Everyone is reevaluating their priorities. With all the upheaval in society, we have to ask, “What matters most?”
For us, Jesus Christ is the paramount priority. Our first desire is to know and be known by him. “To live is Christ . . .” Paul says (Phil. 1:21). In a time of resignation and reluctance, we enter a season of Recommitment in November.
Invocation
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Jesus, you said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). I know, and you know better, that my love for you has faltered. My heart and soul are bent toward self. My mind is easily distracted and my strength fails. But I know you are gracious. Forgive me. Show me loving kindness. Reform my heart and soul, mind and strength, that I may be fully devoted to you. Amen.
Word: I Peter 4:10
“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace”
Meditation
Okay. So Jesus is coming back. And he’s given each of us work to do in the meantime. Work that is as unique to you as your fingerprint. So what is it? Where are the places and who are the people that are on your to-do list from God?
Martin Luther talked about four realms, four big buckets in which every Christian lives and serves – home, work, society, and the congregation. We all have responsibilities and tasks within these four areas. But our own work within each of these areas is unique to us as individuals.
If you’re driving this will have to wait. But if you can, pause the podcast and gather a sheet of paper and something to write with. Once you have those things, write across the top of the paper those four big buckets – home, work or school, society, and congregation. And then write down a handful of names in each of these categories. People who you are in relationship with, called by God to love and serve. People who represent the ways you participate with God in his work in the world today.
So if you’re married, in the bucket of home you might write “husband of” or “wife of” and your spouse’s name. No one else gets to fill that role. Of all the people in the world, that’s a job God has given to just to you. Or you could put down you kids, your parents, close friends. Be as specific as possible, because no one else will have the exact same relationships, the exact same names as you.
Do the same thing for work: Are you a nurse, teacher, business owner, financial advisor, care-giver either paid or unpaid. Are you a team leader, responsible for people under you or part of a team, responsible to your co-workers or boss?
Or society. Who are your neighbors? Not neighbor in the general sense, but what are the names of the people who live on either side of you or across the street. If you live in an apartment or dorm, who else is on your floor? What organizations do you volunteer with or support financially, especially those in your local community?
There’s a sort of inescapable specificity to our callings that compels us to action. The work that God calls us to is not the Christian corollary to The Human Fund from Seinfeld. You remember, that fake charity Costanza set up with the tagline “money for people”. So generic and inclusive, it could be for anyone. But because it lacks any sort of specificity it turns out it doesn’t actually do much of anything. But our callings are not abstract or generic at all. They’re to specific people and places. And it’s that kind of specificity that spurs action.
Set aside some time to consider the people and places you are uniquely called to. There may be no one else in the world who is called to do what you can do, to love and serve who you can love. We each have our own work.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, you have called me to important work. Ways that you care for and redeem your creation. Open my eyes to what you are doing and send me in your name. Amen. Amen.
Prayer
Lord, make me bold to run the way of your commandments. Help me to stand still before your presence. So fill me with your presence and power that I may carry it into the world. Amen.
Benediction
The Lord preserve us from all evil; the Lord preserve our souls. The Lord preserve our going out and our coming in, from this time forth, and even forevermore. Amen. (Ps. 121:7-8)