Ready to Serve
Ready to go where you will lead. Chorus: I’m ready, ready Lord.
I’m ready to serve. I’m ready to serve.
Ready to love as You love me. Walkin’ in faith and offering praise,
I’m ready to serve I’m ready to serve.
Words and Music by Sarah Moore
Check the end of this post for ways you can help!
This is a Summer Vacation Bible School song written for children. Can you just imagine a group of youngsters singing this lively song?
In a letter from the bother of Jesus written to Jewish Christians sometime around 45-62 AD, starting in Chapter 2, James writes: “Dear brothers and sisters, how can you claim that you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory, if you show favoritism to rich people and look down on poor people?….
Listen to me my brothers and sisters: God has chosen poor people to be rich in faith, and the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs, for that is the gift God has promised to all those who love him…..
Dear brothers and sisters, what’s the use of saying you have faith and are Christians if you aren’t proving it by helping others? Will that kind of faith save anyone?… So you see, it isn’t enough just to have faith. You must also do good to prove that you have it. Faith that doesn’t show itself by good works is no faith at all — it is dead and useless… Faith that does not result in good deeds is not real faith.”
Fast forward to the 21st century, Yorktown Heights, New York. Come to FPCY any day of the week and see what’s happening. There are always several Bible studies along with the knitting circles, AA and Unity Meetings going on. The Boy Scouts have used the facilities as their “home base” for years. There are choir rehearsals, nursery school classes, commission meetings, Session meetings, Food Pantry Saturdays, Youth and Adult Sunday School, piano lessons, voice lessons, quarterly concerts, coffee hour and more. There is something happening almost everywhere in the building on a given Sunday. There was even a recent study of the facilities to see if there were things we could do to maximize spaces, arrange and rearrange spaces, empty spaces or enlarge spaces in order to further increase the usable space of our facilities.
The point here is that this is a “happening” place and there is almost no end to the ways in which anyone can get involved, learn, grow, participate and share their talents, abilities and interests. But more importantly, it’s a welcoming place, a nurturing place, an open place and a place supported by a fellowship of Christians committed to showing God’s love in the world and working to offer a safe and loving place for all people to come and gather and participate and belong. We are each truly blessed to be able to be part of this community living Jesus’ command to love one another as He has loved us.
How can you help?
The Deacons want to be sure to let you know of several ministries that ANY of you can join in to help us with our ongoing work. We need your help! We welcome your help! And as Christians we all need a place where we can serve…increase our awareness of our connectedness to our Lord and each other and make a difference. This summer the Deacons want you to be aware of the Backpack Ministry and the Blood Drive which are happening in August.
You can participate. You can help! You have an opportunity to serve! Almost 190 backpacks will be distributed on August 13th to eager children of our Food Pantry clients. Monetary donations are always needed to support our Ministries.
And…the blood drive on August 13th is a onetime event this year in which you…each of you… can take just a few minutes to literally give the “gift of life” to someone. Summer is a time when the Blood Banks run dangerously low in their supplies of blood.
Our “Loaves and Fishes” Ministry provides both meals as well as love and support for members and friends of our congregation. Please consider signing up for this “hands on” Ministry. It’s such a simple yet incredibly effective way to offer service. We need volunteers at this time and expect that you will probably be called on once or twice a year. Please consider sharing your love and experience of cooking with a family or person in need. Hey, you could even go to the grocery store and buy a roasted chicken! They are delicious and a great time saver! We have them at home at least once a week.
We hope you are enjoying some leisure time this summer and have a chance to catch up with family and friends. Remember that even during these warm, lazy, relaxing summer months there is still much work to be done for The Kingdom.
God Bless you all. Shalom,
~Carol Thorne-Gaetani, for the Deacons