WWJD? About twenty years ago this was a movement. The high school and junior high school kids were wearing this on bracelets, necklaces, sweatshirts, and T-shirts. One of the kids at church got it tattooed on his arm; one of the pastors preached about it. For those of us who follow in the way of Jesus, it is a rather important question. What would Jesus do? How would Jesus handle this or that situation? What would Jesus not do? The answer isn’t always obvious.
Our Closing Hymn on Sunday, ELW #546 To Be Your Presence seems to answer that question well.
To be your presence is our mission here, To show Compassion’s face and listening ear,
To be your heart of mercy, ever near, Alleluia!
I particularly like verse 2, because Jesus went beyond presence, he acted.
To be your presence is our mission bold, To feed the poor, and shelter homeless cold,
To be your hands of justice, right uphold, Alleluia!
Is it significant that this hymn was copyrighted about the same time as this movement took hold?