Happy Retro Day! This week’s retro piece contains a wonderful challenge and some great thoughts to consider as we grow closer to Christmas. Enjoy! ~Halee

 by RTF Staff Writer Derek Hanisch

Once, perhaps twice a month a good friend and I get a small group together and go to either a homeless shelter or soup kitchen about an hour away. We pile into my car, cramped and hot (only severely hot air comes out of the vents), praying that Sabra (my car) will be able to make the trip without dying. Somehow Sabra survives the journey, and we go and serve.

Why do we do it? Why do we serve? Thomas Merton puts it more eloquently than I ever could:

All the good that you do will not come from you but from the fact that you have allowed yourself, in the obedience of faith, to be used by God’s love… If you can get free from the domination of causes and just serve Christ’s truth, you will be able to do more and will be less crushed by the inevitable disappointments. The real hope then is not in something we think we can do, but in God who is making something good out of it In some way we cannot see.

We are but an instrument to be used for Christ’s glory. We need to release control of our lives and let Christ take over. We don’t serve others for ourselves. We serve others to let the light of Christ shine through us.

Picture a trumpet in your mind. The trumpet can make great music come alive, but without a trumpeter breathing life into it, the trumpet is nothing more than a scrap of metal.

Now imagine Jesus is playing the trumpet. Jesus was perfect, so it’s safe to assume that He is a masterful trumpet player: the best. With Christ breathing breath into that piece of metal He brings the trumpet alive.

We are the trumpet.

None of us are brand new anymore. Some of us have dents on us, some scratches, or perhaps a bit of rust, all traces of a hard life we’ve gone through, the battles we’ve had to fight. We all have imperfections in the trumpet which symbolizes our life. Without Christ behind us, filling us with life we are no more than a scrap of metal.

We need to let go of who we are and let Jesus Christ transform us into who we are supposed to be. Only then can we be a true instrument for Christ’s will. Only then can we truly love others with our thoughts, actions, and deeds. Only then can we love others with everything we have, just as our Father loves us with his entire being.

What can you do?

Christmas is one of the most challenging times for local shelters or soup kitchens. They need donations of food and volunteer assistance. Donate one Saturday, or a few hours over break. Make it a friend event and round up several people to help. Ask friends and family and church members to donate food – (green beans and veggies are great, but peanut butter, canned soup, and other more substantial items are very welcome). Sacrifice from your own pocket to add to the groceries.

Changing the world can happen one donation and a few hours at a time when we all do it together.