Merry Christmas!

Hello world.
On this overcommercialized-Christianized-pagan winter festival day, take a moment to thank God for all the blessings in your life, such as friends, family, food, shelter, clothing, opportunities, etc. Also, take a moment to pray for those on the margins of society -- the oppressed, hungry, poor, lonely, weird, sick, etc.

As you look forward toward the new year, consider assessing how your priorities are reflected in how you spend your time. Maybe make a resolution about how your can make the world a better place. You could decide to pay attention to people around you that you wouldn't normally notice -- to listen to their stories & pray for them. You could commit to making or finding opporunities to serve people who are less fortunate than yourself. You could resolve to find and support a charitable organization whose values reflect your own.

I wish you a very merry Christmas & a happy new year. May you make the most of it. I pray that you are overwhelmed with a peace & joy that surpasses all of your understanding.

We are ALWAYS telling people about God...

I recently heard some people express the following statement:

Helping the homeless and hungry is nice and all, but I really feel my
time is better spent preaching the Gospel.

Think about that for a minute. There are several underlying sentiments inherently expressed within that statement, such as:

• The lives of the homeless/hungry are worth less than minutes of my time.
• God doesn't care about homeless and hungry people!
• Helping the homeless/hungry isn't part of the Gospel.
• God doesn't call me to help people, just to preach words at them.

However, one of the most prevalent themes in all of scripture is call to care for the poor, oppressed, and downtrodden! Furthermore, such activity IS sharing the Gospel. As Christians, we are always conveying messages about who God is. If we ignore the homeless, hungry, and persecuted, then we are making a statement that God doesn't care about them!

Instead, if we care for the oppressed, homeless, and hungry, then we are implicitly stating that God loves and cares for them. It is a Christian imperitive to care for the needy. Look especially Matthew 25:31-46, which states that whatever we do to the least of humankind, we do to Jesus.

Furthermore, when asked to point out the greatest commandment in the Law (Matthew 22:36-40 & Mark 12:28-34), Jesus tells people that all the Law and the Prophets depend from:

• Loving God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength;
• Loving your neightbor as yourself.

Author Scott McKnight has identified this as "The Jesus Creed" -- the mantra by which Jesus lived his life. It is Deuteronomy 6:4-9 + Leviticus 19:18.

For those interested in the WWJD question, or more relevantly: "What is Jesus calling me to do?", it seems that the answer is that if we look to Jesus as a role model, we should place incredible importance on loving God, praying, feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, helping the poor and oppressed, showing love to all of humankind and creation as a whole, and answering the questions we are asked. If we do that, isn't evangelism automatic?

It has been said: "Preach the gospel at all times. Use words if necessary." This has been attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, but evidence suggests it was written well after his death, though it does flow from his theology. Regardless, the point is well made that our actions spread our understanding of God, and I believe that God values the poor and oppressed, and I believe God calls me to love all people.

Furthermore, mere human words are to weak to convey this gospel, it requires action. The only way to spread this gospel is to expend the time, energy, and resources to feed the hungry, house the homeless, and care for the oppressed.