Friday, September 24, 2010

Christianity: Jesus' sow-sow attitude

     The word "Christianity" was not used until after Jesus' public ministry, death, resurrection and ascension.  It has been used in relation to His followers living as disciples according to His teachings about faith, love, hope and service.
     Jesus shared His message with a small group around Him that they might choose to live as God commanded.  He also directed them, as accounted in each of the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles, to spread that message to all nations (Matthew 28: 16-20, Mark 16: 14-18, Luke 24: 36-49, John 20: 19-23 and Acts 1: 6-8).  That directive was to sow the seeds of God's message into each others' lives.  I think this had two benefits; one for bringing another person closer to God, and the other to strengthen the faith, love, hope and service of the messenger.
     He commissioned the disciples to share in His ministry.  We too are commissioned to profess the beliefs we've accepted.  Our lives are the examples in words and deeds that lead others to God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit).
     We continually sow seeds and nourish seeds that have been sown, but the cultivating and harvesting will be done in God's time.  Though the need for sowing these seeds is not greater in any particular season, the present time is what we have to share our faith.
     We are not teaching our faith, but rather extending an offer to meet Jesus.  it doesn't take much to meet our Lord.  It can be as close as prayer of looking to each other.  Jesus is present in each of us and shines through each of us.  We just need to be reminded of that sometimes.
     Our faith is not taught, it is caught.  The children/youth (and adults too) are looking to us for a Jesus connection.  We are interconnected through Jesus and that is our holy communion.  That's what makes us ONE!
     As we grow in our faith we see that holy communion connects us with other communities of faith.  In this way we realize that our family is closely linked into one family, God's family.
     One of the songs we sing, "We are the Church," speaks of being happy to be children in God's family.  We are the Church in our homes too, and God happily wants to be part of our family.  The seeds you are sowing continue to unify and build up the family.  This blooming strengthens families, Church and community.

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