Faith Works 3-8-24

Faith Works 3-8-24
Jeff Gill

Global relief and local awareness
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Sunday, March 10, is UMCOR Sunday, which if you don't spend much time around Methodists sounds a little odd.

For Methodists, UMCOR is short for "The United Methodist Committee on Relief," and is their global program for responding to immediate needs in the face of both natural and human-caused disasters.

It began with World War II, and has continued to be the annual offering which is at work all year long, bringing resources and tools and assistance into the middle of sudden unexpected need.

UMCOR is how Methodists roll; my own Disciples of Christ have the "Week of Compassion," and Presbyterians and UCC folk call their "One Great Hour of Sharing" or OGHS which keeps the acronym vibe going. They're all much more than a Sunday or a week or an hour, but are a representative effort for a much larger attempt to minister in Christ's name to people who didn't ask for either the trouble or the help. Like most of these initiatives, Catholic Relief Services grew out of World War II's global needs, and there are many more.

Church-based relief programs are common to all sorts of faith traditions or religious bodies. I've had the pleasure of working shoulder to shoulder with Emergency Relief teams from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and disaster response groups from the Mennonite Central Committee. Many of us have seen or even been blessed by the presence of relief workers from The Salvation Army.

Today there are also many parachurch organizations at work in both national and overseas emergency response; Samaritan's Purse is well known, and their big push is with Operation Christmas Child in the fall towards December. They and World Vision trace their origins to a minister named Bob Pierce who didn't want denominational boundaries to hold up aid, whose best known line may be "Let my heart be broken with the things that break the heart of God."

Obviously the seasons leading up to either Christmas or Easter are times when people in general and Christians in particular are more open to thinking about making a gift to things a little beyond their immediate surroundings. Many church-based campaigns use the disciplines of Lent and our preparations for Easter to make for an opportunity to focus and increase our giving.

This column came to mind because I do realize that like many preachers, I have tended to talk about giving and stewardship in the fall, which is when many congregations are planning the next year, and asking members and friends of the church to make commitments to the work ahead. We always say in those fall offering invitations that giving is something we need to think about all year, but it doesn't hurt to talk about it all year, too.

The hesitation is that some say they leave churches "because they talk about money all the time." I don't know how much is all the time, or how much is too much. I'm always reminded when I hear this that Jesus talked more about money and our stewardship of the possessions and material blessings God has given us than almost any other three subjects put together. If Jesus thinks we should talk about how we use our gifts for others, it's probably not a bad idea for preachers to do it, too.

So whether its an UMCOR Sunday where you are, if you still have a One Great Hour of Sharing or Week of Compassion envelope in your Bible, or there's an opportunity you've been mulling to go and serve on a mission trip where The Salvation Army or Samaritan's Purse is taking their rolling tool shed and shower truck to help you get through the week: it might just be time to give.


Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and preacher in central Ohio; your giving has helped him serve in many ways and places. Tell him where you like to give at knapsack77@gmail.com, or follow @Knapsack77 on Threads.