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Scripture reading for the week – Mark 10.47-48 (NRSV)

When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’

Reflection

            “Open our eyes, our hearts, our hands…” This is the theme for this year’s America for Christ Offering. This offering supports the work of local churches and organizations of our denomination.

            When the blind man in the story of Mark tries to approach Jesus to get healing, people tried to prevent him from doing so. What he does is to cry out even louder… There are times when people try to keep us from looking at the needs of the world. Our attitude should be to cry out even louder to God to open our eyes and not only our eyes, but also our hearts and our hands.

            This is what the America for Christ offering has been doing for many decades. It has provided an opportunity for individuals and churches to be in touch with the needs of our neighbors and work with them in finding solutions. It is true that many of the local ministries this offering supports might not be of our liking, but this is part of what it means to be church: to support each other even when there might be differences among us. At the same time, it is also true that most of the programs that this offering supports are endeavors with which wholeheartedly agree.

            Last year, the America for Christ offering was used for these endeavors (and this is only a minor list of the programs they supported):

• $51,000 in grants for care programs for families and children in poverty in the USA.
• More than 30,000 families and 100,000 individuals helped through the Neighborhood Action Program Christian Centers.
• $90,000 distributed for disaster relief throughout the USA.
• Translation into Spanish and Karen of more than 44 workshops on Church Life & Leadership, helping emergent Hispanic and Burmese congregations.
• Helped with the resettlement of more than 100,000 refugees in over 53 countries.

As you can tell, these are actions very close to the mission and vision of our local congregation. This coming Sunday, we will explore what it means to be a people with open eyes, open hearts, and open hands. I invite you to join us as we explore what it means to partner with others in achieving the goal of building God’s Reign.

In the journey with you,

Pastor Manny