October 16 Breakfast Talk

I imagine that Jesus, from the age of 12 until the age of 30 when his formal “ministry’ started, was working for Habitat for Humanity in Nazareth. His father was a carpenter and Jesus had been around the shop to watch his father, like any son would, and carpentry would have become second nature to him. He would have connected carpentry with social ministry. He probably volunteered to help many people build houses and started the first Habitat for Humanity, and if he was half as good in carpentry as he was as a fish locator, because when he told Peter to cast his net over the side of the boat and Peter caught 153 fish, he must have been an amazing carpenter. People must have stood around and said, “did you see him drive that nail through that hard piece of wood!” or “did you see how many nails he hammered in an hour, he must have some special power.”

Joy Reigns Church has a little over 100 members and does not have a building yet. We are many years out from a building but we now have acquired land, a first step. Our members are enthusiastic about the Habitat opportunities maybe because we know what it means to work towards having a ‘home’ and how much a ‘home’ means, and how much desiring a ‘home’ motivates us to have a vision for a future with a ‘home’. We are a congregation with energy and enthusiasm and Habitat for Humanity workdays tap into that energy and enthusiasm. As Luther states in Christian Liberty, which we have recently been studying in Sunday adult classes, good works do not justify man before God, but man does good works “out of spontaneous love in obedience to God,” doing works of “freest service,” in response to God’s grace and as a result of our faith.

To get volunteers for the Habitat workdays, I have found, requires four things: 1. tapping into the energies and enthusiasm of volunteers, identifying those with the skill sets for the job and asking them, 2. recruiting each Sunday, being persistent with asking until you get the necessary volunteers, creating a buzz around volunteering, 3. often reminding volunteers about the upcoming workday via bulletins, emails, displays, 4. recognizing workers through photographic displays, notices in the bulletin, etc…, a thank you, though the work, one finds, is thanks enough.