Shortly after I
joined the Daily Bread team, I overheard the Board chairman at the time remark
that the clients need God—that we need to get prayer in their lives. Honestly, my first reaction was: Great, along
with the other challenges in their lives, now we’re going to be like so many
other social service agencies by shoving God down their throats as a
requirement for services. Recognizing God
is a key ingredient to reconciliation and resurrection, as a staff, we decided
to do morning devotions, beginning with Advent 2014, by invitation, not
requirement. The plan was to open the
dining facility 15 minutes early for those interested. At first, many of the clients took advantage
of it to get in the building early, especially on the colder mornings or just
to gain access to the bathroom. But as
the days went by, God’s word and the witness sharing from the staff began to
have a positive impact on the clients.
They began to long for the Word, they began to share their witness &
wilderness stories, and some even asked to lead devotion. With this sharing, there was a change in the
staff, client, and volunteer relationships.
When God visits his people, things cannot remain the same.
Prophets see life where others see no life. Sometimes a lack of vision is a form of
complicity with the status quo.
Sometimes it’s not having a sufficient lens through which to see new
shoots poking their heads through cement.[1] Often our own wilderness times become
important witness sources of our interacting with a settled church that, all too
often, attacks its own.
Paul shares, how in his former zeal for his ancestral traditions, he
tried to destroy the church of God. He
says: “But when God … called me through his grace, and was pleased
to reveal his Son to me”
(Gal 1:15-16), things had to change. Out
of his experience, he found a central unifying source of the gospel that those
on the inside kept
overlooking because they were too close.
Think of a time when you were confronted with a challenging situation,
you desire to move forward but can’t because of one of two common
thoughts. The first thought is that the
current situation is what I feel is best for me; I don’t want to change, if
there is a change I will have to give something up. Or in our human weakness
the situation seems so big that we find ourselves paralyzed, we just can’t see
the situation any differently, therefore we do nothing, stop seeking other
solutinos and accept the status quo.
Note
the “healing” in the Gospel story is focused not so much on the raising of the
dead son, but on the restoration of the mother, whose place in the community
was reborn when the son rises. The
critical point in the story occurs when Jesus gives the young man back “to his
mother.” That’s the moment of her being
raised from social death.[2] Luke tells us that Jesus was “moved
with pity.” He uses a term that the gospels often use to
describe Jesus’ reaction to human suffering. Jesus raising the young man was a miracle, but
it was also a sign.[3] This Jesus who was heard to say that those
who will come later would do more than he evidenced here. When God visits his people, things cannot
remain the same.
When
we consider our world, our community, the needs of many “widowed” still present
and need attending. Often in scripture,
the “widow” represents the poor and the vulnerable of a society. The church
is called to be God-like, imitating his example of mercy. The early church cared for widows (Acts
6). In fact, the task was so
important that seven men of good reputation, full of wisdom and the Holy
Spirit, were selected to be responsible for the matter. Yet,
proceeding one-by-one won’t suffice. Waiting
for the clergy alone to respond to all the concerns is impossible. It’s going to take a common-unity, a
community approach. The Church called to
mission is all of us, each with our unique God given
gifts are called to respond to the “widows” of our community, we have to be the
voice for the voiceless.
Imagine
a vision where all “widows” are cared for—beyond blood lineage, beyond class,
beyond status, beyond religious obligation.
In Pope Francis’ homily during the Jubilee Mass for Deacons he tells the
world’s deacons, “if evangelizing is the mission entrusted
at baptism to each Christian, serving is the way that mission is carried out. It is the only way to be a disciple of Jesus. His witnesses are those who do as he did:
those who serve their brothers and sisters, never tiring of following Christ in
his humility, never wearying of the Christian life, which is a life of service.”
We have a choice: we
can continue the status quo by whispering with and about each other concerning
how bad things are in our community; or we who proclaim to be Jesus’ disciples
can act as he did, “merciful,
zealous, walking according to the charity of the Lord who made himself the servant
of all” (Saint
Polycarp, Ad Phil. V, 2). It is in this way that
people will know that God is visiting his people, and that things cannot remain
the same.
[1] Wesley White, Wrestling Year C, Connecting
Sunday Readings with Lived Experience. © 2015. In Media Res, LLC. Onalaska,
WI.
[2] Bruce J. Malina & Richard L. Rohrbaugh. Social-Science
Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels. © 2003. Fortress Press, Minneapolis,
MN.
[3] Jame DiGiacomo, SJ. Sundays with Jesus. © 2006.Paulist
Press, Mahwah, NJ.
