God's Work Our Hands

Sure is a catchy motto.  The ELCA hit a home run with this one because it succinctly says what it's all about.  Jesus was God's outreach of love to all creation.  Now, we are Jesus' outreach of love to all creation.  The Holy Spirit which powered Jesus' work, powers ours as well.

We are to continue God's mission in the world; to bring new life to our neighbors just as Jesus, God in the flesh, did during his ministry.  We are to help the lame to walk, to set captives free, to help the blind see.  We are to reach out to the suffering and give them both relief and hope.  We are to gather children into places of safety and nurture.  We are to feed the hungry - those hungry for food, and those hungry for acceptance, forgiveness, love....  We are to forgive ( a whole lot harder than feeding the hungry) - not once, but over and over because it takes all of us a long time to mend.  We are to bind up the wounded - veterans and the mentally ill, the addicted and the socially awkward, the victims of violence and the perpetrators of violence.

Well, I could go on and on.

Here is what we are not to do.  We are not to reject people who do not look, talk, smell, believe, act like us.  We are not to do violence in God's name.  We are not to abuse our 'enemies' because we feel justified.  We are not to carry our righteousness on our sleeve, flaunting what little we have in order to shame the others.

None of this is God's work.  It often comes from our hands, but it is not God's work.

Am I doing God's work today?  Now that's a good question to ask yourself.  Am I an agent of transformation?  Am I bringing light into someone's life today?  Am I life and not death to my neighbors?

God's Work.  Our Hands.  Sunday, September 7th.  We're going to go out and practice this work together and then gather for worship and praise God for all God's benefits to us.  God came to us in Jesus so we might know love.  Now we go to others so they might know the same thing.