Jesus in the wheelchair

i have been an avid braves fan since 1985. therefore, it was so exciting to make the move from tampa to atlanta 4 years ago, knowing I would be living in the land of "America's team". I get to turner field as often as I can...hitting the game with guys from my small group, my sons, and friends who come in from out of town, needing to feed their baseball fix. i was at the game yesterday when the braves finally pulled one out against the red sox, supported by jones and anderson home runs. we stayed until the last pitch. it was that good of a game. as we left we walked down ralph david abernathy. on the way we met several familiar faces with buckets stretched out. one played the conga, one had an electronic harmonica and several were sitting in wheelchairs. i rarely carry cash anymore. i swipe my debit card for everything. someday that will get me stuck, but that day hasn't occured yet. i did find myself wishing i had money to give yesterday. i know i don't know their story, and once the game is over and people have cleared out they may hop out of their wheelchair and into their Bentley. But I'm not living their life. I'm not sowing on their behalf. Jesus says an interesting thing: "give to whoever asks of you". did he mean just those i've done research on and am fairly sure will only use the funds in healthy life-giving ways? i do believe in responsibility and not enabling those who are making destructive choices. however, i also see time and time again Jesus giving someone the benefit of the doubt when their track record was less than spotless. For all Jesus knew Zaccheus could have used his connection with Jesus to further exploit people as a tax-collector, the woman caught in the act of adultery could have smiled at those in authority the next time they saw her take a man into her bed, having been absolved of the death penalty by a popular rabbi. There may have been some at the wedding in Cana who traveled further down the road of alcoholism when Jesus turned the water into wine. The man whose hand Jesus healed on the sabbath, may have gone home and beat his spouse with his newly restored fist. There was no guarrantee that good was going to be returned for good when Jesus stepped into people's lives. Free will leaves us with risk. However, Jesus believed that lives lived within the harmony of God's intent for the world would eventually be so powerful that our wills would be wooed out of destruction and into life-giving ways. Jesus understood the unstoppable force of grace in the world. Against which the "gates of hell will not prevail". This is how the kingdom will come. One act of risky compassion at a time. One moment of irresponsible kindness bestowed on our broken brother or sister. It is how we are being changed and how the world is being righted. I need to carry more cash in my pocket. But I also need to go further. I need to know their story, because I have stepped into it. I need to invest more energy than the wrist toss it takes to get a $5 bill into their bucket. I think the way of Jesus teaches that we can't know Jesus unless we know the poor, the oppressed, the disenfranchised, the stranger. Though I call myself a follower of Jesus, yesterday, it's sad to say, I didn't even know his name...

one good return deserves another

we recently returned from the high school summer retreat where we focused on a hebrew term "t'shuvah" which literally means "return". However, we often read this translated as repent. We get this idea of turning from our sins, and this is partially true. But the idea of T'shuvah is more about turning toward something/someOne than turning away. It is a return to God and to our true selves. The thoughts of a Rabbi on t'shuvah are very helpful:

". . . . The prospect of teshuva frightens many of us, because we consider it a calumny against who we already are. The English term "repentance" implies that I am a despicable sinner, loathsome in my own eyes and in the eyes of God, sullied by my actions, like a filthy, smelly vagrant in need of a bath.
Rebbetzin Tzipora Heller points out the true Jewish attitude toward teshuva: Not, "How wicked I am because I did that," but rather, "How could someone like me have done something like that?" Teshuva is an affirmation, not a rejection, of who we are on the deepest level. Rather than being characterized by our lowly actions, we repudiate our lowly actions as being unworthy of the holy souls we inherently are.
We cry on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur when we reflect on what we could have been, when we compare our majestic potential to our shabby reality. Every one of us has the potential to be spiritually great, to perfectly accomplish our unique task in this world, to valiantly meet our challenges, and to dexterously fix our shortcomings. On the High Holydays, we reflect on the perfected vision of ourselves, and cry over the mediocrity we permitted in its place.
* We could have been magnanimous. Instead we were petty.* We could have been generous. Instead we were stingy.* We could have been honest. Instead we told self-serving lies.* We could have buoyed up others with kind words. Instead we wounded them with deprecations.* We could have esteemed our parents for their ongoing contribution to our lives. Instead we made them feel useless and outdated.* We could have made our homes sanctuaries of love and peace. Instead we degenerated into bickering and blaming.* We could have spent our spare time studying the profundities of the Torah. Instead we opted for cable TV.* We could have become the person God created us to be. Instead we settled for a mediocre imitation."

WOW. I hope this is what students discovered this weekend. I hope they were encouraged that God desires them to become the persons they really are and that t'shuvah is the act of removing from themselves all the falseness of identity that weighs them down. May t'shuvah provide freedom to be fully ourselves, sons and daughters of God.

to will the one thing

This past Sunday Will Hardy taught the Java Hut session around the topic of busyness. He used a video which shared a quotation from a great philosopher which said "purity of heart is to will one thing". In the video a father told a story of being at the beach with his family. His sons had been collecting fragments of seashells all afternoon, when a starfish was sighted bobbing up and down in the water. They shouted to one of their sons to go out and get it. He excitedly rushed toward the spot where the starfish drifted, only to turn around and head back to shore before accomplishing his mission. He did this several times, each time returning to shore without the starfish. His family was cheering him on, saying "You can do it!", "It's Yours!". Finally he shouted, "I can't get it!". When asked why he replied "Because my hands are full of shells". The broken fragments of shells he had accumulated had kept him from grasping the "one thing". This was an important lesson for me, and hopefully for the students gathered this past Sunday morning. We do try to get a little of everything. Hitting 15 minutes of that meeting, half of that game, a quick drive-by conversation with the family, and off to something else. What if we said yes to only a few things, or only one? What would our life look like if we could define that one YES to which we would give ourselves, thus knowing all of the necessary NO's that come with that focus. I think deep down we know this is right, but we also know it is hard. We have to say NO to good people and good things. We have to be okay with a certain reputation. We have to control our priorities rather than allow everyone else to do so. I'll end with the same benediction given on the video "May we drop our shells in order to grasp the one thing!"

How has busyness controlled your life? Leave your comments here to spur on the conversation.