A little over two weeks from now, our Mission Outreach ministry will sponsor Bethel's latest iServe Sunday. The format of this ministry has evolved over the past four years, and so have the projects that are being offered.
The one thing that has not changed since we began offering iServe Sundays in early 2011 is the firm belief that our worship is incomplete, if we offer it with our lips only.
Mark my words – our hymns, sacraments, prayers, and proclamation are and will always remain at the heart of what we do together. The time that we spend lifting up our voices together in praise and thanksgiving is important, for that time uplifts and equips us for the rest of our week.
But would you not agree with me that, if we were to confess with our lips that Jesus Christ is Lord, but were to do the opposite with our hearts and hands, that very worship would remain lip service only?
A major purpose of what Christians do when they get together as a community is that they build one another up and equip one another to live Christ-centered lives. Praying together, singing together, gathering around Christ’s altar together, studying Scripture and together, reading relevant spiritual books together, listening to sermons together – these all are supposed to equip us as we go back into our regular lives and practice our love for God and God’s people.
Our 3-4 annual iServe Sundays are important reminders that – first and foremost – we are called to be servants to others in Christ’s name. We are to be more than listeners of God’s word. We are to be doers of God’s word!
A few weeks ago I mention author Bob Goff’s book Love Does. In the spirit of that book, let us imagine which other gifts that we receive from God can be used to “do."
Grace does. Forgiveness does. Mercy does. Hope does. Healing does. Wisdom does. Knowledge does. Peace does. And finally: worship does.
Grace does. Forgiveness does. Mercy does. Hope does. Healing does. Wisdom does. Knowledge does. Peace does. And finally: worship does.
I recently came across a wonderful poem by NY Times bestselling author and poet Marge Piercy. In this poem, Piercy describes the kind of people whom she likes best: people who jump into work head first, people who work as hard as water buffalos and move things forward, people who submerge themselves in tasks working in harmony with others.
I pray that God’s Holy Spirit would mold us into such people who give themselves away for the sake of the life of the world, for the sake of their neighbors near and far. May we offer ourselves willingly as tools to God, tools through which God may accomplish his works in he world!
TO BE OF USE
The people I love the best
jump into work head first
without dallying in the shallows
and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.
They seem to become natives of that element,
the black sleek heads of seals
bouncing like half-submerged balls.
I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,
who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,
who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,
who do what has to be done, again and again.
I want to be with people who submerge
in the task, who go into the fields to harvest
and work in a row and pass the bags along,
who are not parlor generals and field deserters
but move in a common rhythm
when the food must come in or the fire be put out.
The work of the world is common as mud.
Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.
But the thing worth doing well done
has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.
Greek amphoras for wine or oil,
Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums
but you know they were made to be used.
The pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real.
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