Piloting Faith: In the face of a climate crisis...

A Word for the Day...
We are spending our week watching a hurricane move, ever so slowly, devastating homes and destroying lives. Our hearts break, and we wonder what we can do to help. We want to ease the pain, for our sake and for theirs. I love that about the human spirit. We are generous in the face of suffering...at our best.
Do you remember 100 years ago when Oprah was still doing her talk show? The most viewed show of the year was always “Oprah’s Favorite Give Away EVER!.” Throughout the entire show, they highlighted acts of kindness, thoughtfulness, sacrifice and selflessness that many people do every day that make a difference in our world.
Then came the time for the giveaway to the audience. This time, she gives each audience member exactly $1,000 dollars, and there was just one rule. They had to spend it on someone else in need. They were to come up with an idea, record themselves acting on that idea and then send it in for a follow-up show where she will present the ideas that everyone came up with.
There were two friends sitting in the audience that day who live in Atlanta. They decided that they would combine their money so that they had $2,000 and then the called into Q100, a radio station and told everyone their story. Their plan was to help a women’s and children’s homeless shelter in Atlanta by buying basic supplies. They were asking listeners to donate household items like soap and toothpaste. Well, before they knew it, they had over $125,000 in cash donations!
I wonder today what I would be doing if I had received $1000 and then had to tell the world how I had used that money. How would I invest that money to help other people? How could I make the biggest difference?
What I do know is that life is lived most fully in a spirit of abundance. When we invest in others, we become God’s force for good in this world.
In the face of a climate crisis, I pray we are all generous with each other. There but by the grace of God goes any of us.
- Rev. Cameron Trimble, author of Piloting Church: Helping Your Congregation Take Flight

Prayer for the Week
Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every one who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
- Excerpt from St Patrick's Breastplate