GREETING HOLY PEOPLE OF GOD,
God’s work. Our hands. Sunday always sneaks up as it follows the Labor Day weekend and is the first major event following summer and usually coincides with Rally Day. It requires over the summer planning and that just did not happen this year. But all is not lost. Here is an extended and adapted quote from the ELCA’s God’s work. Our hands. Toolkit.
“This Sunday, Sept. 8, “God’s work. Our hands.” Is the ELCA’s annual day of service and an opportunity to celebrate who we are as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) — one church, freed in Christ to love and serve our neighbor. “God’s work. Our hands.” is a way for us to be church together. On this day we bear witness to the love and concern God’s people have for one another.
Our congregations do this work every day — loving their neighbors and improving their communities. One of the greatest examples of how our congregations share love with their neighbors is through their feeding ministries. This year marks the 50th anniversary of ELCA World Hunger, and we’re excited to celebrate the impact that thousands of people from our church have made on communities around the world. These acts of service allow us to explore one of our most basic Lutheran convictions: All of life in Jesus Christ — every act of service, in every daily calling, in every corner of life — flows freely from a living, daring confidence in God’s grace.
This year we are invited to extend our service opportunities from Sunday, Sept. 8, through Oct. 16, which is World Food Day. The ELCA knows that, every day, our congregations are doing the work of loving their neighbors and improving their communities.
As Lutherans, we know the difference that God’s grace and love in Christ have made in our daily lives. Because of this, we work together to help others experience that same love and acceptance. We live out this vision through worship and service in our congregations and communities, through our individual vocations and through our collective work as church together.
“God’s work. Our hands.” offers a special opportunity to be church together and to share Jesus’ love by inviting others to join in a day of service. This call for service unites all the ELCA expressions to focus on serving and accompanying our neighbors. Service opportunities are endless, so ELCA members and congregations should research opportunities that make sense for each congregation and its capacity. The idea is to deepen the members’ experience in their community and enable congregations to play a critical part in addressing community needs.”
Because we have been invited to consider this over a long period of time, I am going to invite you to write on 3x5 inch cards the organizations, agencies or ministries with which you are connected. And we will take this time to celebrate and lift up the ways in which we engage in God’s work through our hands individually and as a community of faith.
In the past for "God’s Work. Our Hands" Sunday we have worked on trails at Hickory Hill Park with other Iowa City ELCA churches, clean-up work at Terry Trueblood Park and Jo. Co. Neighborhood Center, tied blankets and hats, assembled school kits and sang at a community 9/11 memorial service. And throughout the year we engage in feeding ministries. Up until October 16 we will lift up our work up, giving glory to God.
In our worship service we will bless each other’s hands or our own with this blessing: Signing a cross on the backs of the hands: God bless your hands and your work, signing a cross on the palms of the hands: that through you God’s love may be known. Amen.
Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,
Pastor Connie Spitzack
