God's Will Be Done - With Us
Luke 19: 39 Some of the Pharisees in the
crowd said to him, "Teacher, order your disciples to stop." 40 He
answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout
out."
I have always listened to
these words from Jesus and thought he is saying that what God is doing
cannot be stopped. The kingdom is coming and the inevitable will
happen.
If this is true, why does it
matter what we do? If we don't do our part, God will get someone else
to do it. If we don't praise, the stones will. If we don't give
someone else will.
I do believe Jesus is saying
that God will do what God is doing. And God will do it with me or
without me. If I don't help the person that God sends to me for help,
probably someone else will do it. If I don't give then God will find
another way for God's will to be done.
But when we pray that God's
will be done, Luther said that we pray that it may be done about us.
It is really a question of alignment. Are we a part of the kingdom
and what is coming? When we pray after communion we often pray that
we may abide in Christ and that Christ may abide in us. So it is
really Christ working in us when we give and do what God calls us to.
Most often when God has used
me to do God's will it has been more of a benefit to me than anyone
that God helped through me. So when God calls me to give generously,
it is so that I might become more generous. When God calls me to
praise it is so that I might reflect God's glory.
Every invitation God offers
for us to give and to do are opportunities to be one with that power
that is bringing in the Kingdom of God, and so one with God.
If the people are silent
then the stones will shout out. But the people were not silent and
neither are we. We sing and live to the praise of God.
Lord,
Help me to see all the opportunities to be a part of the chorus to
sing you praise as you usher in the kingdom.
Amen
Copyright (c)
2004, The Rev. Dana Reardon. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Email her at
mspastor@aol.com.
The Rev. Dana Reardon is pastor at St.
Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church, Warwick, RI. A lifelong Lutheran, she
came to ordained ministry after 21 years in nursing, mostly in pediatric
intensive care. She graduated from Lutheran Theological Seminary at
Philadelphia in 1998 and served 4 ½ years in Upstate New York before
becoming a New Englander. She is still trying to understand the
accent. While in the Upstate New York Synod she chaired the Stewardship
Team. That began her fascination with what makes stewards -- and more,
what makes for generosity.
She
has three amazing daughters: Pastor Reardon says much of what she knows of
life she learned from them.
