Kingdom Building
August 30, 2019
Scripture Reading: Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16
Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever. Through him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. –Hebrews 13:8, 15-16
Are we living our faith in ways we would want to be imitated? If we are unhappy with the way things are going right now, we may be harvesting what we sowed. Is our primary purpose in being the church to share God’s love throughout the world, to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, to do justice? Are we building the Kingdom of God for all people not just people who look and act like us and in the way, God envisioned the Kingdom not by our blueprint?
Yes, buildings require upkeep, children and adults must be taught, music is important for worship. A lot of our faith work is routine, opening the church for services, ordering study materials, filling communion cups, maintaining the church bus, mowing the lawn, weeding the flower beds, providing hospitality to each other and to strangers. Is our motivation for doing these chores adding to our purpose?
We certainly have a responsibility to care for each other, as we minister to those in grief, the sick, the lonely and sometimes that feels like a full-time job. We always need to find some time to reach beyond our walls into our neighborhoods and to the ends of the earth. We do not need to do everything. We do need to do something.
Where cross the crowded ways of life,
where sound the cries of race and clan,
above the noise of selfish strife,
we hear your voice, O Son of Man.
In haunts of wretchedness and need,
on shadowed thresholds fraught with fears,
from paths where hide the lures of greed,
we catch the vision of your tears.
From tender childhood’s helplessness,
from human grief and burdened toil,
from famished souls, from sorrow’s stress,
your heart has never known recoil*.
Prayer: Lord help us to find our something to do as we reach beyond our walls into the larger world. Amen.
*First three verses of Where Cross the Crowded Ways of Life by Frank Mason North see at https://hymnary.org/text/where_cross_the_crowded_ways_of_life
All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.