Monday: Giving & Serving Others
September 15
- Scripture: James 2:14-17 — “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”
- Reflection: Spiritual practices include the move from intention to action. How will we serve and give in the world?
In the Jewish tradition, an act of kindness, a good deed, or doing the ‘next right thing’, is also called a mitzvah. The concept is extended further in the Hebrew phrase Tikkun Olam, which is a larger concept defined as acts of kindness which are performed to perfect or repair the world. We can also consider these to be forms of social or environmental justice, or humanitarian acts. (Learn more.)
What mitzvahs might you identify and enact today, or this week, or this month, that will help repair or heal the world? Not the whole thing, just one small corner of it.
Our motivations are certainly important. Yet how we act on them, how they come to fruition in the world, matters. People don’t know our intentions, but they are changed and supported by our deeds.
How do such acts also heal you? - Spiritual Practice: Identify a way to perform a mitzvah — an act of kindness and service — for someone in need this week. Volunteer, donate, or serve. Reflect on how your actions impact both others and your own heart.
Song:
- Try A Little Kindness by Tori Kelley on Sesame Street: https://youtu.be/enaRNnEzwi4?si=XGbnUFJdThjDvrBx
- Kindness Is a Muscle by Peacock Jr: https://youtu.be/tP4gLX8FBDA?si=lN9r_MvvKppV272Q
“Service is the rent we pay for our room on earth.” — Shirley Chisholm
Sept 15 Daily Devotional