24 Pentecost/Year A
Nov 15, 2020
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11; Psalm 123; Matthew 25: 14-30
I’ve been thinking a lot about the Diocesan Convention this fall, just held this past month, and the theme: United in Christ in the Interest of Others. I keep going back to the list/the visual that was put together, to capture the essence of the Bishop’s address this year. I keep it in front of me, as a reminder of the little things I can do, we can do, in a time when it feels like there is so much that we cannot do…In a time, when it feels like so much is being taken away from us …In a time, when we are lamenting the daily losses all around us, and keep wondering when this worldwide pandemic will ever come to an end…
Let me share it with you again…This was a list put together by the Bishop’s Address Committee, of 20 ways to be United in Christ, in the interest of others….things we can do to encourage and build each other up…in the midst of this long season of the pandemic…(shared poster online)
1. make a phone call to someone
2. contribute to local food banks
3. pray for one another
4. Take a walk with a friend
5. write a prayer note to a church or fellow church member
6. March for equality
7. Vote!
8. Drop off a meal for a friend
9. connect with church members
10. Visit outside with an elder
11. Wear a mask
12. wash your hands
13. Write a thank you note to the medical community
14. sharing our harvest
15. Be patient and kind with one another
16. Sing with a friend
17. clean up trash
18. invite a friend to church
19.Reject cruelty and divisiveness
20. Embrace empathy and diversity
For some people….this list may include too many options to think about….it may feel a bit overwhelming…
So, I was also thankful, for the shorter list of three simple ideas, that Episcopal Relief and Development offered to us, this past Friday, in their invitation to us to observe A Day of Love on World Kindness Day… Nov 13…..a day devoted to the positive potential of both large and small acts of love.
Three simple acts of love to help us reach out to encourage one another and build up each other, to remind one another that we are not alone…in this time of the worldwide pandemic…
1.Check-in with someone you haven’t seen recently.
2.Thank someone special in your life.
3.Do something for children.
And, if this simple list of 3 acts of love, seemed like too much to act upon …. then let’s narrow it down to just one thing today.
Use 1 of your many gifts given to you by God….and invest it, today, in the way of love. Be faithful in just one thing today, and see how God is indeed using you to bring healing, reconciliation and joy to this world… Use 1 of your many gifts today, to be a beacon of light and hope in a world that desperately needs to know that we will get through this together…with God, and with one another…
Begin again, every morning…whether it’s with the list of 20, the list of 3, or the list of one. But do something with the gifts God has entrusted to you. Do not hide them. Invest them in the way of love….Put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, put on the hope of salvation…Encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing…proclaim the gospel of God’s love to the ends of the earth…so that all may know the joy of being united in Christ’s love…in this life, and in the world to come…
Do one thing today. Invest in the way of love.
Rev Julie Platson
St Peter’s by the Sea Episcopal Church, Sitka, Alaska
HYMN after the sermon: Lift Every Voice and Sing II - #161 Go Preach My Gospel
1 “Go preach my gospel,” saith the Lord,
“Bid the whole earth my grace receive,
Explain to them my sacred word,
Bid them believe, obey, and live.”
2 “I’ll make my great commission known,
And ye shall prove my gospel true
By all the works that I have done,
And all the wonders ye shall do.”
3 “Go heal the sick, go raise the dead,
Go cast out devils in my name.
Nor let my prophets be afraid,
Though man reproach, and will blaspheme.”
4 “While thus ye follow my commands,
I’m with you till the world shall end.
All pow’r in trusted in my hands;
I can destroy, and can defend.”
5 He spake and light shone round His head,
On a bright cloud to heav’n He rode.
They to the farthest nation spread
The grace of their ascended God.