a part of the table of Christchurch,
to participate, to offer your time, to offer your talents, to offer your resources.
And when we do that, when you make that commitment, it is truly Christchurch.
It's truly our community. It's our world. We've made a better place. Our faith is stronger.
And maybe an interesting fact is that we all benefit ourselves.
That really in the end maybe it's the giver of that gift that grows the most.
And we grow, we learn. Our faith is stronger and our community is better off as well.
Our church is better off and our world is better off.
How would we ever begin to thank God for the gifts that we've received? What could we ever do?
We've been showered with gifts that we didn't earn, we don't deserve. It's just a gift. It's just grace.
And so the first step is to just accept the invitation, just to come join us at the table.
And then the challenge I think is overcoming the perception that somehow what I've received is finite.
And that what I have for myself is going to be lessened or diminished when I give away some of it.
But what we need to recognize is that we're just returning to God a portion of what God has already given to us.
In God's economy, we discover that the miracle is that the more I give away, the more I have.
And so my experience as a giver is that I'm always more blessed when I've shared the gift that I've received.
This is an invitation to come to the table and receive the blessing that God has offered you to share that with somebody else
and then discover how much more you're blessed in the sharing of the gift.
