Day 48 A Lament for Lent -A Call to True Religion
I have been wrestling with questions regarding the season of Lent; who started it, why, how should it be lived out, does it need to be lived out, etc. etc. And then, I received this support letter. I wish you could see the writer. She is lovely, beautiful, understands suffering, she's particular, tidy, full of grace, hospitable, not someone you would see living in the section of Philly called Kensington under the "L". She lives in a "gated community", you call ahead for them to unlock the chain link fence.In her support leader you'll read of Leon, he would find it lovely, maybe even wealthy to have something to give up during Lent. The letter speaks of true religion which is worlds apart from being religious.
I asked her about Leon today. She has not seen him in the past couple of days.
Read on.....
From Jenifer Snider:
Pray for us, please....
While we love living here and doing what we do for our neighbors there is a never ending longing to do more. It can be overwhelming at times to see the scriptures lived out daily before our eyes and not do more! We tell ourselves we are only a small ministry...but then I read the story of the rich man and Lazarus and I am quickened to find a way to do more, say more, beseech the Body of Christ to help us more!
At my literal gate there lives a man named, Leon. In the freezing cold, or scorching heat he lives on the street from time to time outside of our gate. On one particular freezing February morning I was leaving after just having read the passage about how the rich man dressed in fine linen and lived in luxury everyday found this beggar living at his gate day after day. He longed for the rich man to feed him scraps off his table that fell to the floor. He never did. When Lazarus died he went to live in paradise, while the rich man went to Hades, where he was in agony.
Try going about your day returning home to a warm house, full of food, and getting into a soft bed with Leon freezing outside! While we've giving him warm blankets, food and whatever he asks us for there is an urgency to do more, be more, care more. Pray for us to know what and how to do what the Lord calls us to do. Part of that calling is to be the voice of warning to the indifferent church. The Body of Christ must not be the "Indifferent Church" and determine to be more "Real Religion Church".
Indiffernt church is neither hot nor cold. Complacent we have heard the words of Jesus but go about living in luxury blind to Lazarus who is truly there to give warning of how eternity may be lived. Abraham called the rich man "son" and told him, "Lazarus recieved bad things, but now is comforted here and you are in agony." The rich man begged to have Lazarus sent to his family to warn them so they would not end up in the place of torment. Abraham told him they have had many people warn them, just as we have by having had read these scriptures and seen Kensington.
Pray for us to impart and believe this message with fervency. If this life and all the "bad things" our neighbors endure end, but the rich and religious of the indifferent church spend eternity in Hades separated by a great chasm, they must be urged to do more now! In "Real Religion Church" we should heed the lesson Jesus taught the listeners gathered in the book of Luke 16:19-31. In James 1:27 he explains, "Real religion, the king that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world." (The Message). We need your prayers to have wisdom and discernment of how to do what we are instructed to do.
While we wrestle with the desire to do more we are also aware of the pressing needs we face to keep doing what we have felt led to do so far. Please pray we can keep all 180 families fed, and for the Saturday outreach meal. Please pray for our leaders covering their meal and volunteers. Thank you for partnering with us and your prayers!
Jenifer
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