This past week, Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church hosted the Waynesboro Area Refuge Ministry Cold Weather Shelter for the week. During our week of hosting, at least five other churches in the area also participated in providing food, overflow support (the number of homeless in need of shelter has exceeded the capacity of a host church like ours a majority of nights this year!), and transportation. That caused me to ask WARM’s Executive Director Debra Burns how many congregations take part in this ministry to the homeless in our area — not only the cold weather shelter, which operates November through March of each year, but the Ruth Anderson WARM House, which operates year round offering help to homeless families; women and children in our area who are homeless. Debra sent me a list: more than 30 congregations in our area provide volunteers and funding to make the ministry and program of WARM’s Cold Weather Shelter and WARM House possible. In addition there are many volunteers who do not identify with a congregation who also volunteer their time and resources to help out. It’s important to know about that within our community for reasons that go beyond a "way to go!" and thank you to all the volunteers, as important as it is to do so. There are a number of important passages in the Bible that emphasize how important unity is to God’s people. The 133rd Psalm talks of how "very good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity," and speaks creatively how that unity grows and flows over as a blessing. Jesus, before his death on the cross prays to the Father that his followers "may be one as we are one," and says this unity among followers of Christ is important so that "the world may believe that you sent me" (cf. John 17:20-23). And in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, Paul urges the church to make every effort to "maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." He goes on to say that the Church is like a Body working together "to promote the body’s growth in building itself up in love." (cf. Ephesians 4) A look at the list of congregations helping to make the cold weather shelter and WARM House possible is also a list of many Christian traditions: Methodist, Presbyterian, Church of the Brethren, Mennonite, Baptist, Roman Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, Nazarene, Seventh Day Adventist, Church of God in Christ, Salvation Army, and non-Denominational congregations: a full width and breadth of Christianity. Sometimes we have viewed that width and breadth with suspicion, or with a questioning of one another, and sometimes the activity and ministries we have within our own congregations and denominations may seem enough to be occupied with. However, we live in a time where our witness together through what we do together is named by our Lord Jesus as central to the world around us knowing and believing in him. And the Bible is equally clear that, in addition to the ways we are called to share the gospel Word, God has specific ways that we are called to work together to make God known, such as God’s command through the prophet Isaiah to "bring the homeless poor into your house" (Is. 58:7). The world around us is much less likely to ask "what do you believe;" it is much more likely to ask the Church, "show me what difference Jesus makes." So, I give thanks for the five congregations who worked with Grace this week to make the WARM Cold Weather Shelter possible; And I give thanks for more than 25 other congregations of our sisters and brothers in Christ who complete the cold weather shelter season, and keep the WARM House available to homeless families all year long. It may be "the right thing to do." But more importantly the love of God in Jesus Christ is being made known in what we’re doing — together.
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Today is Epiphany. It is the day when the Wise Men – or the Magi – visit Jesus, Mary and Joseph. We’re used to seeing the Wise Men in our Christmas displays, lingering outside the manger with their gifts, but if you haven’t read the 2ndChristmas Story, look at Matthew 1:18 – 2:27. There are no shepherds, no manger, no army of angels singing “Glory to God in the highest,” but there ARE Wise Men visiting Jesus at Joseph and Mary’s house. Joseph and Mary couldn’t find room at the Inn, but perhaps after a few grueling nights in the stable, they found an “Airbnb!” These Magi – not kings, but likely astronomers, searchers of knowledge - utter the first words spoken by a man or woman in Matthew’s gospel: Where is the Child who has been born king of the Jews? In Jerusalem, the home of King Herod and of the religious experts in the Temple, you’d expect the king to be surprised at such a question, maybe troubled or disturbed, as some translations declare it, but the word used in the original language to describe King Herod’s reaction more properly means frightened. King Herod and all of Jerusalem, the whole city, were afraid. Of a baby. The one we know that’s been born in a manger. The little Lord Jesus no crying he makes. How could that be? 2018 concludes and 2019 begins in an unsettled world and nation. Perhaps “disturbed” or “troubled” arereasonable words to describe our reaction to what we hear around us. A look at the News Virginian’s editorial page over the twelve days of Christmas, or any “year in review” article on TV, news feed, or newspaper reveals disturbed and troubled – frightened, even – reactions to the world around us. We live in an Information Age that can paralyze us with the width and breadth of fact and opinion about our own “Jerusalem.” Or it can encourage us to pick and choose what we want to hear, regardless of what political or ideological stripe we prefer, and try, like King Herod, to control and manipulate the result. But the Wise Men chose another way. I read a quote from Soren Kierkegaard, a theologian who lived over 150 years ago, that speaks of the Wise Men following a star; and the scribes, with all their knowledge, following a fearful king: “Who had more truth, [the wise men, or the scribes]? Those who followed a rumor, or those who remained sitting, satisfied with all their knowledge?”[1] The story of Christmas - culminating in the visit of the Magi – is the story of the Light coming into the world. It’s not just the birth of Jesus and the Wise Men guided by a star long ago. It’s the Light of Christ, and the “rumor” of that Light, that wise people still seek today, rather than the vast weight of knowledge that the world offers that keeps us apart, paralyzes us, even leaving us afraid enough to treat those we are troubled by in ways that echo King Herod’s fear (see Matthew 2:16-18). Not to his extreme, perhaps, but in ways that cause us to lash out, rather than respond in the ways the grown-up Jesus calls us to: to love one’s enemies, to care for the widow, the poor, the Samaritan, the alien in our midst, the tax collector, the sinner. It is the scribes, the chief priests, those disturbed and frightened by the Magi’s question, who handed Jesus over to the cross. It’s not hard to follow in their footsteps when one is afraid. But on this Day of Epiphany, there is a light that still shines in the darkness of this world (John 1:5), inviting “Wise” men and women to look up from their desks, their cell phones, their news channels – their newspapers! - to ask “where - and who - is our king?”,and to trust that, beyond our fears, this Child really is “king of kings and Lord of Lords” in this world, our lives, and year 2019. [1]Frank Honeycutt, 95 Prosetheses –Appendages and Musings for the Body of Christ in Transition, 2018,Cascade Books, p. 49. |
AuthorPastor Paul came to Grace to serve as our Pastor in October 2012. After a first career in product and graphic design, he was ordained in 1993, and has served as a parish pastor in Virginia and South Carolina. He is married to Jill and they have two daughters, one at Roanoke College and one at James Madison University. Archives
December 2021
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