Mission Made Manifest

Sorry about missing last week (I know you were all sitting by your computer just waiting for the weekly update!) However, I was away for a week in Ohio for the final portion of an enrichment programme that I have been part of for the past 18 months. I was able to get back for church this past Sunday but, not having the preparation time I usually do, I didn't preach. Instead, we watched a video message from Gary Haugen, the founder and president of an organization called International Justice Mission (IJM). Gary used to work as a lawyer with the State Department in the USA. His work took him to places of terrible suffering and injustice in the world, places like South Africa and Rwanda. Through this experience, Gary heard God call him into fulltime work against the powers of injustice and oppression in the world. IJM is the result of this calling. Gary has an incredibly challenging message for all of us about the need to stand up for and stoop down with the poor and oppressed.

But his message is especially challenging to those of us who call ourselves Christians, i.e. followers of Jesus. You see, Jesus doesn't ask us simply to believe the right things in a cerebral, intellectual way. Jesus calls us to follow him, i.e. the one who stood up for and stooped down with the poor and oppressed in everything he did, in everything he was. The Bible is pretty clear on the fact that it's not enough simply to believe that Jesus did these things or that God desires these things. We are called to follow him. (For example, see John 13:17, James 1:22-25, 1 John 3:17.)

Well, this Sunday I will, once again, not be preaching. (I'm taking the weekend as holiday time so I can go stoop down with my friends on my baseball team and scoop up a few ground balls and maybe win our league championship!) Instead, you will be treated with a number of short messages from people who have, each in their own way, heard Jesus' call to stand up for and stoop down with a wide variety of people in need. There will be messages...

• about the fabulous charity, Sleeping Children Around the World (www.scaw.org);
• from a missionary couple who are working and living right here in the Nassagaweya area at the Liebenzell Mission (www.liebenzell.ca);
• about a group of mothers who gather each week to pray for the children, teachers and administration of our local schools;
• and about the outreach and helping ministries going on right around the corner among some of the workers at the Mohawk (i.e. the local racetrack).

Whatever your interest or theological perspective, I know you will be challenged by these real stories of real people trying to follow Jesus in big and small ways in his call to serve the needy of our world. Please join us if you can!