Prayer for Caregivers

Whether it is for aging parents, or for loved ones who are sick or have special

needs, we want to lift up the needs of those who spend much of their time caring

for the needs of others.

Father,

You are the God who sees, the God of all comfort, the God who heals, the God

who provides. Today we lift up all who are caring for others. I pray that they may

know you see their hidden acts of service, and you accept those acts as worship

unto you--even if they do not receive thanks from those they serve.

I pray that these caregivers would hear your call to cast their cares on you, to come

under your yoke, to find rest for their weary souls and bodies. I pray that you

would ease their anxiety, help them to sleep, and you would take care of their

bodies and minds, providing for their needs as they serve.

I pray that you would give caregivers perseverance and love for those whom they

serve. I pray you would heal broken relationships. I pray that you would give them

supernatural patience and wisdom to handle hard questions as they arise.

I pray that you would use this call to serve to transform their souls, making them

more like you. Remind them that you are near them. Please provide community to

also come around them.

We long for the day when illness, aging, and death are no more, but until that time

comes, please give us ever increasing hope, faith, and joy in you. We choose to

trust you in the things we do not understand, and we thank you for the privilege of

being invited to serve just as you serve. Amen.

Are We Called to the Least of These?

Written by Dylan Wells

Since our family moved to The Gambia earlier this year one of the things I have struggled with the most is the amount of people begging. The streets are full of people, and we are approached at every store or restaurant when we are in the city. Over the past few years, I have explored poverty alleviation, and I have learned that giving to those begging on the street is most often an inappropriate form of relief that can perpetuate rather than alleviate poverty. This leads me to politely say no when I encounter those asking. 

My Bible reading plan had me reading Matthew 25 this past week and the second half of this passage hit harder than normal. Speaking of the final judgement Jesus says he will separate the sheep from the goats based on people’s response to the least of these. “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:40 ESV) How can I reconcile the best practices in healthy, sustainable poverty alleviation with the command of Jesus to give to the least of these? I finished reading Matthew without an answer to this question.

While reading Paradigms in Conflict for my missions class this semester, I encountered a perspective that really resonated with me. David Hesselgrave writes that Matthew 25:31-46 is “one of the most misinterpreted, misunderstood, and misapplied passages in the entire New Testament.” (270)  He writes that the “least of these my brothers” does not refer to the material poor, rather it refers to the people of God bringing the saving message of Jesus to others. This interpretation is best seen by looking back to Matthew 10. When sending out the twelve apostles, Jesus says “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. …  And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water… will by no means lose his reward.” (Matthew 10:40-42 ESV) Both chapters use similar language such as “littles ones” and “least of these” and mention the provision of water. This presents a strong case for Hesselgrave’s interpretation that Jesus’ test at the final judgement is not whether you feed the poor. Rather it is whether you welcomed and received Jesus’ sent ones and the gospel message that they bore.

As I have reflected on this newfound interpretation, there are three things that stand out to me:

Salvation is through grace by faith alone

Under my previous reading of Matthew 25, the one thing I could not reconcile was that this parable seemed to contradict the gospel. If I am dependent on the blood of Jesus for my forgiveness, why is Jesus basing his final decision on whether I said yes to the material needs of people I encountered? Jim Wallis, the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Chair in Faith and Justice at Georgetown University, has described Matthew 25 as Jesus' “final test of discipleship,” applying “the least of these” to the poor, immigrants, and other vulnerable people. The Bible teaches that salvation is by grace through faith alone (Ephesians 2:8-9) but we also know that many who say Lord, Lord are not authentic believers (Matthew 7:21-23). How then are we to determine if we are following and obedient to Christ? Wallis would say that Matthew 25 provides clarity to this question based on each of our responses to the least of these. I would agree that Matthew 25 informs on this question, but it is not whether we care for the least of these, rather it is whether we become one of the least of these.

We are called to be one of the least of these

In our age of prosperity, it is difficult for western Christians to imagine we are the ones experiencing hunger, thirst, nakedness, and imprisonment that Jesus mentioned. From our vantage point we can only imagine ourselves as the ones meeting the needs. The reality is that Jesus is calling us to a life and faith that makes us one of the least of these. What are a couple simple ways we can adopt the posture of “the least of these”? First, bringing the gospel message to those who do not follow Christ. The most direct application of this parable is “that Jesus is referring to missionaries and their treatment at the hands of the ethne … to his “sent ones” or missionaries and those people of the world who either receive or reject them and their message.” (Paradigms in Conflict, 272) This is directly applicable to the situation in the world today where nearly 4.9 billion people live among 7,300 people groups that remain unreached by the gospel. Share the good news with those in your life and consider taking this message to the nations. Secondly, live a life of material simplicity modeled by Jesus. Reject the American standard of material consumption and expansion. If God is not calling you to the mission field, seek a life that leverages our resources of time and money for the glory of God and the expansion of his kingdom. 

Yes, we are still called to the least of these, just maybe not in Matthew 25

Even if Matthew 25 is misinterpreted, there is still a clear call to engage and care for the poor in both the Old and New Testaments. (Deut. 15:7–11, Prov. 19:17, Isa. 58:6–10, Mic. 6:8, Matt. 6:1–4, Luke 14:12–14, Gal. 2:10, Jas. 2:14–17) As we take the gospel to the nations let’s bring sustainable development to increase the prosperity and quality of life of those we encounter. Here in The Gambia our family is leveraging Farming God’s Way to bring sustainable and healthy farming practices to rural villages.

One day we will gather before the throne of Jesus with every nation and witness the separation of the sheep and the goats. Thankfully we do not need to worry whether we did enough good deeds or if we gave food or drink to the right people. All we need to worry about is our response to the gospel when it was presented to us. Did I receive this message gladly and then pursue a life as one of Christ’s least of these brothers?

Reflecting the Body of Christ through Differing Abilities

Written by Melody Franco

While a student at Duke Divinity School I received an internship placement at a local nonprofit, Reality Ministries. I searched the organization online and read in bold letters across the homepage, “where people of all abilities share life together,” and immediately thought, “Oh no, there must be some mistake… I am not qualified for this.” I grew up having no family members or close friends with an intellectual or developmental disability (IDD) and at the time would have struggled to name five people I knew with an IDD, and zero friends.

How about you? What do you think of when you hear “disability”?

Perhaps you identify closely with the disability community - you are part of it.

Perhaps you have a child with an IDD or grew up with a sibling, family member, or neighbor with a disability - you have a name and a face.

Perhaps a particular person does not come to mind, but a vague category for a group of people - you have stereotypes. 

If you don’t have people in your social sphere with differing abilities, it’s not because the disability community is nonexistent in the Triangle. According to the CDC, more than one in four adults in the United States have some sort of disability. However, the disability community remains at the periphery of society with less access to transportation, independent living, meaningful jobs, higher education, and social involvement. Yet, many of us have not given much thought to the absence of the disability community from our lives. I certainly hadn’t until joining Reality Ministries three years ago. 

I now work at Reality full-time as the community leader to a group of sixty adults with and without IDDs. Multiple times a week we sing, play, eat, and study Scripture together. And there are four other community groups doing this same thing - two hundred fifty participants with IDDs, each with unique interests, quirks, temperaments, longings, and fears, just like you and me. 

This past spring, the Reality staff reflected on 1 Corinthians 12 in which the human body is used as a metaphor for the body of Christ. Verses 21-22 say, “The eye can never say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you.’ The head can’t say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you.’ In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary.”

Reality Ministries does not exist to serve adults with disabilities. It exists to reflect the kingdom of God, where all people are valued as integral. We believe that we need and belong to each other. We can never look someone in the eye and say, “I don’t need you.”

My time at Reality has challenged me to believe with greater conviction that I need the person I have yet to know. And perhaps, once I get to know them, I won’t be able to imagine life without them. 

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I welcome you to reach out if you’d like to talk more about your own relationship with disability and/or the work of Reality Ministries. Email me at melody@realityministries.org.