Bring it to Life
Piety
The Lord will give you the bread you need and the water for which
you thirst. No longer will your Teacher hide himself, but with your own eyes,
you shall see your Teacher. While from behind, a voice shall sound in your
ears: "This is the way; walk in it," when you would turn to the right
or the left. Isaiah 30:20-21
Jesus went around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their
synagogues, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom, and curing every disease and
illness. At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because
they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said
to his disciples, "The harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few; so
ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest." Matthew
9:35
Study
As we sit in the darkness of Advent awaiting the light, Isaiah continues
to hold the lit candle of hope. Our God is a God of abundance. We get blessings
we don’t deserve. We have a God of Compassion, and we see evidence of that in
both readings today.
I need to hear that above the cackle of the headlines. We hear the
mind-numbing news of more mass shootings. In just a few days, there was one at Pearl
Harbor the week of the 78th anniversary of the attack that pulled
our nation into war. Two more followed in Florida: one at the naval base in
Pensacola and the other shootout in Miami that took the life of a UPS driver after
he was hijacked and kidnapped doing his job.
But God does not have the market cornered on compassion. He needs us to
help heal the world. “[T]he fields ripe for the harvest.”
Action
This map is part of "All In," A Wider Circle's (www.awidercircle.org) new national plan
to end poverty. It’s CEO Mark Bergel has developed new income standards (AWC
Income Standards) to replace the Federal Poverty Line for every county in the
United States and produced an accurate count of those living in need of
assistance across the country.
In February of 2020, AWC will release its new online action guide - the
heart of the plan - that will provide clear and specific ways that every person
and every sector can engage in the movement to end poverty. You and your
company or organization can lead the way. If you want to learn more, please contact
AWC and stay tuned! You can connect with the Founder and CEO via LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-bergel-1264b415/)
Mark is one those rare people you meet in life who truly walk the walk.
Mark has dedicated his life to helping those among us most in need and he has
done so with grace, dignity and humility. I feel honored to know him and to support
A Wider Circle.
You can be
a part of making Scripture come to life. That is what is means when Isaiah
preaches that “The Lord will give you bread in adversity and water in
affliction.” We are the hands and feet to make this happen. The fields are ripe
for us to assist in this harvest one census tract at a time.
Christ is counting
on you to be among the harvesters.
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