Advent is upon us - What are you doing about it?
Pastor’s Ponderings:
Thanksgiving is behind us and we are now in the season of Advent. We await the coming of the Christ child. This is a bookend of sorts to the Sundays we had before Advent, culminating in Christ the King Sunday, where we await Christ’s return to us. The commonality: we are waiting for Jesus to come. The question: what do we do until he comes? There is a bumper sticker that states: Jesus is coming - look busy. But Jesus does not want us to just go through the motions, or to be ecclesiastical accountants and check off our virtuous deeds from a ledger list. Jesus calls us to be kingdom builders; we are to live out our Christian vocation. We live as we have been trained to live through our attending worship, studying of scripture, meeting in fellowship with each other, discerning our mission, our purpose in life. Jesus gives us that purpose, that direction, and the mission. Our call to follow Jesus and be kingdom builders is like the air we breath. We are unconscious of it, we do it naturally, because following Jesus is the integral fabric of our life. We did not come upon it naturally, our vocation as Christians is caught, as much as it is taught.
We are given the opportunity to be kingdom builders. In America and the world, the financial crisis is making itself felt in ways that we would never have imagined. We don’t have to live in Detroit, New York, or Los Angeles, to feel the pain many Americans are now experiencing. The shot across our bow was the notice of layoffs to the Stillwater Mine employees. People we know are affected by this. Cattle and wheat prices are falling from their historic highs of a year ago. Credit for businesses, the purchase of cars and trucks, the purchasing of homes or building of homes is drying up. Our economy is slowly winding down, locally and nationally. Unemployment is creeping up. Internationally, many still are in poverty, suffering from lack of adequate nourishment, housing, energy, education; many places are decimated by AIDS, Malaria and other diseases. Natural disasters both here and abroad leave people destitute and homeless. The harvest is indeed great, and the laborers are few. But we few laborers can make a difference. We build the Kingdom of God, one step at a time, one action at a time. During this season of Advent, I call upon us as workers in the kingdom to gather canned goods and other food items for Project Hope in Columbus. This is a time when food pantries all over this country are stretched to the limit. Project Hope is our only local source where those in need can go and receive help. This is the time of year when the shelves are bare. Help us restock and resupply the shelves of Project Hope. This is also a good time to go through your closet. Are there clothes you have not worn for two or three years? Are you ever going to wear them again? If this is the case, donate your old clothes to Project Hope. Through the selling of these donated clothes, Project Hope offers good clothing at reasonable prices to those who are unable or can’t afford to shop in a retail store. The proceeds from the sale of these donated clothes helps run the store, helps those needing shelter, with temporary housing at the cabins in Columbus on Pike Avenue. On the global level, the Faith Circle is planning on a fund raiser to support Lutheran World Hunger. We have many opportunities to help build the Kingdom of God. It starts with our exercise of our Christian vocation. What will be our first step in helping build and bring about the Kingdom of God?
Thanksgiving is behind us and we are now in the season of Advent. We await the coming of the Christ child. This is a bookend of sorts to the Sundays we had before Advent, culminating in Christ the King Sunday, where we await Christ’s return to us. The commonality: we are waiting for Jesus to come. The question: what do we do until he comes? There is a bumper sticker that states: Jesus is coming - look busy. But Jesus does not want us to just go through the motions, or to be ecclesiastical accountants and check off our virtuous deeds from a ledger list. Jesus calls us to be kingdom builders; we are to live out our Christian vocation. We live as we have been trained to live through our attending worship, studying of scripture, meeting in fellowship with each other, discerning our mission, our purpose in life. Jesus gives us that purpose, that direction, and the mission. Our call to follow Jesus and be kingdom builders is like the air we breath. We are unconscious of it, we do it naturally, because following Jesus is the integral fabric of our life. We did not come upon it naturally, our vocation as Christians is caught, as much as it is taught.
We are given the opportunity to be kingdom builders. In America and the world, the financial crisis is making itself felt in ways that we would never have imagined. We don’t have to live in Detroit, New York, or Los Angeles, to feel the pain many Americans are now experiencing. The shot across our bow was the notice of layoffs to the Stillwater Mine employees. People we know are affected by this. Cattle and wheat prices are falling from their historic highs of a year ago. Credit for businesses, the purchase of cars and trucks, the purchasing of homes or building of homes is drying up. Our economy is slowly winding down, locally and nationally. Unemployment is creeping up. Internationally, many still are in poverty, suffering from lack of adequate nourishment, housing, energy, education; many places are decimated by AIDS, Malaria and other diseases. Natural disasters both here and abroad leave people destitute and homeless. The harvest is indeed great, and the laborers are few. But we few laborers can make a difference. We build the Kingdom of God, one step at a time, one action at a time. During this season of Advent, I call upon us as workers in the kingdom to gather canned goods and other food items for Project Hope in Columbus. This is a time when food pantries all over this country are stretched to the limit. Project Hope is our only local source where those in need can go and receive help. This is the time of year when the shelves are bare. Help us restock and resupply the shelves of Project Hope. This is also a good time to go through your closet. Are there clothes you have not worn for two or three years? Are you ever going to wear them again? If this is the case, donate your old clothes to Project Hope. Through the selling of these donated clothes, Project Hope offers good clothing at reasonable prices to those who are unable or can’t afford to shop in a retail store. The proceeds from the sale of these donated clothes helps run the store, helps those needing shelter, with temporary housing at the cabins in Columbus on Pike Avenue. On the global level, the Faith Circle is planning on a fund raiser to support Lutheran World Hunger. We have many opportunities to help build the Kingdom of God. It starts with our exercise of our Christian vocation. What will be our first step in helping build and bring about the Kingdom of God?
posted by RevLev at 9:36 PM
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