24th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2024

This year, OLG has been highlighting stewardship as a focus. This topic often is related to finances, but it implies much more than simply money. Tithing a portion of our income and financial resources (typically 10%) is a well-established biblical principle. If you are a regular contributor to the financial needs of the church, thank you. It is a privilege to give back to God some of the blessings we have. His providence extends to concern for our material needs and He abundantly meets those needs.  He gives us the ability to work and earn a living to support both our families and His church. If you are not a regular “giver” to the church, you and your household need to decide to what extent you will financially support the OLG ministries and family life. We all benefit from the sacramental and community life of OLG, and we, therefore, all share in the responsibility to support the mission on an ongoing basis.

The wider perspective is more focused on seeing our parish life as family.  Families not only share their money, but their time and effort to make family life work. As such, I have written before about the need for us to all consider how else we can participate in the active life of the church. How else can we serve each other? What are the various ministries where I can contribute or participate?

A few months back we presented a “Discovering Your Gifts” workshop to help us all think through how God has given us abilities to give back to our church family. We then followed that with a successful Ministry Fair, an opportunity to gather more information about all the ways we can work together in the ministries and participate in the sacramental life.

The next step is our “Sign Up Sunday” on September 22nd. You will find a sign-up card in the pews and in the back of the church this week. Please take it home and prayerfully consider where you can “get in the game” and actively participate in our OLG family life. You can bring the completed card back with you next week or complete one on the 22nd. You are invited to Donut Sunday next week where you can again see information on the various ministries.

As I stated in the “Discovering Your Gifts” workshop, the greatest ability God asks of us is availability. We all have gifts to offer back to the Lord and to each other. We all need each other’s gifts to complete the work of Christ and enrich our church family experience. Thank you again for your prayerful consideration.