December 2023
When we really want to focus on something, we might use a magnifying glass to help us see details. Similarly, when the Psalmist invites us to magnify the Lord with him in Psalm 34:3, he’s asking us to focus on God. When we magnify the Lord, we focus on Him to see His majesty more clearly. We focus on His commandments to love and fear Him above everything else, and to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-39). We also focus on His forgiving love for us in Christ Jesus. That is a worthy reason to magnify the Lord!
The LCMS Northern Illinois District’s SHINE! event last April was an amazing opportunity to magnify the Lord through acts of service in our communities. With almost 8,000 participants and over 170 recorded service projects, the kinds of service performed were as varied as the people who participated. Groups cleaned the shoulders of public roads. Whole classes of children decorated rocks and put them in parks to bring joy to those who found them. Congregation members came together to assemble birthday kits for families living in homeless shelters. Other groups provided thoughtful gifts and cards to the first responders in their communities. Still other groups found ways to brighten the lives of people in assisted living centers through games, gifts, and singing. Participants focused on their neighbors, and their neighbors saw the love of Jesus in a concrete way.
And as with all His good gifts, God blessed both the participants and the recipients of the acts of service with His joy. One participant said, “We were physically exhausted by our hard day’s work, but we felt good about the tasks we had completed. God has also used this time together to enhance relationships with my fellow laborers.”
Next April 12-21, 2024, the LCMS Northern Illinois District will again participate in SHINE! It’s not too early to start thinking about how you can magnify the Lord through community acts of service performed in the name of Jesus. This service event started with the LCMS Missouri District and is gaining momentum throughout The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.
In 2024, the members of three of our Synod’s districts plan to participate in SHINE! and love their neighbors as they love themselves. We invite you to join us! When we focus on the Lord, people around us will see the love of God through the acts that we do in His name, and God will be magnified.
WITNESS: Encouraging personal witnessing, congregational engagement with their community, support of our NID partnerships and missions and sharing in a world mission field together.