This past week, Yates Baptist Church was publicly honored by the Triangle Nonprofit and Volunteer Center with its “Community Spirit Award.” This award is granted to an organization in the Volunteer Center’s extensive network judged to embody the characteristics and values the Center seeks to support throughout the community. After hearing so many volunteers and organizations recognized in an hour and a half of award presentations for remarkable service to neighbors and neighborhoods, I realized how significant a recognition this represents. It took a while for the presenter to describe the full breadth of Yates’ involvement in the community — through volunteers, leadership, gathering space, and resourcing — all in service of the local and global community. It is a list worth celebrating.
Of course, as a Christian and pastor of a Christian congregation, there is no small crisis of conscience when it comes to receiving recognition — and even worse, applause — for the ways we live out the mandate to love and serve the world in Jesus’ name. I expressed that at the banquet. I also know it is in such moments that God gives us a platform on which to bear witness publicly to the ways our faith finds expression before a watching world. I hope I expressed that with equal clarity.
Jesus teaches us: “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matt. 5:16) In an age when it seems like so many are looking only after themselves, their needs, and their interests, living out the Great Commandment — to love God and neighbor as ourselves — still makes an impression. It testifies to the Life that flourishes and the Light that shines in the darkness.
I think the truthfulness of what we profess is authenticated before the world by what we actually do with our lives, time, and resources. It is recognized by how we cooperate with other servants in the world. It is marked by humility, which seeks to lift others up before ourselves. James teaches us, “I will show you my faith by my deeds.” (2:12) How will you put your faith into practice this week, this month, for the rest of the year? As the Volunteer Center celebrated this year, the church provides many pathways — whether publicly recognized or not — to love God and neighbor.
This month, there are some wonderful opportunities before us all — the Haiti yard sale, Operation Inasmuch, Families Moving Forward, Open Table, Mat Makers, and much more. Won’t you find your place to embrace the privilege of service, and let your light shine?
Grace and Peace,