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AMT 9/28
Below is the latest “A Moment Together” from our very own Pastor Charlene
Hi Church, I have been thinking about something…There are a lot of problems with the idea of sharing our ‘needs’ with others. This includes asking for help, sharing distressful concerns, helping others, and remembering to pray for folks…especially that guy with the ugly tie. It takes risk. Many of us feel we have been ‘burned’ before by doing so. Why? Let me introduce you to a group of folks you might know. You may even be one of them! They are at church with us, in our workplace, even in our homes.
First is Sarah. Sarah asks for prayer requests at church and asks what’s wrong with people at work. Then, without asking if she can share, she tells everyone. Boy, can she gossip. She does not think of it as gossip, she sees it as sharing. Larry says that guys just do not share like women do. If he has a problem, he solves it himself…uh, with God’s help of course. Tom doesn’t even like to ask for help when he is working on his projects- he may be old, but he’s not dead yet. “Honey, why don’t you call and ask Jim to help before you hurt yourself,” says his wife. Sound familiar? I hope he learns that it is okay for him to ask for help. Saw him in a back brace last week.
Now Nancy is both your neighbor and in your Sunday School class. Nancy is shy. She never raises her hand…not even for unspoken prayer, bless her heart. She’s out of food for the month because of a medical situation…and it is only the 20th of the month. She thinks everyone else have problems that much more important. Terry has given up trying to ask her friends for help. They say yes. Then, they do not show up. Joe is frustrated because people say they will be praying for him…and they forget. He mentions the same request and folks act like it is a new request. Deanna would love to have visitors. She used to ask folks over. She hears a lot of ‘someday’ answers. Folks just stay to themselves these days, don’t you think? Donald tries to remember who has a need, but just cannot remember. He means to bring pencil and paper but forgets that too – every week. Plus, his wife knows everything and talks about it with the Lord. Jesus will hear about it that way. She even prays for those folks hit by a hurricane. She also gave them money. She gives until it hurts…she gives and he hurts. Doesn’t Jesus know about it anyway? Why does she bother praying? Why not just let the people to pray for themselves? The government will pay for assistance for them – right.
Each of these folks might easily ask themselves what it means to do all this sharing and caring. They know that it is part of loving each other but what do we really have to do.
Now, Jesus told us there were two commandments: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ (Matthew 22:37-39).
Ok, this only tells me to love God and love my neighbor…and to love myself too. Right? You work at it. You try to love everybody in a God-like way. You don’t have to like everybody, do you? I have heard a lot of people say that. Sorry. You can’t use it as an excuse; I checked. There is not a dislike card to play unless you dislike an enemy of God. However, this doesn’t mean folks who do not believe or who are of other religions.
Remember the good Samaritan? He saw a stranger from another land, helped the man out. We learned that we are all neighbors.
Well, just that one story tells us that loving includes helping. Helping would mean we need to see or know what someone needs. Means listening. Listening means being quiet too.
Maybe we must share our needs too. Tough request. Can’t we just ask for unspoken prayer and not tell anyone what that need really is…Doesn’t sound like it.
This is really getting messy isn’t it. Being a Christian is like that – messy. We are called to get into this mess. Are you sure that we have to get this messy? All the commandment said was we need to love our neighbor as ourselves. We do not have any other information about how to fulfill this commandment do we? Yes we do. Galatians 6:2 says,
“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” Yep. Got to share, got to help. That’s what you do with your burdens. You gotta pray too. Ephesians 6: 18
“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” Oh boy. Gotta pray.
Whew! We have a big responsibility. So, about the folks up there, in the beginning of all this writing, someone needs to get them to a better place with this love thing. Who will do that? Oh no. Guess who? It’s us. We also need to help others learn the right way to love neighbors. I know. This just seems too much.
Hebrews 10:24 says, “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” We need to be examples, help others to live up to loving others, and encourage them. It means lovingly helping them to share, to care, and to bear one another’s burdens.
I know you can do it with the help of the Lord. Many of you have loved and helped our family through all the stuff we have been through. Thank you for loving us. Keep it up!
Prayer: Dear Lord,
Help me to reach out to my neighbors in love and in faith that, with you, we can walk through the tough times. Help us to learn to be in relationship with people so we better know their needs and more readily share our burdens. Let us especially include in our prayers those who bring us Your Word each week as they have many burdens they help carry. Thank you for taking on the biggest burden – dying for us to take away our sin. Thank you for loving your Father and loving us. Amen.
Feel free to text me back or ask questions. If you have a question you would like to see answered or discussed here, let me know.
Pastor Charlene
