judgment and office

Good evening friends,
I want to remind you of a great event next Sunday. The choirs of all our UPT churches will share their gifts at a joint event at 3:30 pm on Sunday at Third Presbyterian. It would be wonderful to have a big turnout to support all the choirs. If you'd like to bring cheese or fruit or cookies, that would be very welcome as well.


This passage is familiar to many of us. It's one of the first passages I think about when I think about faith and politics, which is what we'll be reading, praying and talking about between now and the election. Obviously, I'm not going to try to tell you who to vote for. Both candidates have strengths and weaknesses. As Christians, our job is to seek God's will in our lives, and that includes the life of our nation. We probably have different ideas about what that means, so I'll be interested to hear from you too. This passage gives us a great sense for what's most important to God, by showing us how God will judge us at the end of time. If it's important to God, it's good to keep these things in mind as we choose candidates for office.

Blessings,
Sam

Matthew 25:31-45

³¹“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. ³²All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, ³³and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left.

³⁴Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; ³⁵for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’

³⁷Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? ³⁸And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? ³⁹And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ ⁴⁰And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’

⁴¹Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; ⁴²for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ ⁴⁴Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ ⁴⁵Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ ⁴⁶And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”