The Gospel reading in the Revised Common Lectionary for this coming Sunday is Matthew 9:35-10:8. This is a story about Jesus teaching his inner-circle of disciples the importance of sharing their story about Jesus. In v37 Jesus points out that the “harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few.” What harvest is Jesus talking about? Why are the laborers few?
The harvest Jesus is talking about is those who need to hear the Jesus story. It is no different today. Statistics remind us that almost every church (mainline protestant) is seeing a decline in not only church membership but also in church attendance. The world’s population certainly is NOT declining, so why is church attendance in such a state of decline? Could it be that the cause of decline is due to the simple fact that there are not enough laborers telling the Jesus story? We live in a world where too many things have taken the place of church. When I was a child, no one played baseball on Sunday morning. Sunday was church day. In fact, under what was called “Blue Laws,” all the businesses in my home town were closed. One gas station out on the interstate was open on Sunday but everything else was closed. But today, Sunday is just another day! So many things have taken the place of church, so maybe the bigger question here is why do we need church in the first place? Church is not a building but rather is the body of believers—a fellowship of other Christians. Church should be a place where we go to refuel, re-energize for the coming week and learn how to go out and tell the Jesus story. Telling that story is not an option for Christians, it is a requirement. The laborers are few, however. That means that what laborers we do have need to work a little harder. We need to teach and prepare other laborers so that there will be workers fully prepared and ready to go make disciples! My hope is that you find that church is energizing and that you learn in church and that you can leave church prepared and eager to go make disciples – that is what Jesus demands of each one of us! Amen. Comments are closed.
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This blog consists of reflections written by the minister each week for the Sunday bulletin. We hope that you enjoy the musings! Archives
January 2020
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