Another great week at JOY Lutheran has several things rolling around in my mind. We are still studying Acts of the Apostles and, on Sunday, we recognized Global Missions and World Food Day.

As I read about the birth of the early church and the boundaries the disciples and apostles overcame to jump start missionary work growth, I am struck by the physical and cultural boundaries and barriers they overcame. The early “Christians” in Jerusalem weren’t even called “Christians” yet. They were Jews who had accepted the good news of Jesus while keeping the law of Moses. Hellenistic Jews (Greek-speaking Jews who had adopted some Greek customs) in Jerusalem and in surrounding regions were converting. Eventually, “The Way” of Jesus reached Gentiles beyond these early Jewish converts. Very different histories, cultures, traditions, customs and beliefs had to be melded together or co-exist to make the early church prosper. Did a new convert have to first become a Jew, follow the laws of Moses, be circumcised to follow Jesus? Some in the early church thought so.
The situation was ripe for differences to erupt and divide the church. There was an early protest that Hellenistic Jewish widows were not receiving the same treatment as other Jewish widows. So even, “the least of these” who might seem very similar to us today, were seen differently then and perceived as being treated differently. The Apostles quickly elected new helpers to remedy the situation, new disciples who could tend to jobs the Apostles couldn’t do as well given all their other duties. One of the first of these was Stephen, the namesake of JOY’s Stephen Ministry.
The early Apostles and disciples learned they should not call anyone unclean or profane because God made everyone (Acts 10:15, 28). People like Stephen, Barnabas, Paul (Saul) and others went out to meet all different kinds of people wherever they were, sharing the Good News and helping them. When an early Christian prophet predicted a global famine, the outlying Gentile and Hellenistic church collected money and goods to help the believers back in Jerusalem.
The early mission workers were sent out “with prayer and fasting” (Acts 13:3) and some of their early converts, through fasting of their own, gave “as they were able” to help the other churches who had helped them or needed help.
What mission work does God have for our church now? Jesus made it very clear, we are to help “the least of these” – to help all the children of God no matter how different they are from us. As I picked up donations for the Super Sale last week and drove into gated communities, up to remote control garage doors in yards with high hedges, I wondered, when do we ever see “the least of these” or anyone different from us? I learned the where and the who Sunday morning as Pastor Roy showed us pictures from Haiti, Cuba, Suriname, and Guyana. We have a great opportunity to help new sister churches through our Synod. Will they come to the Feast? Ultimately, yes, but whether they will eat at all now, much less feast, depends on how much we are willing to “fast” and send their way.
Read Matthew 25:31-40, and remember: God loves you, and all God’s children, UNCONDITIONALLY!  
Mike

Today’s Reading: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+25%3A31-40&version=NRSV