From the Desk of Pastor Marsha
What’s Happening 5.16.24
Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” He has told you, O mortal, what is good, and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God.”
This is a Bible passage from the prophet, Micah, chapter 6. I’m sure you have heard it before. Or a similar passage from one of the other Old Testament prophets. Throughout the Old Testament, particularly during the time of the prophets, there was a constant struggle between carrying out correct sacrifices and worship practices and actually living as God’s faithful children.
The prophets often spoke of caring for the widows and children, making sure the wealth was distributed in a manner that all had enough to eat and had shelter, and that their leaders provided for all under their care.
There was an article circulating recently about how we measure congregational vitality. It was called, “Measuring The Things That Matter”, by Ryan Bonfiglio. Most often in the past we measured it by the three “B’s”, bodies in the pews, budget size, and building quantity and quality. Yet nowhere in the gospel does it suggest that the body of Christ is considered faithful if it has wealth, or big buildings or many followers. This article suggested it was time to think about other ways to measure vitality. The author’s first proposal was to measure the vitality of our congregations by, “...the number of times our members showed up in their community to work for justice.”
At the council retreat we just gathered for, that question really piqued our interest. Zion is actually quite good at working for justice. 25% of our budget goes to outreach, either through the Eastern Iowa Synod, the ELCA, or to local organizations. We thought it would be interesting and encouraging to find out where else Zion members work for justice in the community of Iowa City and beyond.
We decided to create a survey to find out. Now I know the scriptures also say, “Don’t let your right hand know what your left hand is doing.” But I think we can, for this one time, ask people to share how they try to live out their faith by working for justice, caring for the poor, and helping those in need for the sake of saying “Thank You”, for the sake of recognizing how Zion people live out their faith, for the sake of encouraging each other to do the same, or something similar. We’ve talked a lot in the last couple of years about where we have fallen short, I believe it is time to talk about where we have been faithful.
So please don’t be shy, please don’t think of it as patting yourself on the back; think of it as enlightening others about all the ways we can live out God’s call to work for justice as members of this Body of Christ, we call Zion. Not sure what qualifies? Here are a few suggestions: volunteering for Habitat for Humanity, Houses into Homes, food pantries, micro-investing, providing professional services pro-bono, assisting an elderly neighbor, community cleanup, writing letters to government representatives or letters to the editor.
If at all possible, we would love it if you could provide 2-3 pictures showing the work you’re doing. We are hoping to get an artistic person to take these stories and put them together in a creative mural. If you know of such a person or are one, please contact me, Pastor Marsha.
