Royston First United Methodist Church

During this season of Lent, we have discussed some Holy Habits that can help us grow in our faith. Our final Holy Habit that we are talking about is serving others. Faith is not meant to be lived in isolation. The more we experience God’s love and grace, the more we share that love and grace with others.John Wesley was known throughout the early Methodist movement by his compassion for the poor. He would often challenge those in the movement to give as much as they could to help the poor and Wesley often urged people to give of their resources to the poor. Wesley believed that everything we have is a gift from God, and if we use those gifts to build up surplus while others are not able to meet their basic needs, then we are robbing God (you may remember this from our stewardship series last fall — “earn all you can; save all you can; give all you can”). For Wesley, he defined the poor as not just those with less money – it also included the widows, the orphans, the sick, and the imprisoned. Wesley took very seriously the command to “Love your neighbor as yourself,” (Matthew 22.39, because he believed that people would know the love and grace of God by the way the Church loved others

In the Old Testament, Micah reminded the Israelites about the importance of serving others: “[God] 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,” (Micah 6:8). Imagine how different our world might be if we all took up the call to “do justice…to love kindness, and to walk humbly with [our] God.”

TRY IT THIS WEEK: Choose one of the following to try this week.

• Visit a member of our church who is on the homebound list. You can get a copy of this list by contacting the church office at 706-245-7402.
• Perform a random act of kindness for someone this week. It can be a spouse, a friend, a co-worker, a neighbor, or a complete stranger.
• Find an opportunity to “pay it forward” this week. Pay for the food of the person behind you in line at the restaurant. Do something kind for someone without expecting anything in return. The hope is that those who receive these blessings will also bless someone else.

I hope you have a great weekend and I look forward to being with you in worship on Sunday at 8:45 and 11:00!

Together with you,
Matt

P.S. Holy Week begins tomorrow with Palm Sunday. We will be having BOTH services at 8:45 and 11:00 tomorrow morning (please note this is a change from previous years). During each of the services, our kids will be leading us in worship as they process in with palm branches to remind us of the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. If you have children, I hope you will plan to be part of this special moment in worship tomorrow. After the 11:00 service, we will have lunch and an Easter Egg Hunt for our kids, and then conclude the day with a wonderful celebration of Holy Week as our Chancel Choir leads us in the Lenten Cantata, “The Canticle of the Cross.”