During the month of May we will experience so many blessings! We will share in the celebration of the Lord's Supper on May 5th, the baby dedication of Ruth Ann Barden on May 12th, and the ordination of Diana Heatwole and Denise Motsinger on the 19th. Our service of worship to Jesus will be full of joy and praise! Yet, while we rejoice in these wonderful Sunday morning blessings, the call to reach out to the community is an ongoing blessing we celebrate through mission work and community service. While we have aided in housing the homeless through the years, this month our focus will be to sacrificially offer clothing and food to those who are in need.
Most of you know by now that our church is clothing the community on Saturday, March 18th. What is blessing my heart is the amount of people who have signed up to help serve on that day! We have a list of people serving different shifts, giving of their time and talents to bless every single person who is in need of clothing of all kinds: coats, shirts, pants, socks, shoes, and the list goes on and on. There will be errand runners, people praying with those in attendance, helpers to assist with finding clothing, and so much more. For that entire day, our Fellowship Hall will be filled with the Spirit of Jesus Christ, moving from one brother and sister in Christ to another. People will know that God is real and that his calling on our lives is to demonstrate the love of God for the surrounding community of which we are a part! Jesus mentioned that whenever you do something generous for the least of these, we are doing something generous for the Master! While we are serving people, giving them clothes, and reminding them that they are valuable and that we love them, community is being built, simply because we are modeling and living out the Word of God, the life of Jesus himself.
As I read Matthew 25:31-46, the portion of scripture which talks Jesus' knowing his sheep by the acts of love they commit or omit, I noticed that in the book of James a cross reference to those who helped the hungry, visited the imprisoned, assisted the sick and clothed the unclothed.. Look at James 2; James, Jesus' brother boldly professes that a faith which is truly alive is one accompanied by loving actions and works, otherwise, vs. 17 (underlined below) shows us the sad reality of a faith unattached to loving deeds:
"Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, 'Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well'—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless" (James 2:15-17).
It is important here to note that there are many in our church who would like to serve on the day of The Closet, but for many reasons cannot physically serve or be present on this day. These brothers/sisters might have donated clothes, offered prayers and perhaps even given funds to assist with this important ministry. In so doing, these members of the body of Christ are demonstrating their faith through these vital deeds of love. Therefore, everyone who acts out their faith, in love, is fulfilling this scripture, meeting personal needs of those who are suffering. It is also a call to every person in the church to consider what it means to have a faith accompanied by action, not just during a day for our clothing ministry, but in all ways, on all days, living out the same love of Jesus that so graciously saved us all.
In the same way, our food pantry is being used for the glory of God. Continue to fill our pantry with food and other necessities! The hungry are getting fed. as well. Many of our church members receive the blessing of food when they visit our pantry; additionally, there have been others who have needed food in emergencies and God has met the needs of these hungry brothers/sisters as well. When we feed the hungry, we are feeding Christ who feeds us daily through his Holy Word! Consider this--when you give your tithe/offering on Sundays, or when you give to the Ingathering Mission each quarter, you are demonstrating that the money you are sacrificing is God's and he is in charge of your generous giving; your money helps feed the hungry and minister to the poor. Our Crisis Control Celebration, experienced during the last Sunday of the month, is another way we can bring food items to those who are hungry; we may never see the people who receive these items until we all meet in heaven, but God is glorified when we give! When someone outside of our church walls stands on a corner, and you feed them with a bag of food from Wendy's, you are living out your faith. When you ask for forgiveness, or when you forgive, you are acting out your faith, showing yourself and the other person that God's grace is strong enough to cancel any sin debt between himself and each of us. When we encourage others, when we meet a need privately, when we show up to volunteer or spend time with someone who is alone and in need of God's love, we are actively living out the faith which James so directly describes here in this passage. Also, don't forget that when you've given your tithes and offerings and special offerings here at UBC, a portion of that through the years went to the Stepping Stones homeless ministry. In addition to feeding and clothing people, you were giving them shelter, too! We are called to meet the needs of others, and this is exactly the type of faithful disciple Jesus is looking for. 1 John 5:14 (ESV) reminds us: "For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith."
I'd like to share with you a story about clothing, especially since the springtime is when we focus on giving clothes to the community. It comes from Jesus' parable concerning the lost son (Luke 15:11-32). This dad, who had missed his wayward son for days and days, has been waiting anxiously for his son to return. It is when he sees him from far off that he flings open the door of his house and sprints to the son whom he loves. As the father's hair and robe is blown by the wind, he interrupts his son's apology and does something so important here that we ought not to miss it, friends. The first thing this dad does in his verbal interruption is to ask his servants to bring the best robe and put it on the shoulders of his son. This robe is no ordinary robe. Sandra Micelotti describes it thusly:
"In having the best robe placed on him, the Father was telling the Prodigal as well as all observers that his position as son was being restored. It was an immediate demonstration of complete approval, love and mercy as well as protection - major benefits of being a son. In addition, everyone was witnessing the Father's transfer of the prime inheritance from the eldest son to the youngest son (http://ow.ly/Yotsb)."
This robe is about restoration, and restoration only comes through righteousness. Micelotti also speaks about the high priest Joshua in the book of Zechariah, "Dressed in rich robes Joshua stood clean and free, dressed in the best robe the Prodigal stood clean and free!" And since we stand clean and free, clothed in Christ, the best and choicest clothing we can give those who enter The Closet on March 18th, and anyone for that matter, is the clothing of restoration. Finding ways to cover shame and guilt and sin with the robe of Jesus' righteousness is the ministry we are called to embrace! And as Jesus tells us in Matt. 25, he welcomes all servants who feed, clothe and shelter others, for in so doing, all servants who live out their faith through service experience the inheritance of the Kingdom. Amen and amen!
I look forward to seeing lots of you on Saturday, May 18th. Remember we are placing robes of freedom on those who enter, including our brothers/sisters who are helping serve. As we clothe others, we will clothe Christ. And Christ alone deserves to wear the best and brightest robe, doesn't he? In fact, King Jesus already wears his robe of love and righteousness, but it shines even brighter when we are serving others in faith, when we are ministering to one another in love, when we are feeding, clothing and sheltering the suffering. And the brighter Jesus shines, the more glory he reflects back to us through his generous grace.
We are indeed clothed by faith. May we clothe others by that same faith and find that truly, we are covering Jesus, our Savior, with our worship, praise and thanksgiving. One of the greatest ways to act out "thank you" is by serving another person in love. May 18th will be that day to live out that loving faith, but you don't have to wait until then to begin. We can start today...by God's grace alone. To him be the glory, and may his robe shine even brighter as we, God's people, serve him and others in love! Amen!
We are clothed by faith, hope and love, in Jesus' name,
><> Pastor Will <><
John 3:30