James 2:14-26
15 “Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily
food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm
and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?”
I’d
like to introduce you to a friend of mine. His name is Dan. Dan graduated from
Ohio State in social work. His faith in Christ gave him a desire to help the
poor and the disenfranchised.
On
the near West side of Columbus, just across the Scioto River from downtown, is
a neighborhood called Franklinton. However, for many reasons, it is also referred
to as The Bottoms. Consider these statistics from Wikipedia:
- 56% of Franklinton residents do not have a high school diploma.
- Over 60% of the residents live below the poverty line.
- 93% of the students at the public elementary schools are eligible for
free or reduced lunch.
Coming
out of college, Dan took a job at Gladden Community House. Gladden is a settlement house located in the heart of Franklinton. It was
founded by Reverend Washington Gladden and Mrs. Celia Jeffrey in 1905 as a
neighborhood outreach mission of First Congregational Church. Although it has
lost the purpose of a Christian mission, that is exactly why Dan has worked
there for the past thirty years.
In addition to
serving full time at Gladden he has volunteered in numerous other ministry
outreaches in Franklinton and beyond.
 |
| Dan on a Kentucky mission trip |
- For about 10 years he was one of the leaders of the Big Event Club
that met before school at Starling Middle School.
- For over 10 years he volunteered at Mt. Carmel Hospital, located in
Franklinton, with the Chaplaincy Services.
- He helped start the Franklinton Development Association, a non-profit
that provides affordable housing.
- For 20 years he has made an annual journey to DC to participate in the
“March for Life” to keep the issue of abortion in the political
conscience.
- More could be written if there was space.
James
wrote in today’s passage, “You see that
his (Abraham’s) faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was
made complete by what he did.” In the same way, Dan’s faith has been made
complete by his actions. As believers,
we are each called for our faith to lead to actions; for “faith without works is dead”.
https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/niv/Jas.2.14-Jas.2.26
1 comment:
Great post, Joe. Thank you for helping us focus on what's important.
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