Last Sunday in worship we heard Lenora talk about a call to ministry that she sensed for herself as well as her business (Cambridge School of Ballet). You might not think that teaching people to plié and grand jeté would be able to help put an end to human trafficking or provide clean water for people in Africa, but this was the vision that God laid on Lenora’s heart. Wow, can a business answer a call to ministry too?
A couple weeks ago in the Disciple Bible study on Wednesday night we read about God’s covenant (promise) that he made with Abraham. God said, “I will bless you and make your name great. I will make you a great nation so that you will be a blessing.”
“ . . . so that you will be a blessing.”
I remember one time after I had finished a funeral for a young man in my church, his dad came up to me and handed me a check for leading the service. I pushed back, trying to be gracious, and said, “Hey thank you, but I don’t need it. I’m well taken care of, thank you.” He just kept holding the check out and said, “Well, you know this doesn’t have to line your own pockets. Please take it.”
“. . . this doesn’t have to line your own pockets.”
Right. We are blessed so that we will be a blessing. God wants the world to know that he is a generous and self-giving God who notices the cries of the poor and oppressed. And so, we order and manage our financial life and our business so that we can reflect our generous, self-giving God to the world.
There is a person in our church right now who has been left alone by her family and unable to work right now because of surgery she recently had to remove what they thought was cancer in her abdomen. Thankfully, it turned out not to be cancer, but she remains vulnerable without a spouse, without family, and without a job to pay for food, shelter and healthcare. As you can imagine, she is afraid and lonely.
Those who know her at Spring of Life have told her. “We are your family. You are not alone. We are praying for you and we will make sure that you have food, shelter and friendship to get through this hard time.”
God says to his people: Do not to neglect the orphan, widow and vulnerable in your land because at one time you were vulnerable too. (see Exodus 22:21-22)
“. . . at one time you were vulnerable too.”
God is good to remind us when we have more than enough food, clothing, shelter; more than one means of transportation and a vast support network of family and friends that at one time we had none of that.
“What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift?” 1Corinthians 4:7
“. . . what do you have that you did not receive?”
The truth is that we need friendship with those who are vulnerable as much as the vulnerable need friendship with those who have material resources. Interestingly, the Bible says, “God is close to the brokenhearted” and “blessed are the poor.” Jesus, himself, chose a life of homelessness and called the rich young ruler who wanted to see eternal life to sell everything, give it to the poor and come be a homeless follower too.
So Jesus doesn’t model a life of throwing a few bucks at the poor, he lives among the poor, in friendship, and by so doing, redefines blessing for the world.
Questions for reflection:
What about giving brings you joy?
Are there barriers to generous giving in your life? What are they?
What do you have to give when you are feeling vulnerable and alone like the woman in our church?
What do you have to receive from friendship with the poor?
How do you think it is true that the poor are blessed like Jesus says?
1 comment:
This is excellent. I think these are questions that need constant reflection in light of the culture in which we live.
Very well put.
Post a Comment