Yesterday I encouraged us to take seriously the example of Mother Teresa, who was prepared to suffer deformity of her feet over decades in order to ensure that the worst pairs of donated shoes to her Missionaries of Charity order never went to the poor and sick that she served in Jesus name. She was determined to embody Jesus' love. Mark's Gospel recounts the story of four friends showcasing a similar extraordinary determination to bring their paralyzed friend to Jesus.
It's Mark 2:1-12 where we witness an unusual determination of four friends who cut open a roof to lower their paralyzed friend to Jesus. The message is clear: when it comes to helping others encounter Jesus, social conventions, reputations, and even neighbourly pleasantries are not as important as getting people to Jesus.
As we launch out into 2024, we have vision to see more people become more like Jesus so that together we can transform our communities. And I have been challenged by preparing God’s word this week – how determined am I to help other people encounter the hope and love of Jesus? Am I, and are we, willing to go against conventions and risk discomfort for the sake of someone encountering the transformative power of Jesus?
To guide our intentional efforts in helping others encounter Jesus, we introduced the BLESS acronym:
· Begin in prayer – we cannot impact people without the power of Jesus that guides us through prayer.
· Listen to their questions – people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.
· Eat together regularly – Jesus spent allot of his time on Earth, especially once he started teaching and demonstrating His Kingdom, eating meals with those around him.
· Serve as needs arise – be one of the first to help.
· Share your story – there will come natural opportunities to share your faith story as you build relationships with the people you care about.
I’m someone who looks for structure to help focus my intentionality. Let’s draw upon this BLESS structure to build our impact for Jesus sake. This is why we launched C3 Church Wentworthville - to BLESS our friends, networks, and the region of Sydney in Jesus' name.