Compassion and Justice for the Poor

Acts of Worship
Stewardship for Life

Serving the Least

Leviticus 19:9-15The Message

^9-10 “When you harvest your land, don’t harvest right up to the edges of your field or gather the gleanings from the harvest. Don’t strip your vineyard bare or go back and pick up the fallen grapes. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am God, your God.
¹¹ “Don’t steal.
“Don’t lie.
“Don’t deceive anyone.
¹² “Don’t swear falsely using my name, violating the name of your God. I am God.
¹³ “Don’t exploit your friend or rob him.
“Don’t hold back the wages of a hired hand overnight.
¹⁴ “Don’t curse the deaf; don’t put a stumbling block in front of the blind; fear your God. I am God.
¹⁵ “Don’t pervert justice. Don’t show favoritism to either the poor or the great. Judge on the basis of what is right.

For Reflection 

God intends us to be stewards of each other.  Call it an obligation, a duty, a response to the love of God for you and all humankind.  With perversion of justice, deception in most important issues, exploitation, and inequities of all types rampant in today's world, how is a Christian to respond?
How have you responded?  Have you contributed to the chaos by doing nothing but shake your head?  Or have you participated in the healing power of God by showing compassion, forgiveness and sharing your talents for the salvation of others?

Pray

that you will not be swept up in the commonplace material world answers to human suffering. Pray that you will act in ways that are consistent with God's intention that you become a wise steward of His Kingdom.

You Must Be Ready

Acts of Worship
Stewardship for Life

Serving the Least

Matthew 24:37-44  The Message

^37-39 “The Arrival of the Son of Man will take place in times like Noah’s. Before the great flood everyone was carrying on as usual, having a good time right up to the day Noah boarded the ark. They knew nothing—until the flood hit and swept everything away.
^39-44 “The Son of Man’s Arrival will be like that: Two men will be working in the field—one will be taken, one left behind; two women will be grinding at the mill—one will be taken, one left behind. So stay awake, alert. You have no idea what day your Master will show up. But you do know this: You know that if the homeowner had known what time of night the burglar would arrive, he would have been there with his dogs to prevent the break-in. Be vigilant just like that. You have no idea when the Son of Man is going to show up.

 

For Reflection 

When did the Son of Man arrive in your life? 

Yes, this passage refers to the end times.  However, time, as we experience it, it is not time as God experiences it.  So, it makes sense that the arrival of the Son of Man could take place not just at the end of time but, rather, any time and many times.  Are you ready?  Be vigilant, listen to the God whispers and be obedient.

Pray

prayers of thanksgiving and praise for the God who places in your path opportunity to practice righteousness.  Pray that you will always be aware of your role in God's plan for humanity.  Pray, so that you will be ready.

Live by the Spirit

Acts of Worship
Stewardship for Life

Serving Neighbors,
Serving God

Galatians 5:10-18  The Message

^7-10 You were running superbly! Who cut in on you, deflecting you from the true course of obedience? This detour doesn’t come from the One who called you into the race in the first place. And please don’t toss this off as insignificant. It only takes a minute amount of yeast, you know, to permeate an entire loaf of bread. Deep down, the Master has given me confidence that you will not defect. But the one who is upsetting you, whoever he is, will bear the divine judgment.
^11-12 As for the rumor that I continue to preach the ways of circumcision (as I did in those pre-Damascus Road days), that is absurd. Why would I still be persecuted, then? If I were preaching that old message, no one would be offended if I mentioned the Cross now and then—it would be so watered-down it wouldn’t matter one way or the other. Why don’t these agitators, obsessive as they are about circumcision, go all the way and castrate themselves!
^13-15 It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?
^16-18 My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit. Then you won’t feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don’t you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?

For Reflection
So many Christian voices and so many secular voices, whom do you follow?  God has called us to a free life.  We are free to choose to be led by the Spirit.

Pray

for the capacity for compassion.  Pray for the capacity for forgiveness.  Pray for the capacity to become selfless.

The First and Greatest Commandment

Acts of Worship
Stewardship for Life

Serving Neighbors,
Serving God

Matthew 22:34-40 The Message

The Most Important Command

^34-36 When the Pharisees heard how he had bested the Sadducees, they gathered their forces for an assault. One of their religion scholars spoke for them, posing a question they hoped would show him up: “Teacher, which command in God’s Law is the most important?”

^37-40 Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.”

For Reflection
Love God and you will abide in God.  Love yourself, a child of God, and you will love others.  All other commandments are to be tempered by this love.

Pray
Pray and you will find the love of God.  Pray and you will find yourself in the love of God.  Pray and your actions will show your love of God.

Look to the Interests of Others

Acts of Worship
Stewardship for Life

Serving Neighbors,
Serving God

Philippians 2:1-8  The Message

He Took on the Status of a Slave

2 ^1-4 If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.

^5-8 Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.

For Reflection
Attitudes of selflessness, humility, and servitude lead us to positions of subordinance.  Some folks would agree that a subordinate position is a position of powerlessness.  But, they confuse dominance and subordination with positions of power.  Power and dominance are not synonymous.  "Ask and you shall receive" illustrates a submissive position but it is non-the-less a position of power.

Fighting dominance with dominance is always a losing proposition.  The dominant person can exercise control only insofar as the other person is willing to give him or her the power to do so. Find creative ways to avoid domination by substituting defensiveness with supportivness.  Power is held by those who are led.

Pray
to discover ways to achieve mutually satisfactory ends as an alternative to aggressive defensiveness.  Pray for creativity in the face of untoward action.

Mercy Triumphs over Judgemen

Acts of Worship
Stewardship for Life

Serving Neighbors,
Serving God

James 2:8-13  The Message

^8-11 You do well when you complete the Royal Rule of the Scriptures: “Love others as you love yourself.” But if you play up to these so-called important people, you go against the Rule and stand convicted by it. You can’t pick and choose in these things, specializing in keeping one or two things in God’s law and ignoring others. The same God who said, “Don’t commit adultery,” also said, “Don’t murder.” If you don’t commit adultery but go ahead and murder, do you think your non-adultery will cancel out your murder? No, you’re a murderer, period.
^12-13 Talk and act like a person expecting to be judged by the Rule that sets us free. For if you refuse to act kindly, you can hardly expect to be treated kindly. Kind mercy wins over harsh judgment every time.

For Reflection
Perhaps the most difficult practice for Christians is to go against the common wisdom of our cultures.  The "Golden Rule," as it is sometimes called, ask us to apply that test to our own behavior.  This rule is intended to moderate our judgment with mercy.  Such a rule encourages us to be free from the bonds of conventional culturally embedded rewards and punishments.  Act kindly and you will be treated kindly.  Act justly and you will be treated justly.  Act compassionately and you will be treated compassionately.

Pray
that you will free yourself from acting in retribution.  Pray that you will discover creative ways to avoid untoward judgment and remain engaged in ways that are consistent with your faith.

If You Wish to Be Perfect

Acts of Worship
Stewardship for Life

Serving Neighbors,
Serving God

Matthew 19:16-22 The Message

¹⁶ Another day, a man stopped Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”
¹⁷ Jesus said, “Why do you question me about what’s good? God is the One who is good. If you want to enter the life of God, just do what he tells you.”
^18-19 The man asked, “What in particular?”
Jesus said, “Don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie, honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as you do yourself.”
²⁰ The young man said, “I’ve done all that. What’s left?”
²¹ “If you want to give it all you’ve got,” Jesus replied, “go sell your possessions; give everything to the poor. All your wealth will then be in heaven. Then come follow me.”
²² That was the last thing the young man expected to hear. And so, crestfallen, he walked away. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and he couldn’t bear to let go.

 
For Reflection
What do you possess that might be a deal breaker if Christ had asked you the same question?  If that one possession is holding you back from full commitment to the living God -- full participation in God's plan for the realization of the Kingdom -- could you give it up?  Nothing in life should exceed the value of your commitment to God.

Pray

that you will remain fully engaged in God.  Pray that you will let nothing come between you and serving the Lord.