Day of Praise

Mo, 02/17/14, "Day of Praise"

Galatians 6:9 - "And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up."

We have two monetary offerings in worship. The one is the standard, pass-the-plate offering for all the ministries of the church. The second is what we call the "Mercy Ministry Basket," which is for a very specific mercy ministry. The Mercy Basket goes to something different each week.

The thing about the Mercy Basket is that it's not passed around. It's just placed on the floor in the front of the church at the same time the standard offering plates are being passed. People young and old must get up and go put something in the Mercy Basket. If nobody, gets up and goes, then the Mercy Basket stays empty. The Mercy Basket never stays empty.

Today is Monday. I know it's a holiday for many, but let's pretend that today is an ordinary workday. In an ordinary workday, just like we have two worship offering opportunities, we all have two workday offering opportunities. There's the work that comes our way that is our job for which we get paid or volunteer. And then there's the Mercy Work which will only get done if we get up and go put something into it. The Mercy Needs are the work of taking an interest in the people connected to our work. They're not just there to help us make money. They're people. They, like us, need mercy. If nobody, gets up and goes, then the Mercy Needs stay empty. Ya know, like Jesus put some energy, not to mention all his blood, into having mercy on us.

There's more to a workday than the work that comes our way. Let's look at the people in our workday like Jesus looks at us. Our world is a better place to live when the Mercy Basket doesn't stay empty. Jesus, by the Holy Spirit, puts mercy into the basket of our soul so we can put mercy into the basket of others.

Praise God!


Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson