Pastor's Reflection 2026-10-22
Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. . . . You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us.
2 Corinthians 9:7–8, 11
2 Corinthians 9:7–8, 11
My dad loved to eat. I don’t mean he enjoyed a nice meal now and then. I mean he loved food, especially home-cooked meals, and he ate wholeheartedly and without apology.
Thanksgiving was like his Super Bowl. He would survey the table: the turkey, the stuffing, my homemade cranberry sauce, the veggies, and a pot of freshly cooked rice right beside the mashed potatoes and gravy. Then he would fill his plate, clean it, and quietly ask for seconds.
What amazed me was that his appetite never really diminished. In the last year of his life, his hearing was nearly gone, he had no teeth left, and his balance was unsteady, but he still wanted to eat, and eat, and eat. At our last Thanksgiving together, he cleared his plate and was ready for dessert.
This year will be our second Thanksgiving without my dad, and it will feel different around that table. But I find myself grateful that I carry a vivid memory of a man not diminished, but of a man still saying yes to the good gift of food in front of him.
His appetite was a kind of gratitude. My dad didn’t pick at his food or take it for granted. He received it gladly, freely, and cheerfully. Growing up in Watsonville, he had to pick strawberries as a kid, and I am sure there were lean years when the table was not so full. Perhaps that is why he never lost the habit of treating each meal as a gift. There was something holy in that, though he would have laughed if I’d told him so.
The Apostle Paul says God loves a cheerful giver. The Greek word for cheerful is hilaros, the root of our word “hilarious.” Paul isn’t picturing someone who gives through gritted teeth, but someone who gives with joy, the way my dad ate: freely, gladly, and cheerfully. And notice what Paul says generosity produces: not just a balanced budget or a finished project, but thanksgiving to God. Gratitude and generosity turn out to be two ends of the same table. We receive with thanks, and because we have received so much, we give generously.
That is what stewardship really is. It isn’t simply the church passing the plate. It is the people of God noticing how much has been set before us and responding with thankful and generous hearts.
During the first three Sundays of November, we will be invited to make our commitments for the coming year. Your gifts to Wesley are what keep our ministries going: worship and music, care for our members in times of joy and loss, our children and youth, and our outreach to neighbors in Japantown and beyond. Through these ministries, Wesley makes sure there is room at the table for everyone.
You’ll also be hearing more about our Kitchen Remodel and the capital campaign that will carry it forward. I can’t think of a more fitting project for a congregation that has always gathered around food: potlucks, memorial receptions, holiday dinners, and ordinary Sunday fellowship time. Those are the meals that turn a crowd of people into a family.
So as you sit down at your Thanksgiving table this year, take a moment to look at what God has placed before you, and let yourself be glad about it, the way my dad delighted in every meal set before him. May your gratitude for God’s bounty grow into a heart that gives generously and cheerfully.
Grace and peace,
Pastor John
Thanksgiving was like his Super Bowl. He would survey the table: the turkey, the stuffing, my homemade cranberry sauce, the veggies, and a pot of freshly cooked rice right beside the mashed potatoes and gravy. Then he would fill his plate, clean it, and quietly ask for seconds.
What amazed me was that his appetite never really diminished. In the last year of his life, his hearing was nearly gone, he had no teeth left, and his balance was unsteady, but he still wanted to eat, and eat, and eat. At our last Thanksgiving together, he cleared his plate and was ready for dessert.
This year will be our second Thanksgiving without my dad, and it will feel different around that table. But I find myself grateful that I carry a vivid memory of a man not diminished, but of a man still saying yes to the good gift of food in front of him.
His appetite was a kind of gratitude. My dad didn’t pick at his food or take it for granted. He received it gladly, freely, and cheerfully. Growing up in Watsonville, he had to pick strawberries as a kid, and I am sure there were lean years when the table was not so full. Perhaps that is why he never lost the habit of treating each meal as a gift. There was something holy in that, though he would have laughed if I’d told him so.
The Apostle Paul says God loves a cheerful giver. The Greek word for cheerful is hilaros, the root of our word “hilarious.” Paul isn’t picturing someone who gives through gritted teeth, but someone who gives with joy, the way my dad ate: freely, gladly, and cheerfully. And notice what Paul says generosity produces: not just a balanced budget or a finished project, but thanksgiving to God. Gratitude and generosity turn out to be two ends of the same table. We receive with thanks, and because we have received so much, we give generously.
That is what stewardship really is. It isn’t simply the church passing the plate. It is the people of God noticing how much has been set before us and responding with thankful and generous hearts.
During the first three Sundays of November, we will be invited to make our commitments for the coming year. Your gifts to Wesley are what keep our ministries going: worship and music, care for our members in times of joy and loss, our children and youth, and our outreach to neighbors in Japantown and beyond. Through these ministries, Wesley makes sure there is room at the table for everyone.
You’ll also be hearing more about our Kitchen Remodel and the capital campaign that will carry it forward. I can’t think of a more fitting project for a congregation that has always gathered around food: potlucks, memorial receptions, holiday dinners, and ordinary Sunday fellowship time. Those are the meals that turn a crowd of people into a family.
So as you sit down at your Thanksgiving table this year, take a moment to look at what God has placed before you, and let yourself be glad about it, the way my dad delighted in every meal set before him. May your gratitude for God’s bounty grow into a heart that gives generously and cheerfully.
Grace and peace,
Pastor John
Posted in Newsletter 2026-10-22