5/21/2025

During Holy Week, I went to North Carolina to do a service with Josh Bruce, a young pastor who grew up in my first congregation. While he was showing me his town, I noticed a lot of homeless people. I asked if there were any ministries to the homeless, and he said as far as he knew there were not. 

I shared with him our emphasis on missions and how we do 9 or 10 missions projects each year. I told him the easiest and the one that gave us the most in-person, hands-on mission experience is the blessing bags.  

Josh was very excited to do that with his congregation! He sent me this message on Monday: “We made 50 blessing bags last night. Just got a message from a lady, ‘Just gave away my blessing bag, and I cried. Didn’t know it was going to be hard and a blessing.’”

A blessing bag works in both directions. It’s a blessing for those we give it to, yes, but it’s also a blessing for us. Why? Because we can see that just a small thing can make a difference in a person’s life.

A few weeks ago I saw the touring production of the musical, Les Miserables (don’t watch the movie; it’s awful). The first time I saw it was in Louisville, Kentucky, during the late 1980s. The plot of this three-hour musical, adapted from a 1,400 page Victor Hugo novel, is way too involved to go into here, but an English translation of the title tells you all you need to know: “The Miserable Ones.” 

Early in the show, the chorus storms the front of the stage calling on the audience to “Look down and see the beggars at your feet/Look down and show some mercy if you can.” 

Look down. LOOK. 

Sometimes we get so used to seeing certain people that we never really pay attention to them. They become so much part of the backdrop that we pass them by without a thought. Of course, sometimes it’s a matter of our perspective – we see them, yes, but we see them as a problem not as a Person who longs to experience the love of God . . . and so we consciously look away.

Being a Christ-follower means we look at the world around us. But there’s looking and then there’s LOOKING. We have to see people as God sees them. And then, we have to do something about it. 

One of the most familiar, most preached from and most mis-interpreted passages in the Bible is the scene of the last judgment in Matthew 25. The Son of Man has come in his glory and the nations – notice, it’s the nations that are being judged–are separated like the sheep from the goats. The King commends the sheep: “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.”

The “blessed of my Father” are stunned! They ask,“When did we do that?” The King responds, “When you did it to the least of these.” 

This parable is aimed directly at the religious leaders of his day. Matthew and Luke emphasize the fact that the Jewish leaders neglected “the miserable ones.” Why? Because their misery was the result of their sinfulness, and since they were (obviously) sinners, God wouldn’t bless the nation. Instead of alleviating their misery, the religious leaders blamed “the miserable ones.” 

Jesus is having none of that. 

Among the 613 commandments, there are many about taking care of the poor. Somehow the Jewish leaders found ways around them. Again, Jesus is having none of that. Being part of God’s great renovation project of this world, that he’s invited us to take part in, is alleviating the suffering of those around us. Because the Jewish people wouldn’t take care of the poor, God gave the kingdom to those who would.

And that’s us: we are the “blessed of my Father.” 

Not only do blessing bags help to (temporarily) alleviate the misery of the homeless, but they also make us aware of the existence of those in need! 

And we have to look. 

And I think that’s what the members of Josh’s congregation are discovering. They’re so used to seeing them that they never really SEE them. 

As Sherlock Holmes famously said, “The world is full of obvious things that no one for any reason ever sees.” Seems like we’ve heard that recently . . . 

But now they can see them and do something – even if it’s a small something – so that both the giver and the receiver will be blessed.

And we have that opportunity as well! Our current Mission’s Project is making blessing bags! Look for the Mission’s announcement in today’s newsletter and sign-up to be a blessing.

Blessings,

Pastor Terry