Text: Luke 10:1-9 (see below)
The feast of Channing Moore Williams celebrates a man who became the missionary bishop to China and Japan. Williams grew up on a farm in Richmond, Virginia in the early portion of the nineteenth century. Called to proclaim the Gospel in Asia, he left to begin his ministry in Japan in 1859. The Lord blessed the work of his hands with the conversion of thousands of people to Christianity, the creation of a divinity school in Tokyo, and the translation of the Book of Common Prayer into Japanese. After he retired from ministry, Williams returned to the States in 1908 and died in Richmond on December 2, 1910.
The lessons for most of this week have centered on evangelism and the proclamation of the Good News of Jesus Christ. What came to my mind as I read over Bishop Williams’ life and the lessons for today was a question posed by Methodist minister Tom Bandy at a church growth conference over a decade ago. Tom stated that the most important question a Christian should be able to answer in the 21st Century is: What is it about your relationship with Jesus Christ that the world cannot live without knowing?
How would you answer the question?
For me, it is Jesus’ compassion in the good times and in “the valley of the shadow of death” that is most important for the world to know. I am struck by how many times my Lord would meet people where they were with no judgment and no preconceived notions. He often asked the question, “What do you need?” challenging the person to claim their woundedness and their desire for healing. Jesus could see into the inner soul of the person and understand the great God-given potential that is in every one of us. When he did come across persons who had drifted and gone astray, he did not offer condemnation. Instead, he put forward unconditional love and acceptance – not worried about the past but focused on the present and what amazing opportunities the future had in store. Today our world needs to hear this story as never before.
What is it about your relationship with Jesus Christ that the world cannot live without knowing?
Write to me and share your answer.
Love One Another - Brian
All Together
Sallie McFague
We (the universe) come from God and return to God, and in the 'interim' we live in the presence of God--even when we do not know or acknowledge it. We are created in the image of God (the entire universe reflects God's glory, each and every creature and thing in its particular, concrete, unique way). Creation is a panoply of mind-boggling diversity, a myriad of outrageously extravagant species and individuals who all together make up the body of God.... Each creature praises God by simply being itself, by being fully alive.
Source: Life Abundant
Luke 10:1-9
After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest. Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, “Peace to this house!” And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the labourer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.”
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