A Pot of Soup – and a Pinch of Salt
Too often in church conversations, we quote Bible verses and Spirit of Prophecy quotations, but we share little about the practical application of those passages in everyday Christian life. By contrast last year’s excellent article by Lars Justinen, “Hot Lunch and Syrian Refugees,” is worth reading as a practical application of what this set of lessons is all about.
Not all of us can do something big. There are times when we need the power of church organization to achieve our goals, but we should not just rely on what the church does. At a personal level we are responsible for sharing and caring for our neighbours, friends, and those that come within our circle of influence. Sometimes it may only be a small thing.
As an illustration, here is what happened to us the other day. I cooked a roast
pumpkin and sweet potato soup on Friday for our opening Sabbath meal. (I will post the recipe if enough people ask for it. It is really special, even if I say so myself). I made enough for ourselves and for my daughter and her family. On Friday night we had our soup with crusty bread and really enjoyed it. There was enough left over for us to have a couple more meals from it, and I was looking forward to that. Then on Sabbath morning, Carmel, my wife, went over to the neighbour’s place for something and discovered that the mother was in bed sick and that she was not going to be able to cook her family any food that day. Quick as a wink and without asking me, the big pot of soup was whisked over to our neighbour’s place. It was only a small thing, but it filled a gap in our neighbour’s life. And I get the chance next week to make another pot of special soup.
That is what Christians do. We look after one another, and our neighbours, and our unchurched friends. We do it without expectation of rewards, because it is the right thing to do.
There are so many things that you can do to help. A person in this area had their car blow up on the freeway and they needed to get a new car. One of our church folk lent them a spare car and, knowing that they were a bit short of cash, gave them some money to help towards the purchase of a new one. A teacher, knowing that a family was struggling with medical bills, paid the school fees for the school-aged children in the family for a term, and so on.
We can quote all the texts we like about being Christ-like, following the urging of the Holy Spirit and praying that God will lead us to those in need, but if we don’t move out from the safety of our church, we will not make a difference to the world around us. If there is one thing that we should take away from this set of lessons is that it is our responsibility to share and care with unselfish love.
Our church will be at its most effect witness when we as individuals care for our community.
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