Giving Goes Green

Churches, with their heavy check volumes, were among the earliest organizations to embrace electronic giving as a way to automate contributions. Today, electronic giving in all its forms provides convenience for frequent check writers and donation consistency for churches.

A less frequently discussed benefit of electronic giving is its positive impact on the environment. An enormous amount of natural resources are consumed in the production, transportation, processing and disposal of paper checks. That's why paying bills electronically always ranks high on any list of actions an individual can take to improve the environment. Since the year 2000, the powerful trend toward electronic payments has already produced more than a 50 percent decline in check use.

As you consider the payment method you use to make your regular offering, we hope that you will think about the unique connection between financial stewardship and environmental stewardship.

If you are interested in electronic giving to the Church at Cahaba Bend, please contact the church office at ccboffice@gmail.com or pick up a electronic giving form at the welcome table in the church lobby.

Neighbors, Strangers, and Following Jesus

Neighbors, Strangers, and Following Jesus

"This is has been the hardest place to make friends.
Everyone is wrapped up in their sports and churches
and if you don't belong to either then you don't belong
and that is sad and quite frankly for the church crowd
I also thinks it's hypocritical."    

– a comment on Helenaboards.com

. . . you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.         

- Leviticus 19:18

A Helena native is a rarity.  According to the 1990 census, Helena was a sleepy little town of 5,559 people.  By the time my family moved here in 2000 the population had grown to 11,689 an increase of 110%.  Today 16,030 call Helena "home."  And more are coming.  One source projects the population to reach 18,793 by 2014.  All of this to emphasize: most of us are recent transplants with a common experience of arriving here as strangers hoping to find a home. 

After more than 9 years in Helena, I am still not a native, but I have tenure.  That's why I took the comment from Helenaboards.com personally.  My neighborhood called "the hardest place to make friends."  My community too "wrapped up in their sports and churches" to be open to new people.  At first, I was offended by the accusations.  Aren't we friendly, nice people who love our kids, and are loyal to our friends?  Of course we are. 

Then I realized, I've been here long enough to forget what it was like to be a stranger.  

Jesus said, "you shall love your neighbor as yourself," is the commandment second only to "‘you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength."  Directly related to this is the command, "You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt" (Deuteronomy 10:19).   

So our willingness to love our neighbor and welcome the stranger is directly related to our memory of being an outsider. 

This month at Cahaba Bend, in a sermon series entitled "Won't You Be My Neighbor?", we will consider what it could mean for us, our community, and our world if we take the second commandment seriously. 

Grace and Peace,
Lyle