Lend a hand 

October 13, 2024 

In our world, people can be skeptical of what we believe, thinking, I’m not sure about Christians. But when we let our light shine, give and serve others, they look at us and are envious of how well we treat each other and amazed at how well we treat them! 

I want to thank you because you help people find help and hope when you give and serve them.  

Back in 2018 there was flooding in Tremont and here as well. (Maybe you had water in your basement!) And we gave, and we hosted work groups that stayed at the parsonage. We hosted the Vista volunteers for three weeks. Once I went with about five of the volunteers to help clean out a resident’s basement that had been flooded. We moved appliances out. The woman was really grateful! Her spouse was disabled. She couldn’t have done it alone. 

That’s the great thing about our church. We aren’t just worshipping on Sunday morning, we’re the hands and feet of Jesus. We give generously to needs and we serve through the church and in our community. It’s amazing! 

In October we have many opportunities to give. Today we’re collecting for Hurricane Recovery through the UCC. It’s also Harvest Home when we give nonperishable and monetary donations to the WV Food Pantry. Next week is the CROP Hunger Walk where we walk to Bordner’s Cabin and raise money for hungry people around the world and for the Methodist food pantry in town. And we’re bringing candy for our float in the Halloween parade, so no child is without candy: very important! 

I want to thank you for your giving to disasters and to end hunger, all the ways you are generous and serve others. You should be so proud of yourself! 

One of the most challenging instructions Jesus gave to his disciples, his 12 followers, is this: he said, “You give them something to eat!” 

He said this because a crowd had gathered to bring the sick so he would heal them. Although Jesus had planned to spend time alone with his disciples, he had compassion and healed the sick. When evening came, I imagine the disciples’ bellies were growling! They wanted to eat, and they knew the crowd was probably hungry too. But there was no way they could feed them! It was too many people. And if you’ve ever had a crowd of people to feed, you know how stressful that can be! So, the disciples say to Jesus, “Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.” 

But Jesus looks at the disciples and says, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” Jesus doesn’t let the disciples off the hook. He says, you give them food, you serve them. What? 

If I were them, I’d be thinking, I can’t possibly feed them! It’s too hard! 

Many years ago, when I finished college, I joined the Mennonite Voluntary Service to serve people in need for a year and a half. When I was in college the priest had often preached, “To follow Jesus, you have to serve.” I was excited to go spend a year and a half serving! 

I was sent to Seattle, where I first served a homeless shelter for women and families, then to a big downtown shelter. I had no experience with homeless people. I didn’t know how to help. But I went! I had no idea how challenging it would be. 

I never imagined all the tragedies I would see people go through: kidnapping, beaten by their spouse, and in the downtown shelter fights could break out and staff would pile on to separate and hold the offenders down. The staff didn’t have to pile on. I opted out of that! 

When I started, I had preconceptions about homeless people: that they were dirty and wore ragged clothes. But that was not so. For 99.5% of them I couldn’t tell them apart from non-homeless people. They took showers and didn’t look homeless at all! 

I got to know that homeless people had names, faces and stories. They had lived through difficult circumstances. In the Mennonite Voluntary Service, I got $35 a month. I had free housing with the other volunters, my food was paid for, I got a bus pass, and free healthcare. But $35 a month was not much. Still, my life felt like it was so much better than the homeless! It felt like I lived in a different world from them! I was raised by a family who was not perfect, but loved me, supported me, and took care of me. My family did NOT kick me out of the house when I was 15. I didn’t struggle with addiction, or mental illness, or trauma. I could see, I didn’t have a lot of money, but I was rich in the circumstances of my life. So many homeless people had a really difficult life growing up. 

When I worked in the downtown shelter, I was an information and referral counselor. I gave clients info on rooms or apartments they could rent, or employers looking to hire. One day I was walking in the shelter, and there was Henry, a very friendly guy who always wore a suit. Nobody else wore a suit, unusual in the homeless shelter. Henry shouted, “Where are you going?” I said, “Henry, I’m going to give a job talk, about where you can find a job.” Henry said, “Oh I don’t need that, I already have a job.” And I thought, RIGHT. You have a job.  

But the truth was, Henry actually had a job! He had come to Seattle from out of state, for a job. He came early to settle in. But there was an arrest warrant for him from a ways back. Henry was put in jail. He didn’t want to ask his family to send money to get him out of jail. He was in jail a few weeks, then he came to the shelter in a suit. He had a job that started soon after that conversation. He worked at a nice restaurant. He came back to visit the shelter and gave me his recipe for French onion soup.  

I left my year and a half at the homeless shelter a changed person. I started putting people in a category: homeless people. There was no longer a category. They were people with names, faces and stories. I saw that if I had come from different circumstances, my life would likely be very different. I helped people while I was there. But they helped me see them differently. When you serve a stranger, God changes you.  

All the easy answers you have when you don’t know homeless people, about how to end homelessness: they don’t work. But you don’t know that, until you lend a hand, and get close to people different from you.  

I’m grateful that Jesus told his disciples, you give them something to eat. You lend a hand. He’s telling us, too. When you get involved with people up close and lend a hand, it changes you. 

1 Timothy 6:17 says,Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Basically, a Christian is called to give.  

Verse 18 continues: Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds. We’re to give, and to serve. I think when we see the hurricane devastation, we feel the pain. We want to give! Serving is a little harder sell. We need a nudge. Jesus nudged his disciples. “You give them something to eat.” Get involved! Show some hospitality! Have faith in what I can do through you!! 

Jesus had the disciples bring him their 5 loaves and 2 fish to him. He thanked God for them, gave them to the disciples, and the disciples distributed them to the people. More than 5000 had their fill of food! 

Jesus nudged his disciples, and he nudges you and me, to get close to people and serve them. Give a piece of your life away to people who don’t expect it and can’t return the favor. Get close to people who are nothing like you.  

I want to thank you for all you do. I am impressed by all the people from Trinity/St. Peter’s that help at the food pantry! Or take gifts to the domestic violence shelter. Thanks for serving! If you don’t serve…  

My challenge for you this week is to consider helping someone different from you.  

You make a difference when you give and when you serve. You show people that being a Christian isn’t just about Sunday morning. Jesus nudges all of us, you lend a hand! In order to follow Jesus we need to serve a stranger. The people we serve become names, faces and stories, and we are changed! Amen.