A Dollar for Your Thoughts?

These are some of the pictures Donna took during my lesson yesterday on God's Tool of Grace. We skipped our usual greeting time after the first song, and during the first point of my lesson, which was "Grace helps us understand God", I had our communion servers come down front and I asked them to show everyone what was in their baskets. Thus the above hands full of one dollar bills. They passed their baskets around and I asked everyone to take one dollar out. The serving time allowed me to share a few jokes and to poke fun at a couple members. Once everyone had one dollar, I then told them that I wanted them to give it to someone. I even took a couple moments to ask those who were unemployed to raise their hands, and then anyone who was going on a mission effort or had a ministry that needed money. They could keep the dollar, give it to someone in need, or just give it to a friend or whatever they wanted.

It was interesting to watch the mixture of usual Sunday morning greetings and hugs, and everyone walking around with money in their hands.

Everyone seemed to have fun with it. A few made it too hard of a task. Some even brought their dollar and laid it in a pile on the stage - giving it back to God. I didn't think about our guests, but I do wonder what they did or what they experienced.

Some people were clearly helped by the gifts from others.

Once everyone sat back down, we did a little survey to see who did what. I asked how many gave their dollar to someone who needed it? Lots of hands. How many gave their money to a friend? A good number of hands. How many just stuck theirs in their pocket? One kid raise his hand. Brave soul!

Then I asked, "How many of you gave your dollar to someone you totally don't like? How many of you gave it to someone you consider an enemy?" There were no hands, and it was awfully quiet.

That is when I made the lesson about grace. God didn't give his only Son to us because we were so lovable. Jesus died for us while we were sinners, ungodly, and enemies - according to Romans 5. We think we understand God's grace, but in reality we barely know what it is!

Hopefully it was a lesson that will help us all think a little more deeply about God's grace. If so, it was well worth the baskets of dollar bills.

Tuesday & Wednesday - gone huntin'! First time ever to hunt opening day of Missouri's archery season.