"And now, Father, send us out to do the work you have given us to do, to love and serve you as faithful witnesses of Christ our Lord." (Book of Common Prayer, p. 366)

These words from the post-communion prayer set the standard for us in the post-Easter Church. The great fifty day celebration of Easter has passed and the work of ministry has begun. Quakers have good saying about our use of the word "service" when we mean "worship." They say, "The service begins when the worship ends." Our Sunday morning is devoted to the worship of God, not service in God's name. Service is our purpose Monday through Saturday.

As baptized Christians, we are sent out as ministers of the Gospel each day. Many people ask me for guidance in discerning God's plan for their lives. God's plan for each of our lives is simply this: Take the God-given talents, strengths and resources with which the Almighty has endowed you and put them to use in the expansion of the reign of Love here on earth. "Live the very little of the Gospel that you have understood." Put your hand to the plow and do not look back. (Luke 9:62)

Take your place as a shareholder, a partner in Christ's ministry to reconcile the world to God's ways, God's values, for all human beings to live fully and in harmony with one another. The Prophet Isaiah tells us the ministry of the Messiah: "The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners…" (61:1). Jesus confirms this in the Gospel according to Matthew: "Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them" (11:4-5).

We are sent out as "faithful witnesses" to this ministry, to carry it on in Jesus' name. In the New Testament James and the First Letter of John tell us what it means to be "faithful." James writes, "If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,' and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead (2:15-17)." In the First Letter of John, it is written, "How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action." (3:17-18)

And so, we with the power of the Spirit given to the Church at Pentecost, and to us at baptism let us continue the journey home where peace and wholeness wait.

Jeff+