Are You Religious? Take the Quiz!

Thumbs UpHave you found those BuzzFeed quizzes on Facebook addictive? What’s your favorite? Do you find yourself obsessing over which _____ (insert your high school decade here) TV character you are? Are you eager to find out if you’re secretly Canadian or what name a barrista should write on your coffee cup?

Yeah, me too.

So here’s an easy quiz for you: Do you have true religion? Are you doing what God requires? Simply answer yes or no to the questions below:

  1. Do you take care of orphans and widows?
  2. Are you uncorrupted by a godless world?
  3. Are you acting justly?
  4. Do you love mercy (and dispense it freely)?
  5. Do you walk humbly with God?

According to the books of Micah and James in the Bible, those qualities are what God considers true and pure religion, what he requires. How do you measure up?

How do I?

I find myself living this way sporadically; caring for women and children in need sometimes (when it’s convenient, perhaps?) and ignoring them at other times. Justice is harder; it requires working to change systems that keep people from being treated fairly. And I often have trouble hanging in there to help solve long-term problems.

Yet the problems that affect orphans and widows (or single women, whether they were ever married or not) usually require long-term and comprehensive solutions.

As my friend Cheryl, who works at the YWCA, says,

“No one wakes up one day and says, ‘I think I want to be homeless.'”

headerA few weeks ago Les and I had the opportunity to attend the fund-raising banquet for the Good Samaritan Shelter in Ephrata, which provides housing and support for women and children. It was wonderful to hear women talk of how the care they received gave them hope and about the matching savings program that allows women to accumulate the money needed for an apartment security deposit. When a young child thanked us for her room, our eyes were wet with tears.

HouseofHisCreationLast week we were able to hear about House of His Creation, which helps young birth mothers (ages 18 to 25) gain the skills necessary to raise their children successfully. The family-like setup teaches them communication and relationship skills that give their children a better start.

And I’ve talked before about the shelter work of the YWCA, which helps women with or without children who have experienced homelessness.

extragive2014-1408631682.8544-2014-give-logo-squareOn Friday, November 21, we have an opportunity to support these organizations in a special way through the Extraordinary Give. Donate to one of these organizations (or others that you care about) and your gift gets stretched by receiving a percentage of the $250,000 the Lancaster County Community Foundation kicks in.

So consider a donation on Friday and help women and children.

Who knows, it just might up your score when you retake the quiz.

 

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