As I wrote here and here, my church (Woodridge United Methodist) participated in a Bread for the World Offering of Letters on Sunday, August 22.

It was still quite hot that day. And, for many of our families, it was also the last weekend before school started. Perhaps for those – and a myriad of other possible reasons – attendance was below average in worship.

Still, our Offering of Letters produced 82 letters asking our U.S. Representatives to preserve current funding levels for tax credits. Since then I’ve heard from several families who sent a letter on their own, putting our letters total at 85. Which is great! Thank you to all who participated!

But then there is this: we had a lot more than 82 people in worship that Sunday… I would love to hear from some of you who chose not to participate so that we could have a conversation. Even if you aren’t part of WUMC, I’d still love to hear from you. What would keep you from participating in an offering of letters? (I know you don’t have the benefit of having experienced the manner in which the offering was presented, but in general or in theory, what barriers would you need removed in order to participate?)

I always want to learn and there is often no better way than to hear from a different perspective. Part of our mission statement at WUMC reads: we are “united in serving others.” That’s absolutely NOT the same as being uniform in our thinking! We want and need and welcome a diversity of thoughts and opinions.

So leave a comment and in the process of engaging in conversation we’ll strengthen our community (locally or globally) in the way of Jesus!