Today’s Lectionary Readings: Psalm 90; Isaiah 3:8-15; Matthew 25:31-46 2 Peter 3:8-18; Psalm 94
Over the years, I’ve noticed a subtle but important shift taking place in many mainline churches. Many of them have moved from a model where members of local churches were directly involved in helping people to a more professionalized model where we now take offerings to help others who help people. Some would say that this development is positive since it puts skilled people in place to provide the most effective assistance possible. As someone who worked in human services myself for 8 years myself, I definitely do see the upside in having professionally trained folks available to help those in need. Alongside this professional approach toward mission, I hold Jesus’ words from today’s passage in Matthew, where he holds up a different model for helping. In praising the lives of the blessed, Jesus pointed out what it was that set them apart: “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me” (Matthew 25:35-36 – NIV). In this passage, Jesus refers very clearly to an intimate connection that ought to exist between those in need and those with resources. One of the most unfortunate side effects of our current professional model is that by paying others to do the work for us we no longer see the person in hunger, thirst, the stranger, the naked, the sick, or the imprisoned. We have the luxury of looking the other way. During this Advent season - when we spend so much time looking for the things we want to see and pursuing them (i.e. the items on our Christmas lists) - I invite you to first spend some time looking in those directions you perhaps don’t want to look. After you get a few glimpses of the unexpected, I encourage you to do what Jesus suggested: respond - in very personal ways. You’ll be surprised at the changes that begin to take place; not just in the lives of those to whom you reach out, but within yourself as well. Til next time…
Over the years, I’ve noticed a subtle but important shift taking place in many mainline churches. Many of them have moved from a model where members of local churches were directly involved in helping people to a more professionalized model where we now take offerings to help others who help people. Some would say that this development is positive since it puts skilled people in place to provide the most effective assistance possible. As someone who worked in human services myself for 8 years myself, I definitely do see the upside in having professionally trained folks available to help those in need. Alongside this professional approach toward mission, I hold Jesus’ words from today’s passage in Matthew, where he holds up a different model for helping. In praising the lives of the blessed, Jesus pointed out what it was that set them apart: “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me” (Matthew 25:35-36 – NIV). In this passage, Jesus refers very clearly to an intimate connection that ought to exist between those in need and those with resources. One of the most unfortunate side effects of our current professional model is that by paying others to do the work for us we no longer see the person in hunger, thirst, the stranger, the naked, the sick, or the imprisoned. We have the luxury of looking the other way. During this Advent season - when we spend so much time looking for the things we want to see and pursuing them (i.e. the items on our Christmas lists) - I invite you to first spend some time looking in those directions you perhaps don’t want to look. After you get a few glimpses of the unexpected, I encourage you to do what Jesus suggested: respond - in very personal ways. You’ll be surprised at the changes that begin to take place; not just in the lives of those to whom you reach out, but within yourself as well. Til next time…
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