What's Your Hashtag?

Jesus said, “Everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened." - Luke 11:10

I remember watching just recently a video of a now 18-year old woman in my internship congregation speak of what the Church is to her.  In some sense, one would think that she would say “more screens and multimedia in worship” or “Ipads with the liturgy on them for everyone!”  However, she didn’t.  She said those are worship things, or church matters.  The Church, she says, is something different altogether. What she says is very good and compelling, and her basic message is summed up in a hashtag:  #Churchisfamily (or community).

I know, I know, some of you are asking what a hashtag is and it is one of those social media words or ideas.  A hashtag is a way to group related messages on social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.  The hashtag begins with the “#” sign and then ends with a word or phrase like #lovePTdevotions (don’t worry, it’s just an example).  A number of book publishers will use the hashtags to see what people are saying about their books, and when the National Youth Gathering was held in Detroit, we used the hashtag #RiseUpELCA.  Our Youth Group at Peace even has a hashtag:  #PeaceSoHaYouth!

The hashtag that the young lady from my internship congregation used was #churchisfamily and I love the sentiment- that church is a community of people who raise you and who bear with you in the struggles and the different phases of life.  I might use the hashtag #churchiscommunity, or #Godisgood, or #lovingrace for myself.  As we look above at our Bible verse for today from the gospel of Luke, Jesus says these words:  “Everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”  It’s a perfect phrase to sum up Jesus’ ministry.  In Luke, Jesus’ mission has been what he proclaims back in chapter 4:  “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19).  So, as we look at Luke 11 today, I think that if Jesus were to post his status on Facebook or Twitter, he’d say:  “Everyone who asks receives, searches finds, knocks and the door is opened” and he’d probably end it with the hashtag #mercy or maybe even the hashtag #love because that’s who Jesus is- always bearing and showing mercy and love.

Question to Ponder:  What would your hashtag be?  If you were to pick a hashtag to describe your life or your faith, what would it be?  A hashtag is an identifier in a lot of ways on the internet, so what is your identifier- what is it that you value the most?

Prayer:  O God, thank you for showing us mercy through your Son Jesus.  Enable us to be people of mercy not only to receive it, but also to share it.  In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

#Peace,

Pastor Travis