Burnt Offerings

On Sunday, February 6, I preached on being the salt of the earth and the light of the world according to Matthew 5:13-20. The Old Testament reading for that day was Isaiah 58:1-12, a fast acceptable to the Lord being one when you loose the bonds of injustice, undo the thongs of the yoke, let the oppressed go free, to break every yoke, share your bread with the hungry, shelter the homeless poor, clothe the naked, remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, and the speaking of evil, and offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted. It is possibly my favorite Scripture passage and the one that God used to compel me to serve in the mission field. At the end of my sermon, I passed out index cards and pens and asked each person to write down one act of mercy that they could do that week. I promised I wouldn't read them; what they wrote would be between them and God. If they couldn't think of something, then I suggested they write a prayer asking God's help for them to recognize situations where they could make a positive difference for someone else. We collected the index cards in an offering plate and I prayed over them.

After the service, I was trying to figure out how to dispose of the cards appropriately. Throwing them in the trash seemed rather sacrilegious and disrespectful. Burning them seemed most appropriate to me. The youth group meets after church. Why not have them help? It seemed like a great way to involve them in the prayer life of the church and they'd think fire's fun, right? I explained how in the Old Testament the Israelites offered burnt offerings to God, a pleasing aroma pleasant to the Lord. I also explained about confidentiality and made each of the three youth promise not to read any of the cards, even accidentally. We started with one card in the sanctuary, but I could quickly smell the smoke. So we burned the rest of the cards outside in the yard. One youth had kept her card, but upon learning what we were doing with them, tossed hers in the pile. Instead of throwing prayers in the trash, we presented them as a burnt offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord.