The Christmas season is the

second highest priority marketing opportunity for the church (Easter is

number one). By marketing opportunity I refer simply to that time of the

year when people are in a "buying" mood for the church and what

the church has to offer. The second highest attended service, nationally,

of the whole year - second to Easter Sunday - is Christmas Eve.

We of the church figure this is a good time to reach out to those who

may become members and one day help with the mission of the gospel. In

essence, many of us seek to reach people who, one day, will become a part

of our program and perhaps make a viable contribution to the cause of

Christ.

Jesus, I believe, has something

for us to think about as we offer special Christmas programs like plays,

choral presentations, or our elaborate productions - which I am all

for. The church for too long has allowed Hollywood to have all the fun

and to become the center of the arts when it was the church, historically,

that was the promoter of the arts. The church should utilize all the genius

of its membership to outclass the world.

But Jesus said that when we

offer our special productions and stage our special events, we should

remember "the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will

be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will

be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous" (Luke 14: 13,14).

Jesus made his comments to a party host who had invited important people

to his supper: friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. Jesus

was suggesting that the host was hoping perhaps that those whom he invited

would reciprocate in some fashion. Jesus encouraged the host to take his

special events to a higher level and invite people who had no possibility

of doing anything in return for the host's generosity.

There would be a blessing,

Jesus indicated, at the resurrection of the righteous for those who invited

powerless people to special activities. Of course, with our microwave

mentality, we want our blessings in a more timely manner - like tomorrow,

not in eternity - why, we may live another 30 or 40 years.

This text in Luke 14 hit me

like a ton of bricks as I was preparing a message using as the outline

Bruce Wilkinson's book, A Life God Rewards. As soon as I read it

and God spoke to my heart (yes, God still speaks), I called a friend who

ministers to Atlanta's homeless and invited him to invite some homeless

people to our church's Christmas dinner theater. When I told our

people what God was doing, they were elated. Some eagerly signed up to

help with the serving of the meal that night. Could it be that our churches

have wanted to do this kind of thing long before and we pastors just have

not given the okay?

As I conclude this month's

columns concerning money and us Christians, maybe we need to take to heart

another of Jesus' saying: "Give and to you it shall be given,

good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over." We

pastors use this verse all the time to encourage our people to be generous

and consistent in giving to the church's needs. Maybe we the church

need to be generous and consistent in giving to the needs of the poor

and powerless people of our immediate area. What about affluent Fayette

County residents tacking on another $10 a month to our water bill to help

Atlanta residents bear the cost of sewer makeover in that city we all

use and are blessed by?

Just maybe if we who live in

the suburbs were a little more compassionate toward needy people -

in downtown Atlanta and even in our own backyard, blessings would come

to our churches - blessings so much that they are running over.

John Hatcher is pastor of Outreach

International Center, 1091 South Jeff Davis Drive, Fayetteville, Georgia

30215. 770-719-0303

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