Wednesday, November 19, 2003
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Wednesday, November 19, 2003 |
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Christmas is a time for compassion By JOHN HATCHER The Christmas season is the second highest priority marketing opportunity for the church (Easter is number one). By marketing opportunity I refer simply to that time of the year when people are in a “buying” mood for the church and what the church has to offer. The second highest attended service, nationally, of the whole year — second to Easter Sunday — is Christmas Eve. We of the church figure this is a good time to reach out to those who may become members and one day help with the mission of the gospel. In essence, many of us seek to reach people who, one day, will become a part of our program and perhaps make a viable contribution to the cause of Christ. Jesus, I believe, has something for us to think about as we offer special Christmas programs like plays, choral presentations, or our elaborate productions — which I am all for. The church for too long has allowed Hollywood to have all the fun and to become the center of the arts when it was the church, historically, that was the promoter of the arts. The church should utilize all the genius of its membership to outclass the world. But Jesus said that when we offer our special productions and stage our special events, we should remember “the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous” (Luke 14: 13,14). Jesus made his comments to a party host who had invited important people to his supper: friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. Jesus was suggesting that the host was hoping perhaps that those whom he invited would reciprocate in some fashion. Jesus encouraged the host to take his special events to a higher level and invite people who had no possibility of doing anything in return for the host’s generosity. There would be a blessing, Jesus indicated, at the resurrection of the righteous for those who invited powerless people to special activities. Of course, with our microwave mentality, we want our blessings in a more timely manner — like tomorrow, not in eternity — why, we may live another 30 or 40 years. This text in Luke 14 hit me like a ton of bricks as I was preparing a message using as the outline Bruce Wilkinson’s book, A Life God Rewards. As soon as I read it and God spoke to my heart (yes, God still speaks), I called a friend who ministers to Atlanta’s homeless and invited him to invite some homeless people to our church’s Christmas dinner theater. When I told our people what God was doing, they were elated. Some eagerly signed up to help with the serving of the meal that night. Could it be that our churches have wanted to do this kind of thing long before and we pastors just have not given the okay? As I conclude this month’s columns concerning money and us Christians, maybe we need to take to heart another of Jesus’ saying: “Give and to you it shall be given, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over.” We pastors use this verse all the time to encourage our people to be generous and consistent in giving to the church’s needs. Maybe we the church need to be generous and consistent in giving to the needs of the poor and powerless people of our immediate area. What about affluent Fayette County residents tacking on another $10 a month to our water bill to help Atlanta residents bear the cost of sewer makeover in that city we all use and are blessed by? Just maybe if we who live in the suburbs were a little more compassionate toward needy people — in downtown Atlanta and even in our own backyard, blessings would come to our churches — blessings so much that they are running over. John Hatcher is pastor of Outreach
International Center, 1091 South Jeff Davis Drive, Fayetteville, Georgia
30215. 770-719-0303
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