As a resource for our volunteers, I decided to make the e-Book version of “Nursing Home Ministry the Heart of Jesus Christ” available for free this weekend. Though the story began thirty-five years ago, the calling and needs remain unchanged. When we think of the call of Jesus to go into all the world, most of us imagine foreign fields, refugee camps or feeding the homeless. But right in our communities lies a field almost as foreign as the farthest corners of the earth. Just down the street there are people who are separated from the everyday world we live in. Statistics tell us that 65% of those in long-term-care will not receive a single visit from a friend or family member throughout an entire year. If you have ever wondered, what you could do or how you might be able to get started: I offer some simple steps and guidelines to help you along your journey. You might say, “That’s just not my ministry.” and you might be entirely correct. But then think of John as He stood at the cross. He was not only one of the twelve apostles, called to be the foundation of the church, but also five books of the New Testament bear His name. He did go into all the world, but at the cross when Jesus saw Him standing next to Mary, He asked one more thing of Him: “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. So, remember that some of our mothers, and fathers and sisters and brothers are living at those nursing homes. Let’s make the time to stop and see them, hold their hand, say a prayer, bring a gift, give a kiss and then take them into the home of our hearts.
Christianity
Two Cups
And said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him. John 2:10-11 ESV
I have sometimes wondered why the first miracle Jesus did was to fill wine cups by turning ordinary water into delicious wine. Why didn’t He cleanse a leper, give a blind man sight, or raise someone from the dead? But then I remember another cup and another dinner table, where Jesus sat down to eat with His disciples, He took a cup, but this time He didn’t change water into wine. Instead, He told them that the wine in His cup was His blood, and then He passed it to them to drink. Today we receive that cup when we take communion. Our communion cup is different from the ones the people drank from at the wedding because even though Jesus gave them miraculous wine, eventually their cups ran dry. Just like the blood of the Old Covenant never really worked, those people, just like us, have lied, stolen, lusted, or hated. But the good news for us today is that Jesus didn’t come to fill our cups with old wine. He came to miraculously transform the ordinary water of our old life into the wonderful wine of something new. The cup that Jesus offers us is filled with the new wine of His blood, and each time we receive communion we are reminded that His blood paid the price for our salvation and set us free from sin. And this cup is not reserved only for special guests but for anyone who comes and drinks and then follows the Lamb of God who came to take away our sin!
And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” Luke 22:20 ESV
The Fire and the Cloud: A Christmas Story
And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night. Exodus 13:21 NKJV
You probably will ask, “What in the world does the cloud and the pillar of fire have to do with Christmas?” That’s a great question! Well, let’s consider the journey of the wise men. He sent the star to guide the wise men. In the same way, that In the wilderness, God sent a fire by night to lead His people. Have you ever stopped to think that sometimes God leads us that way also? When it is nighttime in our life, and things are going wrong, He sends His light to guide us, in the form of His Word.
But what about those days when there is money in the bank, everyone is healthy, and life is sunny? For the children of Israel, the daytime traveling was by a cloud. Though the wisemen had no cloud to follow, what they did was to continue on the course that the star had set by night. They did not stop and wait for evening but pressed on ahead. In the same way, we must not settle down in our comfort zones. God leads us forward even when things look good because our Promised Land is not here in the desert. No matter how great things look right now, there is a much more wonderful destination ahead because we are not citizens of the wilderness. Our homeland lies on the other side of the Jordan River. So, whether God sends a star, a cloud, or a pillar of fire, He will lead us to our own promised land. If we simply choose to follow Him, He will lead us both by day and by night. Then one day we will come to His home, pour out our treasures and worship Him forever!
The First Noel was one of the songs we kicked off our caroling with at the nursing home this year. Just as the wise men followed that star on the first Noel, God is calling you to follow Him by reading and following His word. No matter how old we are, it is never too late to have a First Noel!
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