“Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated on high, who looks far down on the heavens and the earth?  He raises the poor from the dust.”  Psalm 113:5-7  

“Jesus Christ, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.”  Philippians 2:6-7

We shouldn’t need prompting.  There is plenty of evidence.  People are hungry.  People don’t have clean water.  People live with violence and oppression.  Needs aren’t just food and water and an end to shelling and shooting.  Loneliness and fear … feelings … are hard to capture on camera; we also must listen. God does not ignore the poor.  It is we, God’s ambassadors of good will, who ignore the poor.   In our weekly worship we confess “Instead of putting others before ourselves, we long to take the best seats at the table.  When met by those in need, we have too often passed by on the other side.” Maybe we aren’t putting the needs of others over our wants.  Maybe we aren’t always paying attention.  Maybe we are trusting the verse from Psalms that says “[God] raises the poor from the dust.”  Maybe we want to but can’t see how.    

You have likely heard the story of the contributions of the chicken and the pig toward our bacon and egg for breakfast.  The hen contributes but the pig sacrifices.  What am I willing to give?  Some money?  A little time?  Separation from family and the comforts of home?  Maybe, but we all have different abilities … and limitations, and we may be needed right next door.   

God is generous.  God gave us life that we might live abundantly.  God’s abundance is not money and possessions.  God’s abundance is knowing grace and mercy, peace beyond understanding, and sharing the blessings we have been given, not begrudgingly but with joy, honoring the example set for us by Jesus Christ.     

God of grace and mercy, Give us discernment to see needs, determination and courage to act, strength to see through the path laid out for us.  Amen  

Verla Olson   

Ministries
Teaching Mission Party