Thursday Musings

Once in a while I like to stop for a few minutes and reflect on things I’ve experienced over the recent past, thinking about them, trying to put them in some sort of context in life.  It does me good to not only think about them, but sometimes to write about them as well.  This is one of those times when I am writing about things I’ve noticed…seen…heard…experienced…recently.  Some of them are what you might categorize as good; others may well be placed in the sad or possibly bad category.  However, that’s a normal thing, because as you know, our lives do not consist of only the good or only the sad or bad.  Life is complicated.  Life experiences are complex sometimes.  It does one good, I think, to reflect on them from time to time.

 In no particular order, here are some of my reflections.

 I’m noticing more women living on the street nowadays.  It used to be that one might see the occasional homeless woman…usually accompanied by a man…on the street, but it is becoming more common now, and women are walking the street unaccompanied more than I’ve seen before.

We also are getting more women who visit the office asking for assistance who are either already on the street, living in their vehicle, staying in a seedy South Broadway motel, or about to be forced to the street.  Men always have the Rescue Mission to go to if necessary.  Women don’t have that option.  Options for women, and especially women with children, are very limited, and those options which exist are usually full to overflowing.

 I’ve also noticed that the general tenor of the homeless population is growing more, shall we say, coarse over the past few years.  It used to be that even if one was homeless, he or she usually tried to keep clean as best as one could, pick up one’s own trash, and respect the property of others.  Now, theft among the homeless is more rampant than ever, vandalism and trashiness have increased, and in general those we see on the street seem to be of a rougher cut than what used to be.

 The Paxton’s Blessing Box, a wooden box we’ve set outside our building and fill with food and water from time to time, has the past few months been vandalized at least four times…each time the door to the box has been ripped off.  I’m told that this is happening in other areas of Wichita as well to the blessing boxes which have been placed there.  I have to wonder if this is the work of one or two individuals, or if there is something else going on with that kind of vandalism.

 There seems to be a kind of awakening among my church family regarding…how shall I say it…loving God and loving one’s neighbor.  Our fellowship traditionally has been one of adherence to Biblical commands and examples, especially when it comes to how to do worship.  We have always been careful, we say, to “speak where the Bible speaks and be silent where the Bible is silent.”  Of course, there is a lot of interpretation, personal preference, and societal norms that come into play when we decide what it is the Bible is saying to us.

However, we’ve been somewhat more lax when it comes to our responsibility to carry out one specific command found at the end of Matthew’s gospel where Jesus tells us all to make disciples, baptize and teach them as we are going about our daily lives.  We’ve sort of put that on the back burner in the last few decades, but gradually, almost imperceptibly, the command to love one’s neighbor and make disciples is coming out of the shadows and into the light.
Is this the start of a renaissance of sorts?  I don’t know, but I’d like to see where this goes and participate in it in some way.

 And one final thing.  If one dwells too long on news reports and social media, one will come to believe that the world is going the way of the devil and there’s nothing we can do to stop it.  Now, that opinion may have merit since there have seemingly been a raft of mass  shootings, prolonged wars, famine, greed, and so on.

But there also is, if one will just look for it, a lot of good being done by people who are really trying to live out the command of Jesus to love one’s neighbor.  Whether or not these people believe Jesus to be the Son of God is immaterial.  They know, somehow, that loving one’s neighbor as one loves oneself is crucial for the general good of society and the world order, and they are doing what they can in their own corner of the creation to carry that out.  Good on them.

 Well, there you have it…a few of my thoughts of the day.  The Advent season is upon us, and the end of the year is near.  I trust your days ahead will be filled with peace and contentment as you ponder the true meaning of the season.

 Blessings.