A Word from Pastor Nathan

A church member and I conversed recently, and she used the word “multiply,” which has stuck in my mind in recent weeks. Multiply is a great word with rich theological significance. Many of us may first think of Jesus multiplying the fish and the loaves, and that’s true. When I looked through those gospel stories, no author uses the Greek word for multiply. The absence of this word made me curious, so I did a search. The first instances of the word “multiply,” are in Genesis, i.e. “Be fruitful and multiply.” This text is, of course, about having children, but there are other passages in the Hebrew Bible in which God says “I will look with favor upon you and make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will maintain my covenant with you.” This raises the question of who is doing the multiplying.

On Sunday, July 3, I announced that Washington Avenue Christian Church is embarking on a bold and daring campaign to forgive $1,000,000 in medical debt. To meet this goal, we must raise $10,000. We already see a multiplying factor: $10,000 (x100) will eliminate $1 million in medical debt. When I first pitched this idea to the Outreach Committee, the members set a goal of raising $5,000 to forgive $500,000 in medical debt. What I didn’t expect was that we’d meet the $5,000 goal before we publicized this initiative. We are being multiplied again! What was supposed to be a $5,000 effort is now $10,000, and what was supposed to be $500,000 in forgiven medical debt is now $1 million.

You can join in making this medical debt cancellation a reality. To participate in this multiplication effort, please make a designated gift to WACC with “RIP Medical Debt” in the memo line. Following worship on Sunday, August 28, 2022, we will announce the total amount of our effort, and we’ll watch it be multiplied by God!