Covenant Keepers -"Sacred Journeys - Service" Luke 10:25-37

Tonight we continue in our "Covenant Keepers" sermon series as we look at our spiritual journey in order to keep God at the center of our lives. We have talked about the importance of our being at worship each Sunday as the way we fill our lives with God's presence to go forward into each new week. We looked at the importance of our prayer life as a way to build our relationship with God and one another. And last week we talked about developing a spirit of the way we live each day committed to being an generosity as offering to our world. Tonight we will focus on our "Sacred Journeys of Service".

It has long been my belief that we each have a special and unique purpose to fulfill in this life. God has created each one of us so very unique and special. No two of us are exactly alike. We each have a particular destiny in which we will be able to express the special gift we bring to the world. We each have something to do here that no one else can do in the exactly the way that we can do it. Each one of us is called by name, and each one of us is vital to God's plan. What would our life look like if we truly believed we were one of a kind with a special destiny to fulfill? Would we go to work with a different attitude? Would we treat others differently? Would we be passionate about the service we share and realize the urgency of what we have to do? For many of us our purpose is lived out in our vocation - whether that be nurse, teacher, artist, social worker, or musician. Take a look at what you do at your job are you living out your special gift in the daily routine of your work. For others of us our purpose is lived out in the particular gift we have been entrusted with. Some of us are given the gift of listening to others - we're able to spend our time providing that presence of attention that so many people need. For others of us we are given the gift of mercy or compassion- we can touch the life of someone with a healing presence as we sit at someone's bedside in the hospital. Yet others of us have the gift of social action - we roll up our sleeves and get involved in causes for peace and justice in the political arena, in the social service area, or in the individual lives of those who are poor or oppressed. What is your gift, how are you using that gift to make the world a better place? God's gifts are given to us not to be hoarded or kept to ourselves but to touch the lives of others, to make the world a better place because we have been here. God has gifted us, God will empower us and use us, if we make ourselves available to God.

Educator and author Helen Keller has said "I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble." It is our sacred journey - the holy way that we go through life we are called to serve God and one another with all of our heart, soul, strength and mind. 24/7 we are given the opportunity to serve. We need only look around us and we will see physical, social, spiritual, or emotional needs that must be met. There is something we can do for others no matter the day or night. To give of ourselves in the smallest of ways is to do a great and noble task. There was a man named André Trocmé, who was a pastor in a small French town during the days when Nazi Germany was doing atrocious acts to Jews and others. Determine to help out in some small way André started helping Jewish immigrants who were fleeing the surrounding area for fear of their lives. When ask André wife Magda said this "I never had to hunt for things to do. I don't go around looking for people to help. But I never close my door, I've never refused to help someone who ask for something. This, I think, is my kind of religion. When things happen, not things I plan, but things sent by God or by chance - when people come to my door - I feel responsible." And many people did come to their door. Before all was said and done they had helped save thousands of people, primarily children from sure death. Who will show up at your door in life that needs something you have to offer? Someone at school, at work, in your neighborhood, the stranger on the street, will you be the Good Samaritan and reach out and help? Each and every act, each and every word, when it comes from a passion to serve God is a great and noble act. We have much to offer our world as we bring Christ's transforming presence alive in our words and through our deeds.

Out homework for this week: I ask that you read the pamphlet enclosed in your bulletin about service. Read the scripture readings for each day and then pray each morning that God will send someone to you that day who needs what you have to share. I often say as part of my pray each Sunday when you come to communion "Take (fill in your name) to someone who needs to know God's presence through you." We can make a difference in the life of those people who come our way. We can transform our world by the words we speak, my the acts we perform, through our prayers, and being open to the people God sends into our lives as we serve God and one another. May we always be blessed to be a blessing to others.