This week has been different so far, to say the least. I’ll not bore you with the details, but they
include the lead minister being on vacation, two relatively unexpected deaths
in the congregation, a relative of ours who is in the hospital here in Wichita,
and other more minor things.
I don’t do Facebook to the point that many others do
Facebook, but I enjoy keeping up with those who are my friends, and I cherish
the connections that we now have through that medium that we would not
otherwise have. I post things sometimes,
and most of the time try not to be too serious about it all. As I get older, I have begun to see that being
tough, hard-nosed, and too serious about many things get in the way of life and
living as I believe God intended. Yes, I
am concerned about such things as the ongoing drought, the situation in Syria,
the various fiscal crises, health care, and a myriad of other issues. But I am becoming less and less polarized,
and hopefully less and less polarizing regarding these things because I am more
and more seeing that there are no easy answers.
And there are usually at least two sides, and many times more than that,
to every issue.
I’ve often wondered what, besides advancing age, may be
prompting a gradual change in my world view.
Where everything used to be pretty much black and white, now I see many
more colors and shades of gray. I’m not
certain, but wonder if my association with the church might have something to
do with it.
I work as minister to adults and seniors in an inner-city
church that serves an ever-changing and ever-evolving inner-city
clientele. However, the issues change
very little over time. Hunger,
homelessness, poor health, poverty, addictions, and inappropriate behaviors
seem to cover many of the issues we and they face together. These issues are, for the most part, chronic,
persistent, stubborn, and intractable. We
know that our efforts as well as the efforts of countless others (including
government), won’t solve the problems.
However, we aren’t told by Jesus to solve the problems of
the world. We are told to love our
neighbor as ourselves, and to love one another (Mark 12, Romans 13). And Paul, the great apostle to the gentiles,
tells us in his dissertation on love in I Corinthians 13, that “Love never
fails.” And loving our neighbor as
ourselves means that whatever we would want for ourselves, we want for our
neighbor. Loving means that we desire
the best for someone else, even if it means that we are consumed in the
process.
So, if we desire to have a roof over our heads, food in our
stomachs, and good physical health, in some way we need to work to make those
things a reality for our neighbor.
Why? Because we have to? No, because we are children of the living
God, ourselves being loved by God to the extent that He grants us grace and
mercy and favor and forgiveness and sonship.
Loving one another may NOT mean that we throw fifty-dollar
bills over the railing of the First Street bridge just outside our back doors
down to the homeless who live under it.
But it may mean that we not only desire the best for them; we actively
work to help them in whatever capacity we can.
Whether that be to provide a voice for them in political and community
circles, obtaining an address for them so they can apply for assistance, praying
for them and for those who interact with them, encouraging and enabling
training, education, and good health habits, or whatever it be that they are
willing to embrace, we need to do what we can.
Yes, love never fails.
I’m finding that I can bank on that promise. What about you?
No comments:
Post a Comment