|
A Note From Pastor Randy
On Sunday, October 6, we will receive the Peace & Global Witness Offering. This is one of the four special offerings designated by our denomination, the PC(USA). To use a baseball metaphor, First Presbyterian Church is on track to go “Four for Four.” We participated in the One Great Hour of Sharing (Easter Day, March 31) and the Pentecost Offering (May 19). After
the offering on October 6, we will go “Four for Four” when we take the Christmas Joy Offering on the Sunday before Christmas (December 22).
This year’s General Assembly in Salt Lake City has decided to make some changes to the Special Offerings. We can go “Four for Four” again in 2025, but beginning in 2026 the offerings will be reduced to three. The Pentecost Offering will be eliminated and the ministries it has supported will be rolled into the Christmas Joy Offering. In addition, the Peace & Global Witness Offering will be renamed the World Communion Offering.
The theme chosen for this year’s Peace & Global Witness Offering comes from the prophet Zechariah 8:12, “For there shall be a sowing of peace . . .” The promotional material includes the following reflections.
The prophet Zechariah casts a vision for peace. He shows forth a world where each person—old and young, all genders and races, people from north, south, east and west—lives without enmity, fear and destruction. In Zechariah’s vision, there is a “sowing of peace” where the world is restored, made whole and abides in peace. People in Zechariah’s prophecy bind themselves together in love for one another, imbued in them by God, where all people have dignity and worth.
Peacemaking is central to the gospel and the mission of the Church. Peace is possible, and it begins with us sowing the seeds of peace in every interaction and decision we make.
The Peace & Global Witness Offering is one way we can begin to bring peace. Our gifts will combine with churches across the PC(USA). Twenty-five per cent of this offering will stay with First Presbyterian Church to promote peace through our own ministries, and 25% is retained by our presbytery for peace and justice ministries in north-central Iowa.
On World Communion Sunday, let us remember the Christ who we meet at the Table of Grace and affirm that in Christ all Christians are one, regardless of nationality, race or ethnicity.
Please give generously on October 6, for when we all do a little, it adds up to a lot.
| 
