To Know God is to Thank God: Make Good Your Vows

Spread for me a banquet of praise, serve High God a feast of kept promises... 

Our focus this week on our Stewardship journey is “Make Good Your Vows.”  Or as the Message translates it, serve God a feast of kept promises.  I love the imagery, the visual picture those words bring to mind…a feast of kept promises!  I see a table set with plates filled to overflowing with all the promises we have made and kept.  Or better yet a filing cabinet stuffed full of receipts of promises fulfilled.

I find promises are easy to make and most of the time difficult to keep for whatever reason.  I remember a few times as a kid making a promise with a friend with my fingers crossed behind my back…canceling out the promise.  Or making a promise then shaking pinkies setting it in stone.  But I also remember the disappointment when someone made a promise to me and didn’t fulfill their end of the bargain. I am sure there have been times that I have disappointed someone with the inadvertent breaking of a promise…I think we all have done it once in our lives, right?

What does it mean when we make a promise?  A promise is a declaration or assurance that one will do a particular thing or that a particular thing will happen.  There should be some weight to our promises, a sense of duty or responsibility with the vow. But, how often do we find ourselves saying, “I promise”, and realizing we can’t fulfill it or forgetting to follow through.   Does your promise mean something or is it just something we say in the moment?

I think about the big promises we make – wedding vows, baptismal vows, ordination vows – promises that we work on daily.  Promises to be faithful.  Promises to nurture.  Promises to encourage and lift-up others.  I take very seriously the promises I made when I became a Minister almost twenty-four years ago.  Promises I made to God and promises I made to the family of God I serve. 

There is huge responsibility with the promises we make to God…and sometimes we do fall short.  But, our God is a God of grace and mercy.  We are not served with a receipt that says “canceled” when we break a promise; we are given another chance to try again.  God always keeps his promises, and we need to strive to do the same.

Stewardship is about our promises.  A promise we make to be faithful to God for all that we have been given.  It is about more than just our money and how much we will pledge to give to support the work and ministry of Emmanuel.  It is a promise of trust, an act of gratitude.  Together, as Emmanuel Presbyterian Church, we make a promise to God to continue to be faithful stewards of all that God has given us.  We make a pledge of support, an offering of thanks, a promise to be generous with our time, talent and treasure.

What promise are you ready to make to God?

Blessings,
Pastor Jenni

“Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and make good your vows to the Most High.”  Ps. 50:14