Serving Those Who Serve for Us

This past Saturday, August 3, the Soldiers of B Company of the 2-153rd showed up for their drill weekend to find a great surprise, a kitchen smelling of a delicious breakfast. Our Lutheran Women’s Missionary League (LWML) had gathered together to make homemade breakfast burritos. They also were provided fruit and juice to the approximate 100 men and women of the company.

Our LWML hatched this idea and reached out to the local soldier and family readiness coordinator, Monica Graham, to see if it would work. Having secured a date, our ladies spent multiple hours first planning the event. Then they divided the meal prep work amongst themselves during the week, before they descended upon the armory.

It is a joy to see the Gospel at work. Christ’s love for our neighbor uses us as a tool to serve our neighbor. It is true though that the good works that we do are not the Gospel. This we see from Ephesians 2:10, that we are his workmanship. We call this the third use of the law, the guide, by which we do those good things. They are good works because they are done in faith and not for our own benefit.

For example then our vocation as citizens drives us to care for one another. That begins tangibly with first taking care of those closest to us. It then flows out to community. In this regard, providing a meal for Soldiers who have taken time out of their busy schedules to keep our nation safe was an obvious choice for a larger scale project.

Finally, this provides a good opportunity for the women of our congregation to engage in their blessed vocation as wives and mothers. It is encouraged by their innate task of being nurturers. Yet, not only that, it provided time for our ladies to gather together in fellowship with one another with a good and godly purpose.

This is what drove the early church in Acts. The first ten chapters or so was looking for opportunities to serve one another. This led to them building one another up and being closer to eacher other. So, today we do the same thing, building one another up and seeking to help one another. This is one additional role that the LWML provides to the women of our church. May the Lord use this blessed work to provide opportunities to confess the faith in our community.