In gratitude, we enter a season of thanksgiving and stewardship in the life of Manchaca UMC. We invite you to join us as we commit our joy, our hearts, our discipleship, to the ministry of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Please take some time to celebrate the ministries we share in Christ here in this church and in our connection with United Methodists around the world. Pray for our church. Pray for the financial support of its ministries. And then, we ask you to be ready to commit to a financial pledge or estimate of giving for the calendar year 2024.
A hymn that helps me celebrate the ministries we share ends with the refrain, "Lord of all, to thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise." The hymn is entitled "For the Beauty of the Earth." I remember my mother teaching our family this hymn as an addition to the table grace we shared on special occasions. When we gathered for family meals at Thanksgiving, Anabel would sit at the piano and play her favorite hymns as her soprano voice filled the house. She invited us all as we were comfortable to join in the singing. For those who did not have the words in front of us, we struggled through the verses. Mom would stop and speak life into the words and then sing them again. By the time we came to the refrain after each verse, we were all in sync... Our Hymn of Grateful Praise.
"For the beauty of the earth, for the glory of the skies, for the love which from our birth over and around us lies; Lord of all, to thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise."
As you are prompted in the Holy Spirit, and as you remember and give thanks for the divine love of God we experience in Jesus Christ, join the singing this season. Join the vision. Join in the giving to support and transform our community and our ministry.
Everybody Give... Thanks!
Pastor Paul
To learn more about our Stewardship Campaign beginning Sunday November 12, click here.