Newsletter - April 2015

This is the fourth in a series of columns about family faith practices.  The first was about table graces, the second about daily devotions, and the third about weekly worship.

Last September our parish participated in the “God’s Work; Our Hands” day of service for the first time with many other Lutheran congregations.  We helped clean up around Karlstad including varnishing outdoor city benches and cleaning up around the moose in Moose Park.  This event was billed as one for all ages, and the intent was that families would work together as well as congregation members working together.  Much of the literature from the ELCA showed pictures of young people in bright yellow t-shirts working along side their parents and even their grandparents.  I hope that this parish continues to participate in the annual “God’s Work: Our Hands” day of service in the fall, even though I found out how badly out of shape I was (or how old I’ve become) when trying to move those rocks at the base of the moose.

One of the family faith practices I would commend to you is the practice of helping others together as a family.  Whether it is in a formal nation-wide program like “God’s Work; Our Hands” or it is simply doing something for a neighbor without any fanfare or organization, one of the things we can teach the next generation is the value of helping others by doing something together as a family.  There are always people in need around us if we will but open our eyes and see.  So many times we are segregated by age.  It is good to see several generations working together, passing on the values of faith and service from one generation to another.

In Matthew 25 Jesus gives us a picture of the Great Judgment scene.  As the people are all gathered before him, he commends the people at his right hand by saying, “I was hungry and you fed me.  I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink.  I was poorly clad and you clothed me.  I was sick and you visited, and I was in prison and you came to me.  I was a stranger and you welcomed me”  The people respond, “when was that?”  And Jesus says to them, “as you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to me.”  Service to others is to be a hallmark of the Christian believer and one of the “good works” that the believer does in response to the love and mercy of God in saving that believer by grace through faith.  Salvation is the gift of God.  Doing good for others is our gift to our neighbor and ultimately to God.

In Luke 3 there is the story of the ministry of John the Baptist.  As people came to him repenting of their sins and seeking baptism, they asked him “what should we do?”  To the multitude he said, “if you have two coats share with him who has none, and likewise with your food.”  People can learn to do good for others by reading stories in the Bible and listening to preaching based on the Bible, but they also learn by doing when they work together with others in the family.

This coming month our youth are taking the lead in participating in another service project.  “Feed My Starving Children” is an organization out of Minneapolis that has grown greatly in the last 20 years in feeding the hungry in many parts of the world.  Once a year they come to Grand Forks for a weekend in which people of all ages can get together to help pack food packets to be delivered to many places in the world.  Several of our neighboring congregations have participated before, and now on April 11 our parish will too.  Teams of 7 are set up to produce each packet of food, and there is a job suitable for any age.  Church youth groups sign up for a work shift, as do Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops from the area, and sometimes, according to the literature, some families come just as a family, working together on a simple service project.  This is an inspiring thought: Mom and Dad and the kids working together to feed the hungry.

Many service organizations across the land are reporting a decrease in the number of volunteers.  In the good old days (the 1950s, right?) there were many age and gender specific service organizations flourishing.  Maybe it is time for people to mix it up and get the young and old working together to be of help to those in need.  Maybe families should try to do something together as a family for the neighbor next door or for the neighbor across the world.  No one is too young to help someone else, and no one is ever too old to be of service.

So the fourth family faith practice I would commend to you is working together to be of service to the neighbor in need.