Boy scouts are coming back!

The Boy Scout Troop from Chicago will be joining us this holiday season. But, we need your help. We need people to sign up and bring fruits and vegetables. So here's how you can do that.

1. Click on the Serving tab

2. Fill out the form

3. Select the "Boy Scout Luncheon" in the [event] field

4. In the comments field tell us what you're going to bring

Thanks so much for serving. Blessings!

Sheep caring for the Shepherd

In Matthew 25, Jesus tells us of those who will "inherit the kingdom." He says in this passage of scripture that he will place the sheep on his right, and these will inherit that kingdom because they fed, welcomed, clothed, visited, and cared for him.

I often find myself wondering about this passage of scripture. There are so many implications within it, judgement, motivations, actions, etc. The list could go on, but this weekend what struck me was that Jesus called these righteous people "the sheep."

What I find odd about this is that sheep are cared for by a shepherd, and in this passage Jesus tells us that these sheep cared for him, the Good Shepherd. But, even beyond the oddity of sheep caring for the shepherd, it all happened visa-vie the sheep caring for other sheep.

It was this point where I saw something in this passage more clearly than I think I ever had before... the attitudes and actions of the sheep are the same as the two greatest commandments:

1. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul.
2. Love your neighbor as yourself.

When I saw these principles in this passage so clearly, I had three realizations.

First, I found it interesting that in many ways Jesus seems to spend much of His time reiterating these two commands, yet they seem to be so simple and straight forward. However simple the concepts may be, Jesus must have known the execution of them would be something that His followers would struggle with constantly. Thus, the reminders throughout His ministry that this is what the Kingdom of God is about.

Second, I realized that because "the sheep" didn't realize that they were doing all these things for "the Shepherd" (or King), they must have been doing them naturally out of love, not obligation or duty. This means that they were caring for others because they saw the Shepherd doing so and they were simply following His lead or rather becoming like Him, thus loving those whom He also loves.

Finally, I noticed due to my second realization that the two commandments are completely interdependent. In other words we cannot love our fellow man if we do not love the Lord, and we cannot love the Lord without loving our fellow man. I see this in the fact that as previously stated loving the Lord will naturally lead to becoming like Him, and if we become more like Him we will love people as He loves people. Likewise, we will not truly be able to love others from a pure heart if we do not first rid ourselves of selfish motivations, and the only way to do that is to love God and become more like Him.

I saw how in this passage Jesus gives us a clear blueprint for the Christian life and explains that when we live our lives in fulfillment of these two commandments we naturally serve and give to anyone who we see that has a need.

So, when I read Matthew 25 this weekend and reflected on it, I realized how important serving others truly is. But, not as the means of loving God and others, rather I saw how serving is merely the vehicle by which we know how deeply we do love God and love others.

In this way, I felt so blessed to be a part of a community of believers at Flowing Grace where our mission and core values are to...

• Love God
• Love Others
• Serve