7-Dec-25 (Matthew 3:1-12)

"Make straight the ways of the Lord." It's an interesting phrase. What does it mean?
One way to think about it is that straight ways are easier to see and follow. If that's the case, how do we make the ways straight for the Lord? How do we help people to see God and follow Jesus?
The most obvious way is to live and work according to what Jesus taught and one of the central parts of what he taught was to care for the outcasts, the forgotten, the poor, the sick, the suffering. If we do that, people will see that our claim to follow Christ is confirmed by our actions.
One way to care for others is to be personally involved, to put one's own time and effort to work in the help. Another is to give of our resources so that others can do so.
The offering is our first and foremost way of doing the latter. Let's think about giving generously so that people will see the way to God clearly.

Prayer:

Please join me in a spirit of prayer.
God whose love knows no boundaries and reaches throughout our world, help us, in our own way, to be a part of that.
Give us generous hearts to give of ourselves and what we have so others can see their way to you.
We pray in the name of Jesus, our Risen Lord, Amen.