“Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”
Colossians 3:2
I couldn’t make up my mind between writing today’s Blog post about Death or Racism.
So I’m not going to write about either of these things.
Instead I’m going to go back to a sermon that our Sr. Pastor gave a couple of weeks ago. He talked about what it means to be an Evangelical church, and for us as a church to do evangelism in these extraordinary times. His sermon really had an effect on me.
“It’s not my job as a pastor to reach out to everyone in our community who is hurting,” he said (paraphrasing some…). “That’s your job. You are the church. These buildings aren’t the church. I’m not the church. The church is you.” He went on to say that his job is to prepare us for the ministry, every single one of us… and if he could he’d like to reach out and ordain every single person listening to his sermon that day, and tell us all to go out and minister to those our community who need the help and the hope that can only come from God.
I’m sure the occasion of my baptism, which also took place that week, also has something to do with my reaction to his sermon. My baptism really wasn’t just any old dunk in the lake. While my church teaches that salvation comes through belief alone, and water baptism symbolically memorializes the baptism of the soul by the Holy Spirit which has already taken place … to me it also carries what feels like some additional responsibility.
As somebody who has publicly proclaimed my faith in Jesus Christ, I feel like I now have more of a public responsibility to live up to the things that God asks of me. It’s not “just” between me and God any more. It’s between me and God and the rest of the world too.
Which brings me back to my pastor’s sermon about every single one of us being responsible for ministering to those in need, particularly in these extraordinary times.
There is a part of me that wants to say, “Oh no, no, no, just wait a minute. That doesn’t include me. I’m still just a spiritual Little Kid. I need more time to grow up first and get my own education. I’m not qualified to minister to others yet.”
But the Bible is full of people who don’t feel qualified or ready or even able to do what God asked of them when they received His call. The Bible tells us over and over again that He will provide whatever we need to do His work.
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. “
Matthew 7:7-8
I feel like I am being called to somehow do God’s work here on Earth, possibly having something to do with writing. I don’t know how yet, but I am listening very carefully.
GodChild 