"So is this week (eating rice and beans) doing what you thought it would do?" asked the reporter from the Daily News.
If by that you mean that every time I whine about eating rice and beans I remember those who didn't make a choice to eat them...
Then yes. This week is doing exactly what I hoped it would do.
I came upon this passage today -
23 Because of the miraculous signs Jesus did in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration, many began to trust in him.24 But Jesus didn’t trust them, because he knew human nature.25 No one needed to tell him what mankind is really like. John 2:23-25 (NLT)
Fact is, we are so out of sync with what God values that it's very difficult to approach poverty with the heart of Jesus. We need to get slapped. We need to be shaken. We need to be made to awaken to the human cost of our indifference.
So if this week does that, I will end it thanking God and waiting for orders.
The message Sunday was called "Crux" and the idea was that Jesus called us all to recognize our lack of anything that would make us worthy to God. It was the very first line of the Sermon on the Mount, and the absolute essential that each of us had to embrace as truth before we can follow Jesus as Lord.
Obviously, this picture would communicate a lack - of nourishment.
And it broke my heart.
I mentioned two weeks ago in a message that I had connected the use of corn for ethanol with rising prices for fuel, and how I personally would rather pay more for gasoline than to negatively affect those in need.
8 Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves;
ensure justice for those being crushed. 9 Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless,
and see that they get justice. Prov 31:8-9 (NLT)
I'll post the worship and sermon from yesterday a little later, but I wanted to get to the heart of it right now. New Hope is a church that stands with the saints in history by declaring the truth that we are all deeply flawed and scarred by sin, that we are in desperate need of a Savior, that Jesus is that Savior, and that by confessing our sins (agreeing with God), and receiving God's forgiveness by surrendering our lives and placing our faith in Jesus, we can be made whole. So we believe that Jesus IS our message. So having done that, how then do we live?
In the past year, we've established relationships to help us live out our faith while loving our neighbors. We work with Valparaiso Elementary, the City, Valp Cable, the Heritage Museum, and more recently Sharing and Caring to reach out in love.
As lead pastor, I believe that the only way I can see the command of Jesus to "make disciples, teaching them to obey all that I've commanded..." is to get people out of their chairs and into ministry - not to the church, but to the neighborhood. So I'm constantly looking for ways to do that here, and around the world. So I'm posting some ideas here today of ways to do just that.
Tom Davis is an amazing servant of Jesus, and the group of people who work with him are showing the American Church that "Yes We Can!" I placed a badge on this blog out of a strong identification with their work.
Then several organizations such as Samaritan's Purse, Heifer.org and others provide gift catalogs with tangible ways your family can be involved in impacting the world for Jesus. Our family is going to choose a project this Christmas, and I'm very excited about that.
We are the first generation that really can do something about the kind of “stupid” poverty that sees children dying of hunger in a world of plenty or mothers dying for lack of a 20-cent drug that we take for granted. We have the science, we have the resources, what we don’t seem to have is the will. This is an opportunity to show what America stands for.
Bono in Tom Davis’ Red Letters
I think there's hope rising in churches all over America. We are beginning to realize that we have been selfish and self centered and are rich and increased with goods. I pray that this Christmas season brings new opportunities to carry the Life into a dark world.
