Building Community - Serve One Another
"A community is a group of people who matter to you, and to whom you matter."
I grew up in a community where everyone knew everyone else’s business and no one thought a thing of it - because we cared about each other.
I grew up on Cherry Street in a small town in Northern Michigan.
The town was so small that the downtown stores were only on one side of the street - really!
It was great place to grow up.
We had a nice (small) library a couple of blocks from where we lived and a there was a great five and dime store downtown where you could really buy stuff for a nickel or a dime.
But best of all there was a drugstore with a counter where you could get a real cherry coke or an unbelievable chocolate malt.
The principle of the school lived next door and the school was 2 blocks away.
Once I got in trouble and was sent to the principal’s office. The minute the final bell rang I sprinted for home hoping to get there before the news of my day in the school office arrived - I didn’t make it.
That’s a small town for you.
The kids in my neighborhood didn’t just have one set of parents - they also had a town full of babysitters keeping an eye on them.
We even a whistle system to call the kids home in my neighborhood. Three shorts on the toy whistle that hung by the front door called the Stacy kids home. Two shorts and a long brought the Schwartz kids running. The Scott kids snapped to attention when they hear three longs.
I don’t know who came up with the whistle system (I suspect it was my mom - she is so organized that her spice rack is alphabetized!) but when we heard those three short blasts we knew (along with everyone else in earshot!) that it was time to go home. "Now!", as my mom would say.
If we pretended that we didn’t hear the whistle somewhere between 3 and 23 kids would say "Hey, your mom wants you to go home." So... we’d go home.
Community
This kind of community - where everyone matters to you and you matter to everyone - is a very rare place.
When you find a place like this - make it your home.
That’s why I love being a part of the Meridian Christian Church.
It’s why I enjoy my Home Group. It’s why I love our Celebration Service on Sunday mornings.
It’s why we serve one another...
It’s why I have such a good time stuffing clothes into plastic bags during the clothing drive for the Ukraine every fall.
It’s why sitting back and watching the Worship Ministry practice on Sunday Morning is so much fun for me.
It’s the reason that the setup team works so hard to put up tables in the foyer.
One of the places we see it the most and where it is very important is in the Children’s Ministry at MCC.
There are a lot of people who are serving our children and their parents every Sunday in our PromiseLand and Nursery. All kinds of people serve though Puppets, music, activities and lessons.
We have a wonderful Children’s Ministry at MCC and in the next year it’s going to get even stronger!
We build community by serving one another
You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love." - Galatians 5:13
Whom Shall We Serve?
We shall serve those who are physical burdens. We are speaking of physical burdens where people are unable to change their circumstances.
There are people around us who are hungry, thirsty, without shelter, struggling with illness, imprisoned.
Matthew 25:35-36
35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,
36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
These are needs that come from disruption due to war, death, divorce, and disease, and detention.
These are basic physical needs that must be addressed with outside intervention.
1 Timothy 5:3-16 gives some very clear guidance in how to care for a widow.
3 Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need.
4 But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God.
5 The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help.
6 But the widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives.
7 Give the people these instructions, too, so that no one may be open to blame.
8 If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
9 No widow may be put on the list of widows unless she is over sixty, has been faithful to her husband,
10 and is well known for her good deeds, such as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the saints, helping those in trouble and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds.
11 As for younger widows, do not put them on such a list. For when their sensual desires overcome their dedication to Christ, they want to marry.
12 Thus they bring judgment on themselves, because they have broken their first pledge.
13 Besides, they get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things they ought not to.
14 So I counsel younger widows to marry, to have children, to manage their homes and to give the enemy no opportunity for slander.
15 Some have in fact already turned away to follow Satan.
16 If any woman who is a believer has widows in her family, she should help them and not let the church be burdened with them, so that the church can help those widows who are really in need.
Paul’s Five Guidelines for the Care of Widows. (The most common social challenge for his day.)
The Family has the first responsibility for a widow.
The first obligation to help someone in need comes from your family.
The widow is to live for God and not for self.
The obligation of the one who is in need is an attitude of appreciation toward God and service themselves to others.
Any widow under 60 should work or seek remarriage.
The obligation of one who can help themselves is that they should.
Any widow over 60 to receive help should be well known for good deeds.
Some should be helped and they should help others.
The care of others should not be a burden on the church. It’s important to keep the main thing the main thing!
There are some who can change their situations – but don’t want to. These people should be helped in a different way with a different kind of love.
Some people have financial burdens are self inflicted.
The kind of burden that comes from living above your means.
It is fostered by the Credit Card/Consumer mentality of our society. Giving money to someone who is living according to these standards is not helping them!
It is kind of like pouring gas on a campfire to put it out – It’s exciting but not effective. We must teach people to become good stewards of their resources according to God’s standards and purposes for us.
I can’t wait until January when we will start a five week teaching series on "Building real Wealth - Kingdom Investment Principles for Every Day Life" -
Powerful and critical stuff.
We shall serve those who carry emotional burdens.
There are many kinds of painful burdens. We should be there for people who are grieving, people who have suffered loss, people who are depressed, or sad, or anxious, or worried; people experiencing difficult family situations.
We can help one another bear these kinds of burdens by just being there, by expressing care and concern, by listening, by praying with them (and for them), by acknowledging their hurt instead of ignoring them (because we don’t want to make them uncomfortable, or don’t know what to say).
There are some who deal with abuse, addictions, neglect, rejection, and list of sin and it’s terrible consequences goes on and on
The church is a place where the soothing lotion of love is rubbed in.
My wife loves getting her feet rubbed with lotion.
Every once in a while for a treat I’ll rub her feet – I hope you appreciate me telling you this because I will lose any credit I get for doing this for at least six months!
She likes it because it eases the pain and sooths the weariness. That is what we do when we serve and minister to those who hurt. We shall serve those who are unable to carry their burdens.
We have an obligation to care for those who can’t care for themselves. The time will come when our parents become frail and need us to be near.
Some of us care for disabled & handicapped family members. One group got an extraordinary amount of attention from Jesus – children.
Each child has his or her own angel. Each child has the God-ordained seal of protection. Each child is encouraged to be in the presence of the Father God.
All most all of us have or have opportunities to serve children.
Hero’s in the Children’s Ministry list
Kathy Sheufelt
Erin Antone
We shall serve those who need to give Jesus their burden and take His. Jesus said "Come to me, all of you who are tired and have heavy loads, and I will give you rest. Accept my teachings and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in spirit, and you will find rest for your lives. The teaching that I ask you to accept is easy; the load I give you to carry is light." - Matthew 11:28-30
Listen our malls, supermarkets, workplaces and schools are filled with people who are tired and have heavy loads.
These are what I call "Normal" people and they are all around us. We must serve them and care for them!
This can create can create conflict in church! The more of "them" there are – the more resources, money and energy is demanded.
This is why so many churches drift from the mission of outreach to a position of inward focus. In other words instead of being an army bent on the task of winning the world we become a comfortable club which exists for the benefit of it’s exclusive membership.
Don’t be a consumer – be a servant. The "ministers" are servants – not consumers! That’s not the clergy - that’s the unpaid servants who make up the church.
It’s not the staff. It’s the army of volunteers who hold babies in the nursery and teach the class in the Children’s Church.
I just heard of a church of over 1000 people that had to stop in the middle of a worship service and scold their people because they had only 2 volunteers for their Children’s ministry.
The Leaders should set the example. Consumers or Servants.
This is a culture that is established in a community by the example of it’s leaders. We have some real servant leaders in this church…
I could tell you about Mike and Sheila Freeman and the puppet ministry… but I won’t. I could tell you about Paul Kisslings standing availability to be called at a moments notice into the nursery or children’s area and I could tell you about the work that Cathy Kissling puts in on her schedule with the children… but I won’t.
I could tell you about Dave Costa and what he does to prepare the lessons and keep the organization going… but I won’t. I could tell you about my wife Donna and all she does, Jamie and all he does, Steve and all he does, Esther and all she does… but I won’t.
It is their attitudes, which help to create the warm giving atmosphere of service instead the cold selfish air of consumerism. An attitude of servant hood.
Mark Hatfield
It had been a long day on Capitol Hill for Senator John Stennis. He was looking forward to a bit of relaxation when he got home. After parking the car, he began to walk toward his front door. Then it happened.
Two people came out of the darkness, robbed him, and shot him twice. News of the shooting of Senator Stennis, the chairman of the powerful Armed Forces Committee, shocked Washington and the nation. For nearly seven hours, Senator Stennis was on the operating table at Walter Reed Hospital.
Less than two hours later, another politician was driving home when he heard about the shooting.
He turned his car around and drove directly to the hospital. In the hospital, he noticed that the staff was swamped and could not keep up with the incoming calls about the Senator’s condition. He spotted an unattended switchboard, sat down, and voluntarily went to work.
He continued taking calls until daylight. Sometime during that next day, he stood up, stretched, put on his overcoat, and just before leaving, he introduced himself quietly to the other operator, "I’m Mark Hatfield. Happy to help out."
Then Senator Mark Hatfield unobtrusively walked out.
We need one another. It’s as simple as that. We need one another for encouragement when we stumble, for mutual protection when we’re being attacked, for strength when we’re under stress.
In bearing one another’s burdens, we are following the example of Jesus Christ – we serve one another and we serve him.
We are called to a mission.
Open House next weekend.
Our Open House is a Special service that is seeker centered. We will let them see who we are – how we love to sing and how we love to serve.
We’ll invite them to come to the choir room for prayer for those in need. Communion will be available there for those who desire to participate. I want to encourage you to share the Lord’s supper this week in your Home Group so you can focus on "Normal" People following our service.
We’ll share in a light brunch in Café Meridian in the Senior Center immediately following the service.
We’ll invite them to return the next and succeeding weeks to grow and learn more about God and MCC.
