Matter In Action

At the center of New Hope Presbyterian Church is the belief that people truly matter.  In an effort to demonstrate this, the church has started a ‘You Matter’ campaign.  Last Saturday Pastor Chineta Goodjoin encouraged the congregation to start performing random acts of kindness on ‘You Matter’ Mondays.  On ‘You Matter’ Mondays members perform acts of kindness for strangers and give them a New Hopecard which reads “You Matter!”

New Hope

So what’s the point of these acts of kindness and these cards?  By doing this we are showing people God’s love and seeking to fulfill Christ’s commandment to love one another as Christ has loved us.  We are putting the word of God into action in a way that matters.

Where You Matter

Loving people can be done through small acts of kindness, not just large acts.  People can find it intimidating to love their neighbors when we are constantly told the example of the Good Samaritan.  At times the Good Samaritan seems at times almost too holy or too nice.  Yet one of the points of the parable of the Good Samaritan was that this man was simply another traveler on the road – he was a normal person.  The people who passed up the man who was robbed and left for dead were a priest and a Levite – both people of position, power, and supposed piety.  Yet it was the Samaritan who helped the man by the side of the road and who best wound up exemplifying the love of Christ.

We do not have to be intimidated by how large the act of compassion that the Good Samaritan demonstrated is.  Little acts of kindness can have great impacts as well.  The most important thing to remember is that central to the very core of Christianity is that because we are saved and loved by God, so too should we share God’s love with those around us.  Part of loving someone else is to show them that despite what some may say or how the world may at times put them down, they matter.  People matter.

Performing a small act of kindness helps show people love in a way that they don’t expect.  When people ask “Why me?” it is uplifting and edifying for them to hear “Because you matter.”  The goal of ‘You Matter’ Mondays is not to praise ourselves or to preach Jesus to strangers.  If a person reads the card and decides the grace and love of God have reached them in a way that she or he wishes to come to New Hope, then all the better.  But the main goal is simply to show people that they matter and that they are loved.  Help out someone – listen to someone in need, pay for someone’s lunch, give someone a hug, tell someone they matter.  Whatever act of kindness you feel called to.

So go out New Hope and show people that they matter!