GIVING BACK TO GOD


was struck when Pam asked the group, ‘Where did you see God today?’ Louie, one of the Daybreak participants, answered first and said, ‘Fellowship!’ Tis is the same guy who, when I asked if he wanted to take some apples for personal use or friends and family, said he didn’t have any friends or family— ‘just associates.’” Yet Louie and the other Daybreak participants sought and found some level of connection with the FPCA family.


Each event in the Milestones on the Journey of Discipleship series follows a similar format, intentionally combining aspects of worship, study, service, and relationship—the key actions that we commit to in the FPCA Mission Statement.


Milestones are grounded in the knowledge that powerful faith- formation experiences often have a hands-on element in which participants minister or provide service through concrete action. At Milestone events, participants learn or enrich faith by doing—as Jesus calls us to do.


In addition to action, each Milestone has an element of prayer and study rooted in the scriptures. Some Milestone activities build on existing ministries in hopes of exposing new people to them. Other activities engage participants through new ventures. Milestones are meant to be multi- generational, so as much as possible,


events are open to all age groups, and the church encourages nonmembers to participate as well.


Past Milestone events have featured a variety of activities. Tese have included serving a meal at Daybreak in downtown Allentown; supporting FPCA shut-ins through a “Souper Saturday” afternoon in which participants cooked up 60 servings of soup, baked cookies and designed cards, and delivered the goods during a home visit to homebound members (an event repeated in November); and participating in a Trexler Park cleanup in partnership with Friends of Allentown Parks and FPCA’s Greening Creation team.


The biblical instruction on the previous page states that when it is time to harvest, the first of the harvest is to be presented to God. First fruits may come from the harvest of a field or orchard, earnings in business, or from the birth of an animal. Whatever the harvest, the first of it belongs to God. To offer first fruits is to begin the harvest and then leave the remainder until after the first of the harvest has been presented to God.


Why are we instructed to present first fruits to God?


• It acknowledges that all of creation is of God. We are but caretakers of that creation, and as such, we respond to God by showing the ways we have cared for and invested in the resources that creation provides.


• To offer our first fruits is a tangible act of trust in God and our community of faith. If a farmer brings the first of a harvest, the farmer is trusting that the remaining crop will not be destroyed. We trust that we will be provided with enough to sustain us, but of this there is no guarantee, so we also trust that a community, having pooled the first fruits of all members, will sustain us.


• When we bring first fruits, we bring the best of what we have to offer. This puts God first and declares that God deserves the finest from our lives and resources.


Giving first fruits declares that God has given us life and continues to participate in our lives, and that in giving from the best that we have to offer— time, talent, and treasure—we participate with God as we realize that we are indeed nourished and sustained through redeeming grace.


—Pam Weiss 9


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