Dear Disciples of Christ,
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
Last Sunday started the new season of Easter! Easter is not a single day, but a seven-week season in which we see how the risen Jesus Christ truly lived with His disciples – eating and drinking, teaching and preaching just as He did during His three-year ministry. He continued providing all His disciples, including you and me, everything they needed.
Our gospel today isn’t the traditional post-Easter Sunday gospel. Rather, we’ll hear Jesus teaching His disciples what His next coming will bring for those who truly follow Him. Jesus demonstrated what following Him entailed as He provided for the physical needs of many – food and healing to name a few things – in addition to the spiritual needs of all.
Today, He still does these things through “means” – you and me. He gives us everything we have. He does this, in part, so we can live. But a bigger reason is so that through us – His “means” – He can provide for others’ needs while we demonstrate our trust in His continued abundant provision which still supports our own needs.
One of the ways we can show our trust in His provision is by giving to those in need through a ministry called Food for the Poor. Using Jesus’ words, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:31-40), Food for the Poor helps “link the church of the First World with the church of the Third World in a manner that helps both the materially poor and the poor in spirit.” They do this by spreading God’s love throughout the Caribbean and Latin America through food aid, housing assistance, clean water, emergency relief, micro-enterprise projects, and education opportunities.
I’m thankful to Food for the Poor for helping us be the hands, feet, and heart of Jesus. Please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry as one way you show God’s love to the world as you reach out to others in need.
In Christ’s Love,
Pastor Jim