Jesus said, “Anyone who welcomes a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward. And anyone who welcomes a righteous person because he’s righteous will receive a righteous person’s reward. And whoever gives just a cup of cold water to one of these little ones (or least ones) because he is a disciple — I assure you: He will never lose his reward!” (Matthew 10:41-42 HCSB).
He also said, “Then the King will say to the people on his right, ‘Come, my Father has given you his blessing. Receive the kingdom God has prepared for you since the world was made. I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was alone and away from home, and you invited me into your house. I was without clothes, and you gave me something to wear. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’” (Matthew 25:34-36 NCV)
It seems clear that giving cold water, feeding, sheltering, caring, clothing and visiting are all ways we can demonstrate God’s love and be salt and light in the community. But what about cookies?
In just a few days we will be sharing cookies in Jesus’ name. Last year, during the Gentse Feesten, we identified several groups of people who work very hard for the 10 days. The tram and bus drivers work almost 24/7 for 10 days shuttling around 1.5 million visitors into and out of the city. The sanitation workers removed 124,000 metric tons of trash last year just from the festival area (then they clean their assigned part of town). The police and private security guards deal with all kinds of people. Most are pleasant but some can be a challenge.
Certainly these workers may be seen as “the least” or are the least visible but work hard and should be highly appreciated. So, we are going to be passing out small sacks of cookies with thank you notes from some of the local, evangelical churches. Currently we have three of the local churches promising to partner with us in this effort. This effort requires 1,500 to 2,000 cookies per day. Partners in America are providing the gift sacks and we are recruiting as many cookie bakers as possible. There is a precedent for multiplying loaves and fish but what about cookies? Not sure breaking them will work?
These workers do work hard and deserve our thanks. In addition to thanking them, we hope to show them what an exchanged and transformed life looks like during the Gentse Feesten. We hope to be able to show them God’s love and tell them how they can experience it personally.
July 18-27 will be busy days. We are reminded that Jesus walked among the people to demonstrate God’s love, pray we can as well.
