Loving the Poor Through Word and Deed: Living Openheartedly

Elm City Vineyard Church Talks

Over the past few weeks during this season of Lent, we’ve been spending time considering God’s heart for those who are materially poor. There is Gospel good news for all of us in this call to love the poor. And yet, we can so easily miss the good news altogether because we get entangled and distracted with other things, like wealth, and stability, and worry. This week, Tina will be sharing more about scripture’s challenging invitation for us to open our hands and to be set free from the empty ways of living that keep us from sharing in God’s kingdom blessings in solidarity with the poor.

- Series Description -

Jesus cares deeply about the marginalized. During this Lenten series, we will unpack God’s care for the poor, identification with this group, and the ways God moves on their behalf and calls us to do likewise. Oftentimes, we see people talk the talk with justice — saying the right things, using the in season buzzwords — but they are not caring for actual marginalized folks. Other times, we see people serving to the point of burnout and not modeling the world they are working so hard for. They might do good works but without much good news. Jesus is completely different. He has compassion, mercy, and deep love for folks who are marginalized. Jesus sees, stops, and cares, and He calls us to do the same. Will we? Over the Covid-19 pandemic, each our service and justice ministries got shut down — prison bible studies at Whalley and York, serving at Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen (DESK), and serving with Agape Church for the Homeless. As the pandemic shifted and more things opened up, we remained quite inward. We want that to change. We are praying that God’s work amongst us would inspire a new ministry for and among the poor and marginalized. Join us!