The Journey

A parable is told of a farmer who owned an old mule. The mule fell into the farmer’s well. The farmer heard the mule ‘braying’ – or – whatever mules do when they fall into wells.

After carefully assessing the situation, the farmer sympathized with the mule, but decided that neither the mule nor the well was worth the trouble of saving. Instead, he called his neighbors together and told them what had happened…and enlisted them to help haul dirt to bury the old mule in the well and put him out of his misery.

Initially, the old mule was hysterical!

But as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling and the dirt hit his back, a thought struck him. It suddenly dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back, he should shake it off and step up!

This he did, blow after blow.

“Shake it off and step up…shake it off and step up…shake it off and step up!”

He repeated to encourage himself. No matter how painful the blows of dirt, or distressing the situation seemed, the old mule fought “panic” and just kept right on shaking it off and stepping up!

It wasn’t long before the old mule, battered and exhausted, stepped triumphantly over the wall of the well.

The dirt that seemed would bury him, actually blessed him. All because of the manner in which he handled his adversity. Shake it off and step up….

Grace and Peace
Steve

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Did you ever watch the face of a little boy who just received socks for his birthday? How about the little boy who was recovering from cancer reported on the news the other night who got a parade of many people in town and a lot of yellow cars. It was a wonderful story.

I think that look was the look, which flashed across the face of Sister Virginia Muller when she received the baseball card. I mean, what is a nun going to do with a baseball card? Even worse, this baseball card wasn’t a new card; it wasn’t the rookie card of some famous player who is currently making billions and billions of dollars.

Nope, this was a very old card and it carried the name of a player of whom she had never heard. The name on the card was Honus Wagner.

For those of you who don’t know, Honus Wagner played in the early years of the 1900s. He was one of the greatest baseball players of all time. And there are only 60 of his cards in existence. This is why, when his card was auctioned off by Heritage Auction Galleries of Texas, it sold for $262,000.

That story, which was carried by the Associated Press, is a reminder that many of God’s gifts are like that card: unappreciated. For example, God’s Son came to us as a baby and was placed in an animal’s feeding trough. If you had looked at that child, would you have understood what He would do?

The final price for our salvation was paid on a skull-shaped hill outside the city walls of Jerusalem. Would you have guessed that cruel cross was God’s way of giving you forgiveness of sins, reconciliation and eternal life?

What other gifts has the Lord bestowed upon us, which were delivered in a simple and unassuming way? Each of us will answer the question differently, but each of us should have an answer.And that answer should make us give thanks.

Dear Lord, open my eyes so I may see the many blessings and bounties you so liberally give to me. Then, having seen, may I be thankful. This I ask in the name of your best and my most needed Gift. Amen.

Grace and Peace
Steve

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The other morning, I was in Starbucks as I do on occasion. I made my order, gave them my card and moved “soup-Nazi-style,” to the end of the counter to wait for my decaf. Before me the barista saw this man in line and automatically started making his drink because she knew what he would order… what he likes… so she takes the initiative and made his drink without even asking him. The response from the man was more than simple appreciation. This was a person who felt as though someone – even a barista at Starbucks – knew him in some way. It probably changed his whole day.

One simple act – It hit me as I was watching this unfold that this is what life with God is like. We sit in line, waiting to get to the front so we can make our demands known. We impatiently wait for the line to shorten so we can say what we need to say, get what we need to get.

Once in the front of the line, before we can even finish our order, we see that what we were going to order is already made for us. Many times, what we get is way better than what we were going to order. God knew what we liked and already had it ready for us. He thought ahead and acted intentionally.

Piping hot. Fresh. Sweet. Made specifically for us. This is the goodness of God. David says: “I will see the goodness of God in the land of the living.” I can officially say that I saw the goodness of God the other day while waiting in line at Starbucks.

What about you? Seen God lately?

Dear Lord, help me to see You where ever I am and where ever I look… for as I see you in circumstances around me I am more apt to express your presence through my living. Amen.

Grace and Peace
Steve

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Down in our neck of the woods, in the recent past, when asked what time the Duke football game started the response was “What time can you be here?” It is amazing to me – and Shirley has to keep reminding me – that we need to honor those Duke football players because they go out there every Saturday – with very little fan support – and play their hearts out.

When asked by media about the week’s upcoming opponent, the coach typically says something like, “It’s not about them, it’s about us. It’s about us playing our game. We have to stay focused on our own work. We just need to play the way we’re capable of playing and the rest will take care of itself. Our focus is really ourselves.”

When Paul wrote to the young pastor, Timothy, he urged something similar. “Tend to yourself,” Paul advised, “and to your teaching.” Paul was definitely not urging that Timothy coddle himself or be self-absorbed. He was saying, “Mind your calling and work, do those faithfully and well. That’s the first order of business.”

In some ways, it’s odd advice, whether for a football team or for Christians and church leaders. We want to pay attention to others, whether to an opposing team or the many needs of other people. We imagine that being Christian means being concerned only about others and their needs. And at other times we pay far too much attention to how or what other people are doing, to their advancement or income, especially when they appear to us to be doing better than we are!

More important, as Paul tells Timothy, is to focus on your own particular work, your own particular calling. “Tend to yourself,” be responsible for yourself and the service to which God has called you. Pastors tend to your work as leaders and teachers of the faith. Do your own work and leave the rest to God.

Lord, when I become scattered, preoccupied with other things, call me back to your calling for me, your purpose for me. Help me to “tend to myself” in the right way. Amen.

Grace and Peace
Steve

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Perhaps you’ve heard the story about the man whose brother-in-law believed himself to be a chicken. The man finally got fed up with his brother-in-law’s scratching, clucking, and pecking – not to mention the nest-building in every corner of the house.

The man went to see a psychiatrist to explain the problem. The doctor said, “Sounds like a simple neurosis. Bring him in, I’m sure we can cure him.”

“Oh no, Doc,” said the man, “we can’t do that. We need the eggs.”

When Jesus came upon a man who had been sitting beside a healing pool for thirty-eight years without ever getting in the water, he asked, “Do you want to be healed?”

The truth is that in churches (but not only there) we sometimes get a lot of eggs from people who are suffering in basic ways, i.e. deep down they don’t experience themselves as worthy of God’s love and grace. Often those who suffer such wounds deal with their pain by over-functioning – constantly doing for others, taking on every job, or taking responsibility for other people who aren’t being responsible for themselves. We in the church may even encourage this. We’ve gotten used to the eggs.

But here’s the really shocking thing in this story: Jesus asked if the man who had sat there for so long wanted to be healed, but he didn’t wait for an answer. He just ordered the man to get up and walk. Jesus took away the eggs.

So, watch out, because so far as I can tell Jesus is very likely to bust in on our little arrangements and take away the eggs. Jesus is intent on taking from us all the ways we’ve learned to keep true life and real healing at bay.

Come Holy Spirit, break us open and make us new, in and through Jesus. Amen.

Grace and Peace
Steve

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These days, there is a certain tyranny that accompanies utmost efficiency and accountability. When every single seat on every single flight is booked, those on standby are always left stranded. I was very fortunate back in the 60’s traveling from Greensboro to California and back, there was always that one seat in all those airports. When every slice of bread is sold to those who can buy it, those who can’t afford it are left wanting. When every minute of the day is planned and prescribed, there is no time for unexpected interventions of the Holy Spirit.

Have you ever decided to attend an event at the very last minute, but it was so well-planned and executed that when you arrived there was not an empty seat to be found? Then, suddenly, you spot just one. You rush over and timidly ask the person seated next to it, “Is anyone sitting here?” The person smiles and says: “Yes, someone is sitting there. You are.” And if the person is extra kind, she might add, “We reserved this seat just for you.”

In our busy lives, how well are we planning to accommodate those who just arrived in our midst; those, who for countless reasons didn’t feel welcomed until very recently; or those whose names were for so long either omitted or deleted from the invitation list; or those who got lost and just got in. 

In the book of Leviticus, God’s call for holiness among God’s people was a call for compassion to strangers and generosity to the poor.  So important was this principle of holiness that God did not leave it up to individuals to come up with their own notions of what compassion and generosity in society meant. God’s instructions were clear: generosity and compassion were to be built into the system of reaping and harvesting. Grapes and grain were to be intentionally left behind, and that which was left behind was not considered waste or entitlement. It was really a divine reservation for the poor and the unexpected stranger.

How prepared are we today to accommodate the strangers, the poor, and those in desperate need whom God sends along our paths?  Someone is standing and looking for a seat.  Is there room near you? I hope we find real holiness, real compassion for the people of the Bahamas.

Dear God, we thank you for not leaving generosity and compassion up to chance. Thank you for reserving a place for all of us who missed the first invitation by circumstance or neglect, for those of us who have just arrived. In and through Jesus you have made a seat for us all. Help us to do the same. Amen.

Grace and Peace 
Steve

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Whenever there are people in the world out there who genuinely care about each other, God is being served. Whenever they are compassionate toward each other, God is being served. Whenever they sacrifice for each other, God is being served. Whenever they are supportive of each other in the quest for truth, God is being served.

When He was about to embark on His public ministry, Jesus was tempted in the desert to choose mammon over God. Jesus chose God and, as God’s supremely faithful Servant, He died on the Cross, rose from the dead, and became the Source of our Resurrection Hope.

Now, we are being asked to choose. But remember, if you say you have chosen to be God’s servant, it is not just a title you have opted for, but a way of life. You have opted for life in Christ. You have chosen to be an apostle of Resurrection Hope in a world shrouded in hopelessness. You have chosen, deep within yourself, to say, “Yes! The gift of God’s Love is so good for me, so life-enhancing for me that I will put my whole being into my response. I will let the Holy Spirit baptize my time, my skills, my feelings, my mind, my body, as I offer them to God through the service of others.”

On the night before He died, Jesus’ last lesson to the disciples was a practical illustration of the art of servanthood. He took a towel and a basin, knelt down and washed and dried their feet. “Do you understand what I just did for you?” He asked, “You address Me as ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and fittingly enough, for that is what I am. But if I washed your feet — I who am Teacher and Lord — then, you must wash each other’s feet. What I just did was to give you an example: as I have done, so must you” (Jn.13:12-15). Understanding this was difficult for those first disciples. And, we know from our own experience, the difficulty we have in understanding and accepting this role of servanthood from Jesus.

The chief personnel officer of a major airline was describing the difficulty of recruiting and training new employees — especially for jobs requiring the employee to give direct service to the public. He said, “Service is the only thing, really, that we have to sell. But it is the part of the job that is hardest to teach. Nowadays, no one wants to be thought of as a servant.” He is right, I think. Nowadays, nobody wants to be thought of as a servant. But it presents us with a serious problem because the Gospels make it perfectly clear that Jesus intended for each one of His followers to be precisely that: a servant.

In God’s eyes, we are worth infinitely more than our bank account. In God’s eyes, we are worth dying for. Jesus, Son of God, came to serve us in this way. So it’s time to come down from the hills or wherever you are. Come down on your knees, take a towel and a basin, and discover what it means to be outrageously happy just doing for others. You may remember the imagery and the words of the best-selling author — for indeed, there’s a bigger mountain out there! But most of all, remember always the Word of the Lord: “You cannot be the slave both of God and money … Anyone among you who aspires to be greatest must serve the rest.”

Lord, I need to be a servant… touching all the people of the world in all circumstances and conditions. Help me to see, and experience my calling to be Your servant… send me out to serve. Amen.

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You are a beloved child of God. You are loved by God individually, uniquely, and He wants you for His own, for all eternity.

Let the mystery capture you! Let the mystery inspire you! Cherish it! View it from the heart! And, inevitably, you will measure the worth of every human being by God’s standards, which are wrapped in mystery, of course.

And whenever you are tempted to question the worth of another human person — “How can God’s infinite love extend to that wretched person?” — remember that the Mystery of God’s Love is not for you to solve, but to experience, and to cherish! To do so is the most creative thing you can do in life — the finest of all the fine arts.

A mother wrote to her Pastor, explaining that until recently, she didn’t know what love was, despite the hundreds of sermons she had listened to over the years. This mother had been reared in the highest echelons of society in a southern U.S. city. She was very active in the Church, always on the right committees and in the right places and everything was just right. And she really believed she was a Christian. “But,” she wrote, “I had a problem. My daughter had been giving me a lot of trouble. She learned how to say ‘No’ at a very early age and just kept on saying it. This didn’t fit into my way of life. It disrupted my comfortable routine and I began to resent my own daughter. This became obvious to her until, finally, she ran away from home. The note she left said, ‘It’s obvious, mother, that you don’t love me, and it would be better for both of us if I go away.’

“My world collapsed. At first, out of sheer humiliation, that I, a prominent society person and a prominent Church woman should have her daughter leave home under such circumstances. Then the humiliation gave way to a deep sense of despair when I finally became honest enough to say to myself, ‘I don’t love my daughter. I don’t even love myself.’ And I just had to get down on my knees and somehow begin this whole business of being a Christian over again!

“And the words I’d been hearing all my life about God’s love and about Grace and forgiveness and reconciliation, suddenly grasped me for the first time, and my whole life changed, from inside out. And when I found my daughter, the reconciliation began. Not only that but my relationship with my husband, my relationship with my other children, my relationship to the Church — everything was different.”

This is what the Apostle Paul was so concerned about when he wrote his letter to the Galatians. They had heard the Gospel preached but it was apparent that it was not making a real difference in their lives. They were “keeping the faith” on a very superficial level, in their Church-going and in their show of allegiance to the Law. But they had not been consumed with the Grace of God’s love at a level deep enough to make a real difference in their lives and in their relationships. Paul, therefore, says to them: “Out of love, place yourselves at one another’s service. The whole law has found its fulfillment in this one saying: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ If you go on biting and tearing one another to pieces, take care! You will end up in mutual destruction!” (Gal. 5:13-15).

Don’t you see? We need to stop talking and singing about God’s Grace long enough to start living in it. Don’t you see? We need to immerse ourselves in this love of God. Don’t you see? We need to become ever more aware that God’s Love is deep within us and at this very moment a miracle can occur.

Those of us who have been hearing this all our lives at one level will hear it now at a deeper level and at a new level because God is here, God is present, God’s Grace — the Grace of reconciliation — is in you, in me, in all of us. Don’t you see? We will all do better when we get down on our knees, position ourselves before God, and begin this whole business of being a Christian all over again! Do it now and experience the miracle of God’s Love deep within.

Come Holy Spirit, I need you Now. Amen.

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The late Bishop Fulton J. Sheen once was asked to describe his “Most Inspiring Moment.” This is what he wrote:

“A few years ago, I visited a leper colony in Africa. I brought with me 500 small silver crucifixes to give to each victim of the dread disease. The first leper who came up to me had only a stump of his left arm. The right arm and hand were full of those telltale open sores of leprosy. I held the crucifix a few inches above that hand and let it drop into the palm.

“At that moment, there were 501 lepers in the camp, and the most diseased of them all was me. I had taken the symbol of redemption, of Divine Love for man, of the humiliation of Divinity into our fallen human nature and had refused to identify myself with all that that symbol implied. It is so easy to love humanity in general but so difficult sometimes to love a man.

“It is easy to help the lepers, but when one meets a specific leper, then a special effort is required. Seeing myself in the full shame of refusing to identify with this victim, I looked at the crucifix in the putrid mass of his hand and realized that I, too, must become one with suffering humanity. Then I pressed my hand to his hand with the symbol of love between us and continued to do it for the other 499.”

“Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit,” Jesus said on the cross. “Whoever of you does not renounce all that he has cannot be My disciple,” Jesus is saying to us now. God is waiting to receive us in love. If you want to be the uniquely beautiful person God made you to be, then renounce your ego-centered, fear-driven, achievement-oriented self and follow Me. If you’re going to make your life worthwhile, take up your cross and follow me. In other words, Consent to love up close and personal.

Lord, we don’t have any problem loving and giving sympathy and compassion from a distance… a comfortable safe distance… but now we realize you are really asking us to take the leper by the hand and in the name of Christ sharing the love and mercy of our heavenly Father. Help us do exactly that here and everywhere for all your people. Amen.

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“The man who humbles himself will be exalted.” We’ve heard that one before, many times, perhaps but how do we respond? What is Jesus talking about? Another Sunday dose of hopeless idealism? Another example of what we have come to expect when we come to Church? One gets the uneasy feeling that nobody expects anybody to take this kind of talk seriously. One senses a response, as though on cue, in the form of an impatient, irreverent, congregational wink.

At rock bottom, to humble oneself means to put others first; to be at the service of others; to give oneself unselfishly to others. That is as good a description as any, of the high cost of Christian discipleship. But, in our self-centeredness, we are reluctant to pay the price. We grow fond of listening to the voice of exaltation saying from within, “Don’t give! Take! Get all you can for as little as you can!” And then we use and exploit other people.

Thomas Edison, one of the greatest inventors in history, lived in a large house with a massive fence around it. Visitors had to push open an enormous iron gate to enter the compound and then push it back again until it clanked shut. One of Edison’s friends complained to him about the tremendous amount of energy required to open and close that gate. With a twinkle in his eye, Mr. Edison escorted his friend up onto the roof of the house and showed him an elaborate mechanical device made up of levers and pulleys and pumps. “What you don’t know,” said Edison, “is that everyone who opens and closes that gate automatically pumps a gallon of water into my tank up here on the roof.”

To be honest about this, we all do it. People come walking into our lives, and we say, “How do you do,” meaning, “What can you do for me? How much water can you pump into my tank? Can you amuse me? Can you fatten my wallet? Will you praise me, adore me, exalt me?” But when Jesus Christ becomes real to us, a subtle but very profound change takes place, making it possible for us to become What can I do for you? Kind of persons.

“Let the greater among you be as the servant.” These are Jesus’ words, not mine. And He intended them to hit His listeners right where they were living. He talked to real women and men about the real problems they were having. His words got under their skin, churned around in their hearts, shook up their souls, demanded a response, either affirmative or negative. Jesus had a manner of speaking that made people listen, made them take His words seriously — so much so that those who responded negatively, responded violently, and they crucified Him.

How easily words can be used to twist reality, to cover up! It has become standard practice. Not only have we been conditioned to expect it, but also, we have learned to accept it and to participate in it. In the stereotypic rhetoric of politics, the candidate promises to be the servant of all the people, knowing that nobody takes this kind of talk seriously anymore. On TV and radio, advertisers stretch words to their outer-limits to promote sales.

Our children are learning at a very tender age that twisting reality with words is to be expected and accepted in the game of everyday living. And when they begin coming to Church, do they have any real reason to believe that we are not still participating in the ordinary game of saying-one-thing-and-meaning-another?

“Let the greater among you be as … the servant …The man who humbles himself will be exalted.” Jesus is speaking to us as real persons with a real problem in dealing with the question: “Who should be regarded as the greatest?” There is no mincing of words, no twisting of reality: the person who serves is greatest. “I am in your midst as one who serves you,” Jesus said. Jesus, remember, repeatedly described God’s judgment in terms of how we feed and clothe and otherwise minister to the least of His brothers and sisters. It is not our position in life that counts, but what we do with it. It is not the mere exercise of power and authority that counts. What matters is how we exercise that power and authority (as parents, for example).

Jesus is telling us that Christian Faith is not a status symbol, but the very foundation of human living. Jesus is telling us that Christian Faith is not merely something to be acquired now so that after our 50 or 80 years on earth, we will be able to enjoy the luxury of happiness in the afterlife. Jesus is telling us that Christian Faith is not luxury; it is a necessity. It is necessary now because now is when we need to know who we are and how God wants us to live.

During Jesus’ Passion, on the very night, before He is to die, His closest friends ask Him to settle a dispute concerning which of them “should be regarded as the greatest.” He replies: “Let the greater among you be the junior, and the leader among you the servant … I am in your midst as one who serves you.”

We are free to choose. Do we enter Christian Communion with others? Do we begin to live for others? Or do we oppose the solidarity and brotherhood which Christian Faith inspires?

Don’t wink in disbelief as Jesus speaks of living for others as our rule of life. No, let us instead close both eyes and repeat the words of our anguished Jesus on the Mount of Olives: “Father … not My will but Yours.”

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