We invite you to take a peek inside our weekly Light for the Way devotional series provided for staff.
By Optage Hospice Chaplain Nick Matchefts
“Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” —Exodus 19:5b-6a, NIV
A priest is a person set apart as an intermediary — representing God to the people and representing people to God. God envisioned this role for the Nation of Israel. This unique role is applied in the New Testament to all God’s people in Christ (I Peter 2:9). In Christ, every person is a priest, and every act of service potentially imbued with God’s redeeming purpose and power.
Maybe this is why Jesus used such an odd metaphor as yeast for God’s Kingdom. Just a small amount works its way through the whole dough (Matthew 13:33). One might feel “I’m insignificant.” No more significant than a eukaryotic single-celled fungus (a yeast). Our bread makers in Culinary Services will know how significant that can be!
It is easy to feel insignificant, or to feel significant for things that have little standing in God’s kingdom. Sometimes one needs a reminder of what is genuinely valued by God. In one little book, C.S. Lewis imagines a visit to heaven in which the narrator sees one who is great in the Kingdom of Heaven. On earth she was the most common of people. Yet as she approaches, the narrator sees that she is served by a thousand angels and surrounded by throngs of men and women – people she influenced in earthly life. Lewis writes of her, “There is joy enough in the little finger of a great saint such as yonder lady to waken all the dead things of the universe into life.”
Kingdom of priests. Ministers of abundant power. Yeast working through the dough. Joy that brings life.
Really, if this is so, can there be any such thing in God’s Kingdom as ‘small’ people or ‘small’ parts or ‘small’ acts of service?
In God’s kingdom of priests, it is God who works through all. So let us serve, sisters and brothers. So, let us serve.
Rev. Nick Matchefts serves as a hospice chaplain with Optage Hospice. He is an ordained Baptist pastor. Prior to Optage, Nick served in seminary education (Bethel Seminary), congregational ministry, and a long time ago, the US Air Force. He, his wife Lori and daughter Catelyn live in the Twin Cities and dream about canoeing and star gazing in the lake country of Northern Minnesota.
The Light for the Way series provides staff with an examination of a biblical reading to deepen our focus on scripture. Thank you for engaging with this series as we seek wisdom through prayer and reflection as a Christian ministry.
