Sunday, October 11, 2026 - Cycle of Blessings
October 11, 2026
Deborah Laforet
“Cycle of Blessings”
Let us pray. May the words from my lips and the meditations of my heart be guided by your
Spirit and be words of wisdom for this day. Amen.
This past week, I was in Winnipeg. I had been invited by my alma mater, the Centre for
Christian Studies or CCS, where I studied to be a diaconal minister. I learned there that the eight
theological schools of the United Church and the General Council Office had applied for and been
granted a ten million dollar grant to further theological discernment and training. Each of the schools
and the General Council Office gets a portion of this money to achieve certain goals.
One of the goals for CCS is to explore vocational discernment and how it can be shared and
engaged with at all levels of the church. This isn’t just about helping individuals to discern their path to
be a professional minister in the United Church; it’s about how we support all people in the church to
discern their call, explore their gifts and skills, and embrace their role in building God’s kingdom.
It was a very full two days of conversation. All those invited obviously had a passion for the
church, a longing to see diakonia be more a part of the church (more on that another time), and a thirst to
see communities of faith come alive and strong in their faith and their call, rather than just struggling to
survive.
During the weeks leading up to Advent, at the end of November, we will be exploring how St.
Paul’s can be a sustainable and missional church. We’ll be doing that with a resource recently re-
introduced to me, called, “Holy Currencies: Six Blessings for Sustainable Missional Ministries,” by Eric
Law. This book has actually been sitting on my shelf for a number of years now. Sue Empringham
brought it back to my attention and we have discussed how it can be a resource for St. Paul’s.
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The book is over a decade old now, but still feels very relevant. As we’ve discerned our future,
we’ve talked about how we can be sustainable, or, in other words, how we can have the resources we
need to keep us thriving. We’ve also talked about how we can be missional, a body of Christ that looks
outside its self to the needs of our community and the world.
In Law’s research of ministries that are both sustainable and missional, he writes about
currencies. Currency is often defined as something that is in circulation as a medium of exchange, or we
often think currency as money. From it’s latin root, though, it has meanings of “flowing” or “to run or
flow”. We still use this words when we talk about currents in oceans or rivers.
Law writes that he has always seen currency as something that moves. He writes, “Perhaps we
should think of the current of money or any other currency as being like water - it should move and flow.
In the summer, I make sure that there are no pools of stagnant water around the house, because they will
be a breeding environment for mosquitoes and other insects that are carriers of disease. When water
does not flow, it creates opportunities for destructive things to grow. In other words, it rots. I would say
the same things goes for money and resources: when they are not flowing or when we hold on to them,
they turn rotten and become breeding pools for trouble and unsustainability.” (pg 9)
Now, I want to assure you that on this Thanksgiving Sunday, I’m not here to talk about money
and how you need to let it flow into the offering plates. Not yet, anyway. Today I am talking about our
currency of blessings, which includes money, but is only a small part.
Eric Law and his “Kaleidoscope Institute” refer to these currencies as the Cycle of Blessings. He
writes that these are the essential currencies at work in many sustainable and missional ministries: Time
& Place, Gracious Leadership, Relationship, Truth, Wellness, and Money. It’s the flowing of these
currencies, within the membership of a community of faith and within its wider environment and
community that gives them value.
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You might now hear differently the scripture from Isaiah that Rachel read for us: “For as the rain
and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making
it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes
out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and
succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:10-11) We read of this cycle that many of us learned
as children, of rain and snow, flowing from the skies and watering the earth, helping to nourish life and
this word of God, flowing and returning and bringing life. It’s that flow, that current, that brings life and
renewal.
In the gospel lesson that Rachel read for us, we read about the loaves and fishes. We read of a
large crowd, surrounding Jesus and his disciples, there to listen to Jesus talk. As the day grows late
though, as people begin to feel hungry, the disciples begin to worry and they talk about sending
everyone away because they have no way to feed this crowd of thousands of people. This is a story often
used to highlight one of the miracles of Jesus, of taking five barley loaves and two fish and feeding
thousands of people. It’s also a story though that teaches abundance. Law writes, “If everyone in our
community gives until [they] have less, it will generate a dynamic that will keep everyone giving and
receiving. Eventually what we give away will actually return to us in new forms with new gifts.”
Now, to help us understand this concept, we’re going to try an exercise: (Exercise on par 16-17.)
Have people share thoughts afterwards.
Law writes: “Once we realize that giving is not a one-time ‘losing game,’ but part of a dynamic
process that keeps resources flowing in our community, we will have the courage to give generously.”
And again, we’re not just talking about money here. We’re talking about volunteers, property
and place, leadership, the relationships inside and outside of the church, individual and corporate truth,
and being well, physically, socially, economically, ecologically, and spiritually. This community of St.
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Paul’s has an abundance of blessings to share with those amongst us and with our wider community. We
cannot be a community that holds fast to its resources and expects to be sustainable and missional. We
gather food on this day to give to a local food bank, to offer to those people who struggle to put food o
the table. Can we not imagine a world where currencies flow so well, that everyone has food on their
table without having to go to a food bank? Can we imagine everyone with livable income and the
dignity that comes with not having to beg for your needs? Can we imagine this community speaking
truth, building relationships, being well and supporting others in their wellness? Can we imagine
sharing our loaves and fishes and seeing thousands fed and sustained?
We’re going to continue to talk about this more, focus on each of the blessings that Law
describes, and hopefully it’ll be more than just me talking at you. We might gather after worship one
Sunday and have a workshop. We might have an exercise during worship like we did today. As we
work through amalgamation with two other churches, as we explore our own mission to invite people
into this space, not just to worship with us, but to share this space and to work together to serve our
community, this is a time for us to discern our blessings and how they flow from us to the community
and back to us again.
On this Thanksgiving Sunday, may we remember our many blessings. May we live with an
attitude of abundance rather than scarcity. May we learn to be a sustainable and mission ministry. May
God, Christ, and Spirit be our guide, our wisdom, our strength, and our inspiration, and may these gifts
flow through us and into the world. Amen.