FAITH IN ACTION (8/9/09)
By Mother Ellen
Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.” Somehow, we just don’t hear that quite the same way they did 2000 years ago. Our entire culture is so infected by our 21st century American obsession with losing weight and diets that any food item becomes a problem to be debated. Are carbs good or bad? Is bread really the staff of life or is it a toxic substance that makes us fat? Are you n Atkins or Weight Watchers? Are you a vegetarian, a vegan, or a raw-foods only believer? We might be more comfortable if Jesus said “I am the Personal Electronic Device of life. Stay plugged into me and you’ll live forever.” That we would get!
But of course that is just what Jesus means when He says He is the Bread of Life. He means that He is the power source for a life of the spirit that will last forever. He is the way to a personal relationship with God that brings our spirits alive both now and after our physical death. The people of Israel got a glimpse of that back in their desert wanderings, when God fed them with supernatural bread, the manna from heaven. In today’s Old Testament reading, Moses tells the Israelites that God did that to teach them that they were totally dependent on Him for everything – not just physical food, but their spiritual nourishment as well.
We here this morning are so fortunate that we have accepted Jesus’ invitation to come to Him and eat the Bread of Life. It won’t make us fat, and it does bring us alive in the spirit, so that we can take taste the goodness of being part of God’s family. Think of the security you feel from knowing you are loved and accepted by God just as you are. Think of the joy of worshipping Him this morning, and the bonds of friendship that you enjoy with other members of His family. Think of the endless comfort, guidance, support, forgiveness, strength, and courage He gives you day by day. The Bread of Life is a treasure indeed!
And of course we know, because Jesus tells us so, that we are not to hoard the treasure for ourselves; rather we are to make it possible for others to come to Him as well, to eat the Bread of Life and be satisfied. That’s what the Lighthouse Project is all about. It’s about getting the word about Jesus outside the walls of this church, so that people who are outside God’s family would be able to come in. The word about Jesus is a word that we need to both speak – we all need to “ be prepared to give the reason for the hope that we have” (1 Pet. 3:15) - that’s what Becoming a Contagious Christian was about – and we also need to SHOW who Jesus is by our actions.
And so the foundational Bible verse for the Lighthouse Project is Matthew 5:16: “Let your light so shine that people may see your good works and give glory to your Father in Heaven.” We need words and actions together - to both say God loves you with words and to show God loves you with actions - to be able to draw people to God’s family, so that they, too can eat the Bread of Life and be satisfied.
And so the next step in the Lighthouse Project is our fall program, FAITH IN ACTION. If you’ll take the insert out of your service sheet, let’s look at it together. FAITH IN ACTION asks us not just to GO to church but to BE the church – to express our faith by our actions. FAITH IN ACTION is a church-wide program with the goal of mobilizing EVERYBODY so serve our community in Jesus’ name. Like many churches, St. Michael’s has always had a number of Outreach projects going – like the monthly supper at the homeless shelter, like the Neighborhood Garden, like Our Kids in Kenya, like the Special Needs Game Night – but most of our Outreach projects have only involved a few people on a consistent basis. FAITH IN ACTION is about igniting a passion for serving the world in Jesus’ name in ALL of us, not just a few of us.
Here’s how it’s going to happen: starting October 4, we will be focusing on putting our faith into action with 4 weeks of Sunday teachings on the Biblical basis of Outreach; a coordinated Small Group curriculum in which we’ll go deeper with Bible study and sharing; and Daily Devotionals that will get the whole church praying together. The program culminates with FAITH IN ACTION WEEKEND, Oct. 24&25, when – fasten your seatbelts – we are going to take the radical step of cancelling church services so we can all get out and serve our community together. For that day, church is cancelled, but the service begins!
What will that look like? The Lighthouse Project Committee is already hard at work developing a menu of service projects for FAITH IN ACTION weekend. You will be able to choose a project that appeals to you and suits your physical abilities, skills, interests, and availability. There will be something for everyone – kids, teens, seniors, busy people, tired people, shy people, everybody. And if we all get out there are serve our community in Jesus name – we are making it possible by our good works for people to get to know God.
Listen to what one person whose church has already done a FAITH IN ACTION program says about it:
Video: Kathy Pride
That is what we want to see at St. Michael’s, too: service to our community becoming part of the mindset of our church. The point of FAITH IN ACTION isn’t to do good works for one weekend; it’s to light a fire in ALL of us so that we will WANT to serve the world on an ongoing basis. Our hope is that Outreach at St. Michael’s, as a result, will move beyond being what just a few people do, to becoming what we ALL do as a natural part of our Christian lives. If we all begin to put our faith in action – not just GO to church but BE the church, then St. Michael’s will become the Lighthouse Church God has called us to be.
The question is can we do it? Can we move beyond our worship and our fellowship and our programs that build us up into a program that calls us out to build up our community in Jesus’ name? The answer is, I don’t know. There is already a bunch of people who have caught the vision and are working hard to make it happen. (And by the way, if you would like to be part of the Lighthouse Committee – great, we need all the help we can get.) The Sunday teachings and Small Groups will help, because they will focus us on what God commands us to do in caring for the world He sent His Son to die for.
But in the end, whether St. Michael’s can put our FAITH IN ACTION and BE the Lighthouse Church is up to you, because you ARE the church. The Rectors can’t do it for you, the Vestry can’t do it for you, the Lighthouse Committee can’t do it for you. Only YOU can let the Light of Christ shine through you, and you, and you, so that people may see your good works and be able to give glory to God. I hope and pray that this is the hour, that we are the people, and that St. Michael’s will be up to the challenge. Please begin to pray that, too.