This Sunday is the 10th Sunday of Kingdomtide. The assigned scriptures for the liturgical Season of Kingdomtide tend to stress assistance in helping those Jesus called “the least of these.” Too often we have limited our thinking of “the least of these”, to those we can recognize with our five senses that are poor, sick, vulnerable, or a stranger. I believe Jesus wants us to understand our assistance must be for those who suffer in unseen ways, spiritually as well as physically.
In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus was as concerned about those poor in spirit as He was for those vulnerable and handicapped by oppression and lacked resources to sustain life. Jesus was as concerned about those spiritually sick from bad religion as He was for those sick from the treatment they received because they were a stranger.
The Apostle Paul understood this and sought to help us realize how much we have in common. He wrote to a church he had established saying in Galatians 3:28 “There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free; nor is there male or female, (neither straight nor LGBTQIA*); for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (*Inclusiveness added by me)
Paul answered our Stewardship theme question “What Shall We Bring” with his life’s work; giving of his time for 3 missionary journeys establishing churches and writing letters that would become scripture; giving of his talents and financial resources as a tentmaker, making a living while sharing with others. In his final act, Paul responded to the question “What Shall We Bring,” saying in the assigned text for Sunday. “I have fought the good fight, finished the race and kept the faith.”
Stewardship of our time, talent and financial resources determines the way we will answer this same question. Let’s strive to answer the question “What Shall We Bring” as Paul did.
Join us this Sunday for worship when my sermon will be “What Shall We Bring? Part 2” based on II Timothy 4:7-8 and Luke 18:9-14.
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