March 16: Doing Good
♫ Music:
Day 16 - Thursday, March 16
The Sacrifice of Good Works
Scripture: Hebrews 13:1-3 &16; James 1:27; Hebrews 13:20
Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Poetry:
"How We Become Like God"
by Scott Cairns
To the extent that we love mercy and we keep
unfailing watch, we are like our Father in Heaven,
who ceaselessly performs these things in us.
To the extent that we suffer poverty, humiliation,
rejection and pain, we are like the Son of God,
who endured and tolerated all such suffering.
To the extent that we flow outward with the full
abundance of our hearts, and give our
complete substance to the poor, and spend
our lives in service to the sick, we are like
the Holy Spirit who is made manifest
as the abundant outpouring of the
Father and the Son.
DOING GOOD
The elements of today’s devotional draw our attention to our personal responsibility for, variously, the stranger, the prisoner, the brother and sister, the pilgrim, the neighbor, the fatherless, the widow, the poor, the sick, the humiliated, the mistreated, the joyful and the sorrowful. In what does this responsibility consist? Simply put, by doing good. How? As Jesus equips us for every good work. Why? In order to do his will. And the note of good works as pleasing sacrifices invites us to see this responsibility as the joy, privilege, and freedom of worship.
All this as an expression of love that is the love of siblings – brotherly love – that is a bond of affection that is not chosen, and out of which one does not grow, nor can one insulate oneself against sibling claims. In Scott Cairns’ poem the good we can do is to reflect the very character and person of our triune God. It is for this reason that the sibling love we are called to extends beyond ties of earthly family, class, race or ethnicity, or any other proximate loyalty.
Just as we do not choose those to whom we are bound by love in the good deeds we cannot neglect, so we do not choose the situations we may face where that love is to be stirred into action. Sadly, we know that we can choose to not see, to fail to recognize, to walk on by, supposing that love in good deeds is someone else’s sacrificial calling for this particular day. Equally, we can become overwhelmed by the depth of need that our limited scope of good action cannot hope to affect. It is precisely we who are called, in letters to the church. We are called to be Christians, not heroes. We are not called to be Saviors. We may reflect God, in being conformed to his image in our love, but we do so as humans, not as gods. Do not neglect is a daily call, not a philosophical position or policy announcement. There is much good that ought to be accomplished through careful and considerate examination of structures that oppress or perpetuate suffering. And we know that as a Christian community, and also as a nation, we are divided over how good is to be effected. But to love we must train our imaginations on the plight of those among us in need who present themselves to our attention.
Our call to good works is not just a training for our sight – not just a question for our visual imagination – we know we can look away, that we can direct our focus on our own concerns, or that we can simply shut our eyes. So the call to good works is properly a call - that we must hear. And just as we cannot close our ears - except by artificial blocking or playing the soundtrack of our own chosen songs on endless loop – our imaginations are to be trained by the cries we hear. We will attend to those who cry when we give our ear to their distinctive accent or language, to their distinctive vocabulary or idiom, to their measured, sad, angry or suppressed tones. The call to good works is a call to see and hear beyond our own familiar imaginings. And just so, Hebrews invites us to imagine that we may entertain divine messengers unawares. Perhaps, with reflection, awareness may follow. And with the encouragement of Scripture we will trust that our good works may lead others to glorify God in Jesus Christ. (Matthew 5:16)
PRAYER
Lord, allow me this day to see the person, and hear the cry, that invites me into doing your will in sacrificial good works. Thank you that for this encounter I can trust in your enabling in the power of the Holy Spirit. May I grow and continue in love today, as your love abounds in me and beyond, in the glory of your grace.
Amen.
Andy Draycott
Associate Professor of Theology and Christian Ethics
Talbot School of Theology
About the Artwork:
About A Prayer for Everyone Video
World Vision USA offers a Prayer for Everyone with the hopes of ending extreme poverty within a generation.
Producer:
World Vision International is an Evangelical Christian humanitarian aid, development, and advocacy organization. It was founded in 1950 by Robert Pierce as a service organization to meet the emergency needs of missionaries. In 1975 development work was added to World Vision's objectives. It is active in more than 90 countries. with a total revenue including grants, product and foreign donations of $2.79 billion (2011).
www.worldvision.org
About the Artwork:
The Good Samaritan
Mary McCleary
Mixed media collage on paper, 1995
About the Artist:
Mary McCleary (b. 1951) is Regent's Professor of Art Emeritus at Stephen F. Austin State University, where she taught from 1975 to 2005. She received her B.F.A., cum laude in printmaking/drawing at Texas Christian University and her M.F.A. in graphics from the University of Oklahoma. Since 1970 she has participated in over 250 one-person and group exhibits in museums and galleries in 24 states, Mexico, and Russia. McCleary states, “I make my collages by attaching materials such as paint, paper, rag board, foil, glitter, wire, mirrors, beads, painted sticks, string, leather, small plastic toys and other found objects on heavy paper, much in the way a painter builds layer upon layer of paint on canvas. My aim is that the obsessive images that result from this method of working convey an intensity which the viewer finds compelling. I am interested in the spatial complexity and visual tensions that come from the collages being illusionistic, while at the same time composed of 3-D objects that often retain their own identity. I frequently take my subject matter from history, science or literature. At other times I select an image for its resonance or poetic quality. Occasionally I will add typed text. I like the irony of using materials that are often trivial, foolish, and temporal to express ideas of what is significant, timeless, and transcendent.”
www.marymccleary.com/
About the Music:
“The Servant Song”
Lyrics:
[Refrain:]
Will you let me be your servant
Let me be as Christ to you
Pray that I might have the grace
To let you be my servant too
[Verse 1:]
We are pilgrims on the journey
We are travellers on the road
We are here to help each other
Walk the mile and bear the load
[Verse 2:]
I will hold the Christ light for you
In the night time of your fear
I will hold my hand out to you
Speak the the peace you long to hear.
[Verse 3:]
I will weep when you are weeping
When you laugh, I'll laugh with you
I will share your joy and sorrow
Till we've seen this journey through
[Refrain]
Will you let me be your servant
Let me be as Christ to you
Pray that I might have the grace
To let you be my servant too
About the Composers:
David Haas (b. 1957) is an American author and composer of contemporary Catholic liturgical music. He has produced over forty five original collections and recordings of liturgical music. Hass teamed up with singer-songwriter Jeanne Cotter to create this popular Catholic hymn.
About the Performer:
Vince Ambrosetti is a singer, composer and publisher. In 1977, Ambrosetti founded International Liturgy Publications, the oldest free-standing non-profit publisher of sacred music for the Catholic church. He was named “Catholic Artist of the Year” in December 2001, and has been honored with seven other Unity awards for his music. He has composed, recorded and, by invitation of the Vatican, performed for Pope John Paul II, the first English mass setting ever sung at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. His music has been placed in the Vatican archives alongside the works of Vivaldi, Puccini, Verdi and Corelli. Vince sang his song "Sanctuary” at Mother Teresa’s funeral in Calcutta, India. He has also been nominated for three Grammy Awards.
www.parishmission.org
About the Poet:
Scott Cairns (b 1954) is an American poet, memoirist and essayist. Cairns earned a B.A. from Western Washington University, an M.A. from Hollins University, an MFA from Bowling Green State University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Utah. Cairns has served on the faculties of Kansas State University, Westminster College, University of North Texas, Old Dominion University, and University of Missouri. While at North Texas, Cairns served as editor of the American Literary Review. Cairns is the author of eight collections of poetry, one collection of translations of Christian mystics, one spiritual memoir, a book-length essay on suffering, and the co-editor of The Sacred Place with Scott Olsen, an anthology of poetry, fiction and nonfiction. Dr. Cairns is currently the program director of Seattle Pacific University’s MFA in Creative Writing.
About the Devotional Author:
Andy Draycott is a British immigrant scholar living in Southern California with his family. He is a lifelong Charles Schultz’ Peanuts fan, enjoys reading novels and social history, cycling, running and baking. He counts God’s blessings in Christ in local church, family life, and delightful work colleagues.