“Hebrew 10:24 People”
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds…
(Heb 10:24 (NIV))
March is Women’s History Month and yesterday was International Women’s Day, which has its origin in women’s suffrage. In some parts of the world, it is a legal holiday. In the US, women who know about International Women’s Day wear red and those that love them might give them flowers. I like flowers, but certainly this is a quaint gesture given the meaning of the day. The more laudable and faith-based gesture is to make day and this month a Hebrews 10:24 month – (as every month ought to be) where we spur one another on toward love and good deeds. We do encourage one another toward love and good deeds when we reflect upon and claim the deeds and accomplishments of people “just like you” to quote my favorite practical theologian, the late Rev. (Mr.) Fred Rogers. When the accomplishments of those “just like you,” are left out of history books or the social narrative so too is hope, encouragement and the “spurring on…”
Mr. Rogers also called us to take a minute (a whole minute) to reflect upon the people who made a difference in our lives, the ones who spurred us on toward love and good deeds. There are our sisters who reach across the pages of our bibles with courage and faith to spur us on: Deborah, Puah and Shiphrah, Naomi, Esther, Rahab, Suzanna, Mary, Martha, Lydia and one of my very favorites, the Woman at the Well, among others.
Today, I take a moment to reflect on the women who love(d) me into being. My mother and grandmothers, my sister, my sisters-in-law, teachers, close friends, the dear, faithful women of the church (UMW rocks!), my daughters and other young women who put into focus things my generation missed. This spurring one another toward love and good deeds is surely an act of faith which cannot but transform the world.
Let us take a minute, a full minute, (set the timer on your phone or one on the stove if you are old school) to reflect on the women who have spurred you on. Let us then thank God for them and ask that we too may be Hebrew 10:24 people, spurring others on toward love and good deeds.