Outbound Journey.Love of Neighbor
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Love of Neighbor
INVITATION
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations… And remember, I am with you.
– Jesus, Matthew 28.19-20
Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.
– Jesus, Mark 16.15
Okay, yes, invitation is just another word for evangelism, but we’re using it for good reason. Whereas the e-word often conjures up images of hate-mongering, and finger-pointing preachers and street-corner strangers, invitation is all about welcoming more and more people to the party. It speaks of “good news,” the sharing of something that delights, frees, and makes glad. This is real evangelism; this is the practice of invitation. It involves sharing our stories, listening to the Spirit, and remembering that the table to which we’re inviting others is Jesus’, which informs who (everybody) and how (in love and service) we invite. It also means we, collectively, have to make sure we’re actually being the church to which we’re inviting people: a community that is bold, inclusive, and relevant.
SMALL GROUPS | EVENTS | VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
Volunteer to give your testimony @ Sunday services. Contact Trey.
Volunteer with Invitation. Contact Matt Richards.
Volunteer with Welcome. Contact Gail Kocher for our Downtown – Sunday A.M. Worship. Contact Annie Rahmeier for our Wicker Park – Sunday P.M. Worship.
SERVICE
Provide liberally out of your flock, your threshing floor, and your wine press, thus giving to him[/her] some of the bounty with which the LORD your God has blessed you. Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; for this reason I lay this command upon you today.
– Deuteronomy 15.14-15
The capacity to give one’s attention to a sufferer is a very rare and difficult thing; it is almost a miracle; it is a miracle.
- Simone Weil, Waiting for God
The above Deuteronomy text reminds us we give and serve not because it makes us feel good – though it usually does – or because we’re commanded to – though we are – but because it is our grateful and joyful response to a God who gives and serves continuously and generously. This does not mean it always comes easily; encountering suffering, disparity, grief, etc. often takes courage and always takes time amid busy lives. Thus, for most of us, possessing a servant’s heart and hands comes with practice; it is a process of coming to see Christ in the needy and realizing we’ve already been given all the bounty necessary to provide for their needs.
SMALL GROUPS | EVENTS | VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
Feeding Chicago: Saturday Morning Breakfast Ministry
Check out our Service|Justice page to learn about all current opportunities!
Volunteer with Service|Justice. Contact Jeff Jones or Jess Root.
There are also ample opportunities to serve each other at Urban Village. Volunteer on Sunday mornings or evenings (see Worship, Community, and Invitation) or with one of Urban Village’s ministry pods (see Community, Invitation, and Stewardship).
VOCATION
The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.
– Frederick Buechner
Each one of us has some kind of vocation. We are all called by God to share in His life and in [Her] Kingdom. Each one of us is called to a special place in the Kingdom. If we find this place we will be happy. If we do not find it, we can never be completely happy. For each of us, there is only one thing necessary: to fulfill our own destiny, according to God’s will, to be what God wants us to be.
– Thomas Merton, No Man Is An Island
Vocation, in Christianity, is about work, but work understood more richly than how most of us would define it. Vocation is not solely about what you to do; it is also about “who you be,” who you were created to be, who you are at your core. Thus, your vocation is intricately and inextricably connected to your faith journey. We aren’t designed to live splintered lives, faith here and work there; rather, the two should be explored together, in conversation with one another. God calls each of us to a vocation, to an important work (or works), that fills both our own life and the lives of others with joy.
SMALL GROUPS | EVENTS | VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
SEEKING JUSTICE
But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
– Amos 5.24
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
– Jesus, Luke 4.18-19
Most people acknowledge Jesus was a good man who served others when tangible needs arose. It is more uncommon for us to remember him as a prophet and demonstrator, but he was. Jesus recognized the need for individual and systemic transformation to bring about the kingdom of God, and acted and spoke out in line with his convictions (e.g., Matthew 12.1-8, 21.12-13; John 8.1-11). Thus, all Christians are called to do the same. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we must discern the sinfulness of our systems and act to make them just and righteous. We must join Jesus in bringing good news and freeing the oppressed.
SMALL GROUPS | EVENTS | VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
Online Summer Reading Group: The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
Food, Faith, and Sustainability
Check out our Service|Justice page to learn about all current opportunities!
Volunteer with Service|Justice. Contact Jeff Jones or Jess Root.
STEWARDSHIP
Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.
– 1 Corinthians 4.1-2
Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received.
– 1 Peter 4.10
In expending this, am I acting according to my character? Am I acting herein, not as a proprietor, but as a steward of my Lord’s goods?
– John Wesley, founder of Methodism
Though it is tempting to replace the word “stewardship” with a less antiquated – and perhaps preconceived – word or phrase, there is good reason to continue talking about how we consume and expend as “stewardship.” It reminds us that all we have and that is available to us is not ultimately ours, but God’s. Our money and material possessions, as well as this good earth, are brimming with God’s grace as each sustains us. Claiming this helps us understand how we are called to use what we’ve been given: grace is never to be consumed greedily or thoughtlessly, but with great generosity toward others and the work of God’s kingdom. This is what is means to be trustworthy financial and ecological stewards. A challenge to be sure, but one we’re given permission to practice and grow into until we discover stewardship always gives more than it asks.
SMALL GROUPS | EVENTS | VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
Food, Faith, and Sustainability
Volunteer to count the offering at Sunday services. Contact Chris.
Volunteer with Finance. Contact Chris.