Before God moves the Church, He moves hearts. To experience God’s purposes, we must first let go of the lie that we can be in total control of our outcomes, that a tight grip on our lives can keep us safe and self-determined. Our God is a generous God, and calls us into a life of generosity by opening our hands, trading that which is temporary for that which will endure, so that we can live the life God has designed us for. When we open our hands in generosity, we don’t lose our lives; our hands are freed to take hold of the real thing. Generosity is God’s love in you, calling us to stop defending and protecting our lives, and to start living them.

Generous churches have a generous character before they are generous in the world. They understand that leaders cannot carry the work by themselves. When we operate in siloes because "it's faster," we rob our neighbor of the holy ground where their gifts are cultivated and their faith can mature. Generous churches extend charity by extending the call to all the baptized – helping people find their place, so that together we are built into the cathedral God intends.

How we understand the Bible comes from how we understand Jesus. Just as Jesus was fully human and fully God, so the Bible is a fully human and fully divine book. Through the Holy Spirit, the Bible serves as a means of recognizing the risen Christ much like the disciples on the Emmaus road. And when we do, our hearts are set ablaze. May we fall in love with the Bible—a people eager to wrestle, weep, question, and feast on the sacred page. When we approach the Word with open hands and burning hearts, the Spirit breathes life into dry places and equips us to participate in Christ’s redemptive work right here in our community.