In Indiana the woods often extend right up to the edge of a river. There the flow of water exposes roots, cuts gullies into banks, and occasionally pulls out a tree, carrying its bulk off to create snags and tangles downstream. Usually such erosion happens only in occasional rainstorms, or very slowly in barely noticed streams, but over time the impact can be huge.

In our church, a flow of money has been eroding our cash reserves. The trouble created by this stream has gone largely unnoticed until this year when, with the valiant help of our Treasurer, we discovered a gap. This appears as a very large gap in our budget, tens of thousands of dollars wide, between what we are certain we will bring in and what we say we want to spend. Already we have found ways to possibly reduce this deficit to about seventeen thousand. This past Sunday we had a meeting to begin a congregational conversation about how to further fill in the gap. The church is the work of all. It is not just the time and energy of the elected leadership but the efforts of everyone that will help us fill in this gap and protect the foundation of the church.

I want to make clear that the church is financially healthy. What is more, we are used to filling in gaps. Where there has been a need for reason and tolerance to confront ignorance and superstition, we have helped filled in the gap. When society has left an empty a space in speaking for human rights, we have filled in that gap. When conventional religions and secular culture have left unfulfilled the need for people to ask religious questions and seek greater understanding, we have been there to fill in the gap. Finding creative ways to fill in our financial gap is part of the larger work of filling the space between lofty ideals and reality. And when we put our combined minds and efforts into something, from creating a big Bazaar, to nurturing the human spirit, to improving our financial flow, we are almost always powerfully successful.

Peace,
Thomas