9.3 Devotional - Workers Who See...and Act

0:00Today's Thursday, September 3rd. Remember for this week, I asked some folks from church to share a teaching moment from their life that helped them see the great value of the church community. Today's story is written by Curt and Karen Schmidt, which they asked me to record on their behalf. The title of their devotional is Workers Who See and Act. There are many people in every church and every walk of life who quietly feel like they don't really fit in. I, Curt, have often been one of them. I have learned to navigate the extroverts world by necessity, but I'm not the most charismatic person in the room. I'm not the one who draws a crowd or gets the easy invitations. I can be inconvenient or hard to understand at times, but my heart is sincere. Over the years, that experience has given me a particular kind of sensitivity, empathy, and insight. I often notice the others who seem to stand a little apart. Care you quiet, burden, feel judged, long to be understood, or seem ready to slip out the door if no one sees them.

1:00God used that awareness in a number of teaching moments recently. In both church and ordinary life settings, I saw people who I sense might be on the margin or struggling. The quiet thought that rose up was familiar. I know that look. I know how that feels. Why doesn't anyone see and include a reach out? What God seemed to say each time was clear and direct. And you will never understand what that feels like, or even comprehend the struggle, but you do. Stop waiting and wishing for others, or for yourself, to change. You'll be the one who does for others what you have longed for others to do for you. This is not a comfortable assignment for an introvert. It requires stepping across an invisible line and initiating conversations when it would be easier and far less risky to stay quiet. Still, I've done it with multiple people both inside and outside of the church over the last six weeks. A few have had very positive outcomes. A few have gone nowhere, at least not yet. Not ever relationship is meant to gel. Still, other show of willingness to keep talking to see where it leads.

2:00None more dramatic. All were ordinary acts of noticing and taking a risk. While I've been learning to see and reach out to people potentially on the margins, I Karen have been learning to see them too. But I see them most especially among the children and teens in our church who already feel like outsiders. They are there. I see them and hear from the parents of some. Some of these kids and teens will grow up wondering if they belong. Jesus once looked at the crowds and said, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Then he told his disciples to pray that the Lord of the harvest would send out workers. May we as a church pray the same prayer for the next generation, that God would raise up children who notice the quiet ones, who make room, who refuse to let anyone stand alone on the edges. And of course, he would also raise up adults and volunteers who see, encourage, and facilitate. Jesus himself was a misfit and outsider in many of the religious and social circles of his day. He did not fit their expectations. John 111 tells us that Jesus came to his own and his own people did not receive him.

3:04The son of God himself knew what it was to be an outsider. Among the very people he came to save. The one who was overlooked by many still saw. He had eyes for other misfits, the overlooked, uncomfortable, the one standing on the margins, and he moved toward them. The church body needs the experiences and gifts of every believer, regardless of status. And each of us needs the experiences and gifts of the full body in return. God is still calling for workers, not necessarily people who draw a crowd, but people who see. The teaching moment is rarely loud. It is usually just a quiet nudge in an ordinary place, followed by a simple act of obedience. Would you join us in praying for the next generation of workers? Whatever need you see or long for in the church, would you be the change you want to see? Ask God for the courage and strength to take the first step, even when, especially when. It feels unnatural. Recall Jesus' words in Matthew 25, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers

4:06and sisters of mine, you did for me.