J. Lo

Not Jennifer Lopez. Today I'm writing about Joy, Laughter, and Outreach. Our reading today starts out with a bang! "God appeared to Abraham at the Oaks of Mamre." I can imagine at God's appearance, Abraham was filled with joy. It's like when I come home from work and my kids practically knock me over with hugs. Abraham likes to be around his daddy.

And Sarah laughs within herself at the news that she'll FINALLY be a mommy. I think it's more out of joy than disbelief.

By there is much more to this reading that I'd like to lift up and it's a make or break for the future of our church. A reminder that what sets the 20% of ELCA churches that are growing apart from the others is three-fold:
1. A mission statement people know and live out
2. Talking about God and his activity like he's actually in the room and in the world
3. 25% of Confirmed members read Scripture daily

A handful of us have been blogging, but I'm curious as to how many others are reading along (both the Bible and the blog). If you are a daily Bible reader (even if you don't read the blog every day), please mark one of the 4 boxes below OR post a comment about how this has affected your faith since mid-January.

To take this a step further, we see several things in this couple who God blessed in order to bless the world:
1. Abraham served complete strangers with bread made from their best flour and roasted a nice plump calf. He had the gift of hospitality and used it. Sarah rolled up her sleeves and went to work for these men and ended up entertaining angels without even knowing it.
2. God told them, "I've settled on you to train your children and future family to observe God's way of life, live kindly and generously and fairly."
3. Abraham pleads on behalf of the 10 good people in Sodom and Gomorrah, people he doesn't even know. He challenges the Almighty with this statement, "Doesn't the Judge of all the Earth judge with justice?" Abraham is talkin' smack and God is listening, because he knows his heart of compassion for others.

If we use our giftedness to the fullest to pass the faith on to our children and grandchildren, but we stop there, we have been stopped short. We need to reach out to others. God is trying to bless the world through us. Will we help him or be more concerned about ourselves?