Serving Others
We invite you to explore a variety of resources. We have categorized them by activity, and they represent a variety of approaches to living a Christian life. This menu is not designed as a “to-do” list, but rather as an offering for individuals to sample and find the activities that bring them closer to God in this particular practice.
Service is mentioned frequently in the Bible as a discipline of Jesus’ followers. Old and New Testament scriptures alike ask God’s people to serve as God’s servants by caring and serving one another, particularly those who are unable to care for themselves.
“Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons,
loving your neighbor as yourself?”
Read
Read Matthew 25:34-40. Try reading the scripture passage from a few different Bible translations or ask different family members to read it aloud to hear God’s Word in different ways today.
How to Actually Be More Generous Next Year by Mallory Cruz (Relevant Magazine)
Unlimited Liability: A Movement Towards Generosity by Lacy Finn Borgo (Renovaré)
“Almighty and most merciful God, we remember before you all poor and neglected persons whom it would be easy for us to forget: the homeless and the destitute, the old and the sick, and all who have none to care for them. Help us to heal those who are broken in body or spirit, and to turn their sorrow into joy. Grant this, Father, for the love of your Son, who for our sake became poor, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
Watch / Listen
KNOW: The Good Samaritan, from Luke 10:25-37
GROW: The Bible Project’s video on Biblical Justice (6 min)
GROW: Story Table: Hospitality from Fuller Studio (4 min)
“I go to meet Jesus, not be Jesus...the posture of meeting Christ in others [rather than being their savior] can help us to honor those who are on the margins...it’s a posture of humility.””
Do
Serving others in Christ’s name is one of our ministry hallmarks at St. Peter’s. We serve one another and our community throughout the year. We are each equipped by God with gifts to give. Consider becoming active in some of our outreach ministries, or serve others in other ways.
St. Peter’s Community Suppers
(2nd and 4th Fridays of the month)
Reflect & Pray
Prayer of Teresa of Avila
Christ has no body now on earth but yours,
no hands but yours, no feet but yours.
Yours are the eyes through which to look out Christ’s compassion to to the world.
Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good;
yours are the hands with which he is to bless people now.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Day of Service
This sheet guides individuals, families, and small groups through a service activity, with faith in action through service, reflection and prayer.
A Great Litany Novena for the End of Injustice
From Earth and Altar magazine, this litany “allow[s the reader] to devote nine days to our Lord, [and also] gives order and consistency to prayer, in times of great anxiety, like the time in which we find ourselves.”
“Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it.
Do not say to your neighbor, “Go, and come again, tomorrow I will give it”—when you have it with you.
Do not plan harm against your neighbor who lives trustingly beside you.
Do not quarrel with anyone without cause, when no harm has been done to you.
Do not envy the violent and do not choose any of their ways.”
