Our Offerings and the One Great Hour of Sharing Offering

by Beverly Bartlett

Children's Sermon Based on Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Do you remember the story of Moses leading the people out of Egypt?

What was their life like in Egypt? (They were slaves. They weren't free. They had to work very hard.)

When God helped Moses part the Red Sea and led the people out of Egypt, where did they go next? (The wilderness. The desert.)

They spent forty years walking in the wilderness. What do you think their lives were like in the desert? (Hard. Not very much water, not very much food, couldn't stay in one place and make a home.)

God had to take care of the people in the wilderness to keep them alive. Do you remember what God sent them for food? (Manna and quails). God had to help Moses find water for the people.

After forty years, where did God finally lead them? (To the promised land)

The Bible, in Deuteronomy, tells us that God gave the people of Israel the promised land. It would be theirs. They could settle there and make homes for themselves and grow crops and keep animals. God promised them that they would do very well in the land. It would be a good home for them.

And God told them that every year they must make an offering to God. They must take some of the first crops that were ready to eat and put them in a basket and take them to the priest as a way of giving thanks to God. Whenever they brought their offering they would say to the priest: "God brought us into this land that he promised to give to our ancestors–our grandparents and great-grandparents and great, great, great, great, great grandparents. Our ancestors lived as slaves in Egypt. The Egyptians treated our people harshly, they made them work very hard, and they hurt our people. God brought us out of Egypt and gave us this land–a land that is full of good things to eat. So now we bring these first fruits of this land to you God, because you gave us this land." And then they would celebrate all the good things that God had given them.

We bring offerings every week. We don't usually bring food, like the people of Israel, but we bring money. That is our way of saying "thank you" to God for all the good things that God has done for us. Our offering is one way that we remember that everything we have is a gift from God. It doesn't really belong to us, but to God.

What happens with our offerings? We use them to help keep the church going–to pay the electricity and heating bills, to buy Sunday School books, to pay the minister and the secretary. We use them to help people–to help people who are lonely or poor or hungry. Sometimes we use our offerings to help people who are our close neighbors and sometimes we help people who are our far away neighbors. One Great Hour of Sharing is a special offering that is coming up very soon. We give this offering to UMCOR, which stands for the United Methodist Committee on Relief, and UMCOR uses the money to help people all over the world have a better life.

Whenever we give an offering we are saying "Thank you God, for everything you have done for me and everything you have given me. Everything I have really belongs to you, God, and I want to share what you have given me with other people."

About the One Great Hour of Sharing

One Great Hour of Sharing (OGHS) is observed by United Methodists on the fourth Sunday in Lent but you can give all year around. The OGHS offering supports ongoing work of the United Methodist Committee on Relief. Your gifts to One Great Hour of Sharing allow UMCOR to work efficiently and effectively in disaster response, hunger and poverty ministries, and refugee ministries around the world. UMCOR does not receive support from World Service. Give generously in thanks for all that God has given you.