The Repairers
of the Breach V: The Shabbat Shalom of the Poor
Study Guide and Supplemental Links
What's it like to be poor?
"You're hanging by a ____________ every day of your ___________."
- God knows the thread-bare existence of the poor.
- And because He knows and cares, He calls us to ____________ and ___________, too.
It's high time to embrace God's solidarity with the poor!
- Newsweek's cover story this week: The Anatomy of _____________
- Luke 21:26—"People will faint from _________ and foreboding of what ___ ____________ upon the world." (NRSV)
- "Whatever you may possess above your fellows places you in debt, to that degree, to all who are less favored. Have we wealth, or even the comforts of life, then we are under the most solemn obligation to care for the suffering sick, the widow, and the fatherless exactly as we would desire them to care for us were our condition and theirs to be reversed. . . . When those who profess the name of Christ shall practice the principles of the golden rule, the same power will attend the gospel as in apostolic times." (MB 136-137)
- The times are indeed ripe and right for us to __________ and _________ God in Isaiah 58.
- It's a powerful call for social ___________ [v 6] and social ___________ [v 7].
- I know a community of faith that loves to champion God's S's: S_____________, the S___________ , the S______________ , the S______________ , the S________________, etc.
- But Isaiah 58 is clear: without social action and social justice, all the other S's in the world won't get you to heaven!
- Matthew 12:9-14
- The Pharisees were furious because Jesus has just declared that their passionate _____________ of the right ______ was bankrupt without a passionate ____________ of the right _______.
- And what is the right Way?
- "It is __________ to do _________ on the _______________ ." (Mt. 12:10 NLT)
- Isaiah 58:13, 14
- God: You'll only get My ________ right, when you get My _________ right.
- "To relieve the afflicted, to comfort the sorrowing, is a labor of love that does honor to God's holy day." (Welfare Ministry 77)
- Sabbath afternoons are a gift from God through you to the poor, the suffering, the lonely and the needy:
- AU Outreach to Benton Harbor—3 p.m. (Lamson Hall)
- "Sunshine Bands" at Berrien General Hospital's long term unit
- Nursing home visitation
- University housing visitation of international student families
- Invite a student's family for Sabbath dinner
- Start a "Sabbath Meal on Wheels" ministry for shut-ins
- Write letters and cards to the lonely
- Create/maintain a personal website for the lonely
- Help your neighbor with his "sheep" in the well
- Shovel a senior citizen's driveway
- Help with some "needy" kids on Sabbath morning
- ___________________ (Fill in your own ministry)
"The Sabbath was made to benefit people,
and not people to benefit the Sabbath."
(Mark 2:27 NLT)