If I had a mission statement, it might be 1 Thessalonians 5:11, “Encourage one another and build up each other.”
I remember hearing this verse as a small child and thinking, “Yeah, I might be able to do that.” So many of the other commands of God seemed too high and lofty, beyond my reach as a kid. But I could encourage others.
Some years later, I heard George Eliot’s famous quote, which offered a similar but increasingly engaging invitation to love and courage: “What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?”
I am regularly overwhelmed by the plethora of ways in which the Lord of Life community encourages others and strives to make life less difficult for others in the name and spirit of Jesus’ mission. Daily, I see you in action or hear a story about helping, encouraging, serving, praying, and caring that offers the hope that only comes from God. In each of these small and big acts of love, the Light of Christ spills out into the world and offers a new way of seeing.
God’s love and light shine through you when you offer a moment of kindness.
God’s love and light shine through you when you make homes warmer and drier.
God’s love and light shine through you when you share food with those in need.
God’s love and light shine through you when you give things away.
God’s love and light shine through you when you step out in faith to create something new.
God’s love and light shine through you when you step into leadership and serve.
God’s love and light shine through you when you speak out for justice and peace.
God’s love and light shine through you when you stand up and declare God’s love is for all people.
God’s love and light shine through you when you go beyond your comfort zone.
God’s love and light shine through you when you care for creation.
God’s love and light shine through you when you care for people you love and for someone you haven’t met before.
God’s love and light shine through you when you use your mind, your money, and your muscle to bring hope to the hopeless!
And the list goes on and on and on!
Amanda Gorman, in her Presidential Inaugural Poem, “The Hill We Climb,” reminds us, “There is always light, if only we're brave enough to see it, If only we're brave enough to be it…”
However you spend your Thanksgiving week, “encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.” Filled with the power of the living God, stand up, step out, and watch how God uses you to transform the world!
With deep gratitude and joy,
Pastor Lowell