In this video, Bishop Ward encourages us to let our generosity be a Lenten discipline as the One Great Hour of Sharing approaches.
The Council on Finance and Administration of the North Carolina Annual Conference is meeting today on March 25. We give thanks for these leaders, for the way in which their work is so faithfully and well done and we pray for them in this particular work to which they have been elected.
The meeting of the Council on Finance and Administration reminds us of the invitation of God toward the generosity in the world. God’s great generosity flows over us so that we may be generous.
There’s an old saying that we can never out give God. How true that is. Very soon, we will be reaching the fourth Sunday in Lent which is the annual observance of the One Great Hour of Sharing.
In 1950, many years ago, the One Great Hour of Sharing was created as a channel of giving, so that gifts given to the United Methodist Committee on Relief would go 100 percent to the cause designated. Now, over sixty years later, the channel remains strong and generosity flows in remarkable ways.
Please be sure to interpret this offering opportunity in your church. Invite an offering and generosity will flow and in this way, we join hands with all United Methodist people in our commitment to be hope in the places where disaster has occurred.
We are reminded in Romans 5 that when trouble comes, trouble produces endurance in the faithful, and endurance produces character in the faithful, and character produces hope in the faithful and we are not disappointed.
In the midst of this season of Lent, let us all be thankful for God’s grace that is abundant upon us and may our generosity be a Lenten discipline and a holy offering to God.