Dana Reardon - Go in peace! Serve the poor!

Go in peace! Serve the poor!

I was just reading about the devastation in Florida from Hurricane Charley. When it was just predictions I remember thanking God that I lived in Rhode Island and that we would get only the tail end thunderstorms. And we have.

But other people are suffering and while the momentary giving of thanks for my own safety is natural, I am called to something different. People are missing and people are dead. And when I hear Jesus' answer to the question, "Who is my neighbor" the answer comes back, those who need.

I have thinking about it all week since someone in our pastor's Tuesday Bible study said that during the Pentecost Season he has been saying "Go in peace, serve the poor." And waiting for a response that come only halfheartedly, "Thanks be to God."

I have been thinking that this is not our leisure time pursuit but the main occupation of our lives if we are really followers of Christ. Just as Jesus took off his robes and tied a towel around himself to serve, we are called to serve any in need.

And in all of it we give thanks. We give thanks for the opportunity and for the resources we have been given to help those who need help. I know that if someone standing right there next to us needed something we would give it. And after recently being reminded by the Good Samaritan Story we would stop for someone in need on the side of the road.

But this road in the Christian life, this way of the cross passes by many people all over the world. It passes by soup kitchens in our neighborhood and disaster victims in Florida and aids victims in Africa. If we haven't seen them on our journey maybe it is because we aren't making the journey.

So let's follow the way of the cross. And on the way stop for those whose need we see. Serving as Jesus serves us.

Let us move past the thanks that we are safe to the need of those whom God loves.

Lord, help me to see the way of your cross and those on the way who call. Amen

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.