Kokomo, Indiana

To Serve and to Save

In northern Iraq, near an old Christian monastery, lie small holes in the ground where hermits stayed for decades without coming out, in order to better focus on God.

In the steamy slums of Calcutta, Mother Teresa had a different approach to focusing on God. "Jesus comes to meet us," she said. "To welcome him, let us go to meet him.

"He comes to us in the hungry, the naked, the lonely, the alcoholic, the drug addict, the prostitute, the street beggars...

"If we reject them, if we do not go out to meet them we reject Jesus himself." - Mother Teresa: In my Own Words

Isaiah spoke of a servant of the Lord with a similar mission of mercy: "a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; ... to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness" (Isa. 42:3, 7, NRSV).

Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide April-May-June 2004 p. 72