12-Jan-25 (Luke 3:15-17, 21-22)

When John was asked "What should we do?", he responded, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” So, the call of God to repentant souls is to share with others, especially the necessities of life.
So it is with the work of the Church: We help those in need. We visit the sick and care for the dying. We stand for the forgotten and ignored. There are many ways that we demonstrate the love of God for all people in the things we do.
One of those things is to contribute our resources so other can do that work in places where our combined resources are needed to reach. That's we the offering is more than just a duty of our faith. It is a privilege of participating in the work of the church all over the world.
Let's consider our part in that as we take up our offering for today.

Prayer:

God who reaches out in love to each and every one, we pray that you will bless this offering, that your work would continue and that people would see your love in action in our world. We pray also for ourselves, that your presence would be felt in the thing we personally attend to in the world around us.
We pray in the name of Jesus, our Savior, Amen.