Sermon - 2014-04-02 - Service

When I was growing up, I always wanted to find ways of helping.  I wanted to be a part of things and I wanted to to be involved.  So when I was young, my parents were part of a new member supper committee.  When a new member would become part of the congregation, this committee would call people to bring various dishes for the new members and their church host family  to enjoy together.  This meal would be on the day that they would be welcomed into the congregation.  However, my job was to help set up tables, making sure each spot had plate, glass of water, fork, spoon and knife.  I still remember doing that.  How I was part of the welcoming of people into our church.  

When I was in high school, I remember going to our local camp.  There we would help set up various sites to prepare them for the summer.  Setting up the tents for the campers to sleep in,  cleaning up many of the buildings that had gotten dusty or just needed to be straightened up after a winter of sitting, and we would take wood chippings to help prepare the trails that would be used throughout the summer to get from one place to the next.  

When I got older, I wanted to do even more.  I wanted to have some fun but still be a part of the church.  So what I did was joined a group of us who helped in confirmation.  (Yes, I was one of those kids who still went to confirmation, even after confirmation was done.)  I realized that I needed to be there to set the example to others.  So the few of us, worked together with the Pastor and put on a skit for the confirmands to help them understand some of the lesson.  Often times, we were the comic relief and even other times the ones who helped with the games.  

Now these were only a few examples that I remember of the some of the services that I did within church to help things happen. I don’t tell you these things to boast but rather it was these moments that also stuck with me.  It kept me involved in the church and more importantly, it was something that someone else encouraged me to be a part of. For one of the biggest things that the church is known for is caring for others and being a place where all are welcome to share in their abilities to form a community that is stronger because all are there.  

Some of the things that we have happening within our church are: Operation Christmas Child, Meals on Wheels, be a teacher for Sunday School, and various other things.  One of the main questions, that I am wondering about is, what are you interested in seeing happen here at the church?  How can you be involved, regardless of age? How can you use the gifts that God has given to you to serve others gathered around you?  

(Take 3 minutes a find person close to you and talk about what are some of the gifts that you have.  How can you share them with others.)

Write down your gifts on a the sheet of paper that was in the back of the church, when the offer plate comes around, I want you to put that sheet of paper in the offering.  These are some of the greatest things that you shall share within the church, your talents and time are some of the greatest offerings and gifts that you can give to the church, to the service of others and to God.  Now it is one thing to talk about service and it is even greater to actually do it.  And it is here that our Gospel text comes in tonight.  As we find ourselves serving others, we find ourselves with some wonderful gifts that we did not expect to see happen.  We find a closer community, a caring community, one in which people want to be a part of and above all one that is serving God.  As we are serving others, God gives us this gift of feeling a sense of peace, of wholeness and being part of the Kingdom of God within the world.  Now, I want you to understand, these services to others do not get you into the Kingdom of God but by being part of them, God is allowing you to be a part of that.