“Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave-just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Matthew 20: 26-28).”
If you’ve spent any time around Jesus, it is hopefully obvious by now that Jesus’ whole life was spent serving humankind as an act of love. Therefore, we who seek to live as his disciples are to live lives of service to others, especially to those in need. A Disciple’s Path is a life of service.
Often when this message gets preached, it comes across like this: “To be a good follower of Jesus, you’ve got to sign up to help at all church events and ministries.” Now, there is nothing wrong with serving to support the ministries of the Lakeside! In fact, nothing around here happens without people like you and me offering ourselves to God’s work. However, what doesn’t often get said is that our whole lives are to be lived as acts of loving service to God and others, and that a huge role of the church is to support people’s acts of service in their homes, in their neighborhoods, in their work, and out in the community and the world.
When we covenant with God and one another to support God’s work in and through Lakeside by offering our “prayers, our presence, our gifts, our witness, and our service,” we assume that God’s work through Lakeside is always flowing out into the world. We hope our worship services help us focus on God’s love and presence and help us clarify how God wants us to live every day of the week wherever we go. We hope people experience a loving, supportive, community in growing groups that challenges one another to live daily life as a follower of Jesus. And we hope that at every Grace and Grits, Brethren Reaching Out, supply packaging drive, or other outreach event that we are casting the vision that making a difference in our community by serving is an expectation and joy of following Jesus!
This week we will have the opportunity to prayerfully consider our particular calling to service in our lives. Join us for worship at 8:30 or 10:45, and invite friends and family!
Please also prayerfully consider filling out an “Estimate of Giving” card for 2016 as it will help Lakeside’s leadership plan for the support of our ministries in the year to come. You can fill out a hard copy at church or click here to do it securely online: https://lakesideumc.net/give/ A budget is available upon request.
Joy on the journey,
Pastor Cameron