Sunday, January 4

Minute for Mission: Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary

The Lord’s Day

Kate Loveless is a 23-year-old junior student working on her M.Div. at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Between college and seminary, Loveless was a PC(USA) Young Adult Volunteer in Liverpool, England. She lived in the vicarage of Christ Church, Anfield, and worked with the church’s youth group. An especially memorable moment for her came at the conclusion of the Good Friday service when the congregation ended its worship at the highest point in Liverpool. “Just as Jesus wept over Jerusalem, we weep for and pray for the city of Liverpool by continuing our worship at the highest point in the city,” she said.

Loveless worked with school children and a homeless ministry. While working with youth, she developed relationships with at-risk teenagers. She found the younger school children sometimes lacked even very basic knowledge about God and Jesus.

In the first few months of her time with the homeless ministry, Loveless preferred to be in the kitchen, away from the people who were being served and their sometimes crude speech. But with her pastor’s encouragement, she hesitantly left the kitchen to eat and be with the people. “I had been so scared because I had never been face-to-face with such poverty and destitution,” said Loveless. “That changed the way I thought — to the point that I was upset if I had to cover the kitchen because I wouldn’t get to hear how my new friend Tommy’s week had been.”

Kate Loveless became a Young Adult Volunteer so she could grow spiritually, but she learned a lot from the people she served as well. “God taught me, but God also used me,” said Loveless. “That was kind of the theme for the whole year. I found that you develop your relationship with God by developing a relationship with those whom society cares about least.”

—Shannon Neufeld, associate for public relations,

Prayer
Gracious God, your heart aches for the city, your tears flow for Jerusalem, for those whose days are filled with hopelessness and despair. As you ache for Jerusalem, as Jesus weeps over Jerusalem, may our hearts ache and our tears flow as well. Give us courage to go to the Jerusalems of the world with the healing balm of Gilead in the name of Christ. Amen.

Daily Lectionary
Jer. 31:7–14
Gather Us In
STF 2236

Ps. 147:12–20
God of the Ages, Whose Almighty Hand
PH 262, HB 515, WB 394

Eph. 1:3–14
Tú Has Venido a la Orilla
(Lord, You Have Come to the Lakeshore)
PH 377

John 1:(1–9) 10–18
Of the Father’s Love Begotten
PH 309, HB 7

Daily Lectionary
Ps. 20, 150 Ps. 93, 97
Deut. 33: 1–5
1 John 2:12–17; John 6:41–47