I don’t spend much time thinking about numbers or size. People often ask me how big our church is. I usually answer with the official membership number, but that isn’t a very accurate measurement. It might be more accurate to talk about average worship attendance or budget to determine the size of the congregation. I do spend a significant amount of energy on budget development each year, but the goal isn’t continual growth or having a budget that is bigger than anyone else. This isn’t a business. It is a church. The goal is simply to have a budget that is the right size for the congregation’s ministry.

To put it another way, our challenge is to live joyously with whatever God provides.

That doesn’t mean that we should ignore money. It doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t ask our members to contribute. It just means that we do not need to grow bigger and get more expensive each year in order to consider ourselves faithful.

Being faithful is what we have been asked.

Still, it is interesting to observe the different attitudes towards numbers that crop up in a complex community like ours.

We have our share of worriers. October was a very good month for our congregation. Income exceeded expenses significantly. We have a positive cash flow for the year and are significantly out performing the budget the congregation voted. Our expenses have been held in check and our income has exceeded projections. You might not have known it from one report that was made at our board meeting last night. The presenter said it looks like we might end the year in the black, but no matter how he figures the numbers, the current pledges won’t support the budget for the coming year. Nothing that was reported was inaccurate. But I could tell from the report that the reporter is much more worried than I.

There are plenty of churches that would be envious of our financial position. We have no debt. We have over subscribed all of our capital funds drives for more than half a century. We carry modest reserves. We have honored all of our special funds. We have met our expenses and stayed in the black for as long as I have been pastor and for decades before that. Our cash balance in the bank at the moment would carry us through the end of the year if all income was cut off.

And our reserves have never been in the bank. That’s not where they belong. Our real reserves have always been in the lives and generosity of our members. The way you raise money in this congregation is to tell people what you need.

In fact, the worries come, in part from the simple fact that we haven’t had to struggle for money so long. We sometimes forget to ask. We often project a sense that we don’t need money.

Still, there are those who are worried.

I’m not worried. And I’m not worried about the impact of worriers. Our church continues to be generous in mission and supportive of its ministries. Before I have seen the final numbers on the page, I am confident that the 2015 budget will be generous, responsible, and workable. It won’t make me lose too many nights of sleep worrying about how we’ll pay our bills.

That doesn’t mean that there will be no surprises. There will be surprises. Surprises come in all sizes and shapes. Some can be very good indeed.

We will vote a major capital funds drive - perhaps the biggest since the congregation moved to the existing building in 1959. In dollars the campaign will be bigger. Corrected for inflation, it is modest, but significant. I have no doubt that we can raise the money we need. I also have no doubt that the leaders of the church will not take excessive risks. We’ll do fine.

I have considered the possibility that the reason I don’t worry has something to do with age and experience. I served congregations with more precarious financial situations earlier in my career. And I did get more worked up about budgets and money in those days.

Another possibility is that God has surrounded me with people who worry and so I don’t need to worry. If you have someone who can always see the worst in any scenario, you are freed to look for the best. I can sleep at night in part because I am absolutely confident that there is no chance our congregation would suddenly go on a spending spree that would lead to financial oblivion.

Jesus, of course, had no fear of financial risk. He considered the lilies of the field and found no need for savings. He understood that poverty is always a dynamic of every generation and allowed the extravagance of fine oil. He sent his disciples out without any reserves trusting that they would be supported by the community. He advised people not to worry about the coins used to pay taxes - those aren’t the real treasures in the first place. “Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s and to God that which is God’s.”

If anything, I wonder if we are living too comfortably and failing to be as generously as we are able. Sure, we are not big or rich enough to solve poverty housing in America, but we could build another Habitat House. No, we can’t solve poverty or homelessness in our community, but we could easily double the number of meals we serve at the mission. It wouldn’t be right and we are not able to support the ministries of our camp by ourselves, but we could have much more support for its ministries than what we do each year right now. We haven’t been called to support United Campus Ministries on our own, but we could match the contributions of the other partners by simply spending a little less on ourselves.

Maybe God has surrounded me with skilled and capable worriers so that, freed from needing to worry, I can dream big about God’s possibilities.

But then, I don’t spend much time thinking about numbers or size.

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