November 19, 2007 by Stacy McDonald
Are you busy December 2, 2007?
If not, please come join us for a Pie Auction/Barn Dance Fund Raiser for Colleen Moeller! Some of you may remember my friend, Colleen Moeller, from an article I wrote in May.
The Bluedorn family of Trivium Pursuit has planned a fund raiser on December 2, 2007. Please plan to join us as we all pull together in a spirit of Christian community to help meet the mounting medical bills of the Moeller family. Here is the invitation information from their website:
Last year the Illinois homeschool community held a pie auction fund raiser for Colleen Moeller, and we had so much fun we thought we’d do it again.
What — A pie/cake/cookie auction and barn dance fund raiser for Colleen Moeller
Where — Lake Storey Pavilion, 1900 North Lake Storey Road, Galesburg, Illinois
When — Sunday, December 2, 5-9 PM
Events:
- Finger Food Supper Bar — Please bring your favorite finger food supper items and snacks to share throughout the evening. We’ll start eating at 5 PM.
- Pie/Cake/Cookie/Dessert Auction at 6 — Bring your best desserts — each dessert labeled with the name of the dessert and the name of the baker. Highest bid takes the dessert.
- Barn Dance from 7-9 — Patti Christianson — caller; John Lane — fiddler; Hans Bluedorn — guitar; Mike Kline — guitar
- Pie Eating Contest at 8.- Best Apple Pie Contest — We need six apple pies (labeled with the name of the baker) for this contest.
- Silent Auction — You are invited to bring gift baskets (or other similar items) which we will put up for silent auction.
- Kyle Royer of Royer Knife Works is designing a knife to donate to the Pie Auction Raffle. He is calling this knife Purple Heart Fighter in honor of Colleen “who is obviously a fighter deserving of a purple heart.” Purple heart is the wood used and the style of knife is a Fighter knife which has a long blade similar to the Bowie knife. The blade will be twist pattern Damascus and he will make a sheath for it. The value would be about $800. You can buy your tickets to win this knife the day of the auction. Email me if you have something to donate for an additional raffle.
No, there won’t be a pie throwing contest. Too messy
RSVP if you will be attending. Please pass this invitation on to others!
- Bring one or more desserts for the auction, each labeled with the name of the item and name of baker. Let us know how many you will be bringing (email by November 19)
- Tell us if you would like to enter the Best Apple Pie Contest or if you will be bringing gift baskets (email by November 19)
- Bring dancing shoes. – Bring plenty of your favorite finger food dishes and snacks to share.
- Bring plenty of $$$ to bid on the desserts, for casting your votes in the Best Apple Pie Contest, for the silent auctions, the raffles, and for the other events. Make checks out to the Colleen Moeller/Moeller Family Benefit Fund (if mailed: Colleen Moeller/Moeller Family Benefit Fund, Wells Fargo Bank, 121 West First Street, Geneseo, Illinois 61254).
- We’ll provide the paper plates, forks, napkins, cups, and drinks.
Please pass this email on to your friends and remember to RSVP. All money collected will go to the Moeller family.
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6 Responses to “Are you busy December 2, 2007?”
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Hi Stacey, this is not meant to be a discordant comment, but I’ve been brought up to regard raffles as a type of gambling – and thus a kind of non-Christian thing to do. . . . what does James say?
Love
H
Dear Stacey, I’m sorry and very disappointed and surprised that you are promoting an event that is to be held on the Lord’s day, however good a cause it is. I don’t mean to cause offence by writing this and have probably worded it badly, but I hope that you understand what I mean. I have no stones to cast at anyone, but I thought that in love I ought to comment.
Jane
Hi H,
I am not in favor of gambling, but there is no chapter and verse that prohibits gambling. I do not see this as gambling, however. It is a fund raiser for a dear sister in Christ. If anyone is buying a ticket to not support Colleen, they do not understand the reason for the event. Personally, I would rather take up a large offering, but we are not coordinating the event. Yet we certainly will be there. There is no scriptural prohibition to raffles.
Y’all need to come visit sometime!
___________________________________
Hi Jane,
A few years ago, I preached a 10 week series on the Christian Sabbath and its relevance to us as believers. One of the points I covered were the acceptable works one could do on the Sabbath. One of these were works of mercy. Jane, given the distances folks will be traveling to this event, the Lord’s Day is the only day it can be held. This is indeed a work of mercy.
In His Service,
James McDonald
Hi H,
I am not in favor of gambling, but there is no chapter and verse that prohibits gambling. I do not see this as gambling, however. It is a fund raiser for a dear sister in Christ. If anyone is not buying a ticket to support Colleen, they do not understand the reason for the event. There is no scriptural prohibition to raffles.
Y’all need to come visit sometime!
___________________________________
Hi Jane,
A few years ago, I preached a 10 week series on the Christian Sabbath and its relevance to us as believers. One of the points I covered were the acceptable works one could do on the Sabbath. One of these were works of mercy. Jane, given the distances folks will be traveling to this event, the Lord’s Day is the only day it can be held. This is indeed a work of mercy.
In His Service,
James McDonald
James/Stacey,
Please forgive this uninvited intrusion onto your forum. Before I begin, can I just say that I have no desire to offend or upset you, nor do I doubt your sincerity in caring for the needs of your friend. I will try to be scriptural and constructive in my comments.
In your response to Jane, you’ve said that the Barn Dance fund raiser event is “a work of mercy”. Presumably, because you are helping someone? I’d take rather serious issue with your use of the term, borrowed as it is from the Westminster Catechism. When the Westminster Divines speak of “a work of mercy”, they are thinking along the lines of Jesus’ healing of a lame man, or the woman with the ‘issue of blood’. Jesus himself made it clear that these situations warranted the setting aside of the strict prohibition on all non-spiritual activities on the Sabbath. But he did not use them as an excuse to have fun! The event you promote is being held because, the last time was “so much fun”. This is far removed from what Jesus did when he healed on the Sabbath – he merely did what was required to alleviate the suffering of the person, and sent them on their way.
Obviously you cannot perform a miracle like Jesus did, so what is it exactly that you are trying to achieve? From my reading of your advert, it appears that the bottom line is funds for medical bills for your friend. Fine – a noble and kind thought, of course. But does this necessitate a barn dance and cake auction?? Hardly. If we were to follow scripture strictly, the correct way for such funds to be gathered would be by appealing directly to Christian friends. We are exhorted frequently in the New Testament to be generous and liberal towards our Christian brothers and sisters. It seems strange to say the least that Christians should need an incentive centred around such worldly activities as dancing and raffles in order to help one of their own sisters. If they do, am I allowed to question whether they are in fact living up to their high calling and name? And if no such incentive is needed, there is no longer any reason or excuse for holding the event on a Sabbath. The same objective could be met by not having the event at all, so the event is simply to add a bit of “fun” to the proceedings. And that doesn’t really fall into the “works of mercy” bracket intended by Christ.
Fun is good, so in my opinion the event itself is not a problem. I have a couple of reservations however, one of them relating to “H’s” point.
Gambling is the open and outward expression of covetousness. The only purpose of gambling is to try and obtain more than your money’s worth, through luck or chance. So I can’t agree with you that Gambling is not specifically prohibited – there’s a whole commandment about it! So the question isn’t really whether gambling is wrong.
You suggest that the spirit in which people enter the raffle at your event is such that it is not really covetousness that drives it. You even seem to imply that it is rather their generosity that would make them take part. That raises two issues. First, why does their generosity cause them to fall short of just donating their money? And second, doesnt the association with gambling taint even a well-intentioned raffle event? It would be difficult for a weak Christian, or for an unconverted person to distinguish between a good motive and a bad in raffles, and they could very easily be led into the sin of gambling by the example of Christians entering raffles. As an aside, surely the money spent on purchasing and preparing the items to be raffled would be more usefully spent by the family in need of help, if it were donated directly to them?
The other reservation I had about your event as advertised was the Barn Dance element. I don’t really want to get into a debate or discussion about dancing in general, but let me just say that I cannot imagine a Barn Dance taking place without worldly music holding sway over everyone’s attention. Not exactly conducive to the sobriety and spiritual-mindedness required of us as Christians, don’t you agree?
Kind Regards,
Finlay
Dear Finlay,
By the letter of the law, you are right on many fronts. Also, please note we are not the ones coordinating the event. Colleen is a dear friend of ours, but we are just invitees. There are many variables and dynamics about this event that make meeting on the Lord’s Day the only day it can be done, and I do see the event as an act of mercy. Perhaps I am being a bit liberal with my interpretation, but I do believe supporting this event is the right thing to do.
On gambling in and of itself, it is certainly true that most gamble for covetousness. But is the act the sin, or the heart? Is wine disallowed, or drunkenness? I have never met a gambler who did not have serious issues with covetousness, but the cards or dice are not sinful. Also, I do not equate a raffle on these terms.
The barn dance, again, is not something we are sponsoring. But it will occur. However, it will not be a worldly event set to worldly music.
I truly appreciate your comments. If you were here in the community, we could spend quite a bit of time discussing the event and the various issues involved.
Yet, I do encourage your prayers for this dear sister in Christ who has faithfully served the Kingdom for many, many years.
In His Service,
James McDonald