Serving Brings Joy

How do you put your faith into action? Actively living in faith can take many, many shapes. Maybe your job gives you daily opportunities to trust in God’s provision or grace. Perhaps you give continued attention to a challenging relationship. Or possibly your faith is active in the prayerful way you are seeking God’s guidance. This past Sunday, we gathered together to serve God and our neighbors by putting our faith in action in community-wide ways.

A couple participants share their reflections on Resurrection’s Faith in ACT!ON Day:

Faith in Action day is a jump start for me each spring.  As spring time comes and brings the promise of new life and color in our lives, Faith in Action Day brings us to others’ lives as we serve inside and outside our congregation. From cleaning and sharing stories with elderly folks to packing kits for children living under stress we get to have our hands and hearts involved in projects that bring our faith to others. I love that children can serve with or without their parents. I love that young and old can do something to reach out into the community and share their faith.  As an event leader on Faith in Action Day I receive the added bonus of seeing the faces of those who are affected by our donations. I get to see the excitement of the volunteers when I deliver 700 hygiene kits to the Neighborhood House. I get to see the tears of joy when I deliver over 200 kitchen kits to Bridging. I am excited to see the faces of the people at Lutheran Social Service’s Camp Noah when I deliver the kids’ kits we made. To me, this is powerful stuff and it fuels me when my faith meter is running low.  Jodi Diekmann

I just love how you can make a difference, with only a couple hours of your time. The people we visited loved sharing their stories. There is a great deal of power in simply listening. I love seeing the smiles on the faces of both those who serve and those we visited. Faith in ACT!ON brings joy! Renae Jensen

During last night’s final Lenten Wednesday message on the ten commandments, Pastor John closed with an image of Jesus washing his disciples feet. He wrapped up this series by helping us all remember that the hope we have in living by the commandments is found in Christ and his example. It is when we turn our eyes and lives to him that we experience the joy of faith in action.

Haiti Reflections

On my most recent mission trip to Haiti, our team jumped aboard the “tap tap” last Tuesday morning anticipating what God had in store for us to learn that day.  What was God going to teach us?  How were our hearts going to be opened?  How would we learn more about who God is through his own people?

 

That day we delivered water to a tent city where there is no clean drinking water or electricity, and there is sewage running through the streets.  Yet as we arrived in Cite Soleil the children mobbed us with large grins and joyful spirits.  Under the extreme poverty conditions the team was taken aback seeing the joy in their eyes, their large smiles and gigantic never-ending hugs.  Watching the line of water buckets continually growing, partnering with desperation, some team members witnessed excitement and gratefulness as the Haitians received their portion of clean water for their families. As we witnessed them walking with their water buckets to their homes and seeing the conditions, the reality of poverty and lack of comfort they have compared to what we have back in the states was striking and made us ask, “What is God trying to teach me?”  When God breaks our hearts for what breaks His, we can move into action.  Mark 12:31 reminds us, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  There is no other commandment greater than these.”  We do not have to go to Haiti to serve others or to be moved into action.  We can love and serve our neighbors in our own community and backyard. 

 

You are invited to serve with our church family on faith in ACT!ON Day, Sunday, March 22 when we have the opportunity to put our faith into action! Perhaps you will bring a pet to visit residents at a care center, or help assemble Kids Kits for Camp Noah, a summer camp for children whose neighborhoods have experienced trauma. Maybe you will serve breakfast at a homeless shelter, or perhaps you will build shelves or organize supplies for ReBuilding Together.  Out of town that day?  Consider donating supplies for one of the assembly projects as your way of serving.

Let’s move into action together, and spread the good news of Jesus! Sign up here for faith in ACT!ON Day by Monday, March 16.  Please sign up for the potluck also.

Written by: Hannah Koehler