“God’s work. Our hands.” Sunday is an opportunity to share who we are as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) – one church, freed in Christ to love and serve our neighbor. This tradition began in 2013 as the ELCA celebrated its 25th Anniversary, and it hasn’t stopped since. Read these details for projects, items to donate, and/or to join us for a project on Sunday and beyond. We join with nearly 9,000 other congregations to do God’s work, knowing it only takes opening our hearts and hands!
All three readings for Sunday highlight the dangers of relying on material wealth and ignoring the plight of the poor among us. Some would say that they are written to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” The bad news is that we may feel afflicted by them, but the good news is that they offer us another way to live. These scriptures call on us to not only open our hearts but to also open our hands to our neighbors. As the reading from 1 Timothy reminds us, we should pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness, so that there is no “poor man named Lazarus” dying at our gates. After all, the greatest treasure—our eternal salvation – has already been procured for us through Jesus’ death and resurrection. Knowing this, we can share all we have with our neighbors, doing God’s work with our hands. Now that is good news!