Do something

In a discussion the other night about missions, I asked the question: Are we doing enough? Oh, we are delivering food to a few souls in a town of about 1,900, 65 percent of whom are African-American. We are helping at the elementary school, beginning a newspaper writing class in the high school, sewing prayer quilts and such and delivering them, building fences for needy widows, and on an on. There are 78 churches in the parish with fourth-fewest residents in Louisiana. The median income for a household in the town was $15,500 at the latest census, and the median income for a family was $18,958. Males had a median income of $30,938 versus $13,833 for females. The per capita income for the town was $10,228. About 44.6% of families and 49.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 64.0% of those under age 18 and 19.7% of those age 65 or over.

Someone answered, "You can never do enough."

Seems right to me. You can never do enough. There aren't enough hours in the day to help all who need help. But as we batted that ball around a bit, someone said, "I'm not sure you can find anyone who isn't churched in this parish, and they have feeding programs for kids for breakfast and lunch."

But, you can never do enough. I suspect -- without knowing for sure -- that if you thought through it, you'd understand that even if there were 100 churches, that would mean 190 persons per Sunday were attending church. That's simply not the case.

So, how do we come in contact with those persons who, as someone said, know what church they don't go to? In other words, they might say they belong to a church, but they haven't been there in quite some time. Or, how do we feed and clothe and set free those persons who are among the least and lost?

Matthew West, a singer/songwriter, writes this, "I woke up this morning
saw a world full of trouble now
Thought, how'd we ever get so far down
How's it ever gonna turn around
So I turned my eyes to Heaven
I thought, "God, why don't you do something?
Well, I just couldn't bear the thought of
People living in poverty
Children sold into slavery
The thought disgusted me
So, I shook my fist and Heaven
Said, "God why don't you do something?
He said, "I did, I created you."

The problem is seeing the least and lost. As many pointed out, our friends for the most part are in church. That's our inner circle. We know those in pew 2,4,5,7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, etc. And we're exceptionally friendly to those persons who show up on Sunday that we are not acquainted with. We jump them like FBI on bank robbers. But if we are to meet them where they are, for who they are, uh, we are the unarmed bank teller who won't testify against the bank robber for fear of repercussion.

What do we do? What can we do?

First (and I'm the worse of all sinners), let's leave our wonderful buildings and head out to where they are, these presumably least and lost.
Second, let's get eye transplants.
Brandon Heath wrote this song,
Give me Your eyes for just one second
Give me Your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
give me Your love for humanity
give me Your arms for the broken-hearted
Give me Your eyes for the ones forgotten
Give me Your eyes so I can see

Jesus taught this clearly when he said, "We are intimately linked in this harvest work. Anyone who accepts what you do, accepts me, the One who sent you. Anyone who accepts what I do accepts my Father, who sent me. Accepting a messenger of God is as good as being God’s messenger. Accepting someone’s help is as good as giving someone help. This is a large work I’ve called you into, but don’t be overwhelmed by it. It’s best to start small. Give a cool cup of water to someone who is thirsty, for instance. The smallest act of giving or receiving makes you a true apprentice. You won’t lose out on a thing.”

Jesus' mission statement was fairly simple. He said he came to save the least and the lost. One day "He came to Nazareth where he had been reared. As he always did on the Sabbath, he went to the meeting place. When he stood up to read, he was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written, "God’s Spirit is on me; he’s chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor, Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, To set the burdened and battered free, to announce, 'This is God’s year to act!' He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the assistant, and sat down. Every eye in the place was on him, intent. Then he started in, 'You’ve just heard Scripture make history. It came true just now in this place.'"

And he dropped the microphone, having said all there is to say.

Get it? t gets no better than that, friends in Christ. He created us to do something. If you're not, then you're failing. No, you can never do enough, but if you don't start small as a mustard see, a poppy seed, a sunflower seed, then you will never get there. Open your eyes, see the least, do what you can. That's enough. I pray today that we're able to blanket this area, and you're area, not with tracts about the Gospel, but with the Gospel. On occasion I pray we will use words.