BLOGGING TOWARD SUNDAY…

http://upperroom.org/methodx/thelife/test.asp

Then tell me about it!

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“The God we choose to love changes us into his image, whether he exists or not.”
from Michael Gerson in “How God Changes Your Brain.”

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He is on my bus only occasionally, a worn man in crumpled
clothing with disheveled hair. His life looks different from the
rest of ours. We are mostly middle income. His face is etched
with exhaustion and he carries virtually no belongings. We drive
ourselves to the parking lot. He appears along a busy road
seemingly out of nowhere. We sometimes wonder where he slept the
night before.

A few weeks ago he boarded the bus, took one of the side facing
front seats and as he typically does and looked down at the
floor.

A few stops later a young woman boarded, a regular rider who
speaks good but not native English. She swipes her bus pass only
to find the machine would not accept it. The driver told her she
would have to deposit the $2.25 fare. “I just bought this card,”
she said, “I paid the money.”

The driver said she could take the card back to the sales office
and explain the problem. In the meantime she would have to pay
the fare for today. The woman became distressed and didn’t
understand why she would have to pay the fare. The rest of us
just watched wondering how the problem would be solved.

Suddenly the crumpled clothed man rose from his seat, dropped a
jingle of coins into the fare box and sat back down, his eyes
returning to the floor. His act was so unobtrusive that the
distressed passenger didn’t even realize what had happened.

“You’re good,” the bus driver said quietly, “he paid for you.”

The bus driver repeated it and pulled away from the curb. A hush
fell over the bus.

The rest of us had watched the woman’s discomfort, he felt it.

We wondered absently how the dilemma would be resolved.
He resolved it.

We lawyers, journalists, business people were headed downtown to
help fix the world. He fixed her world. We could have paid the
$2.25 and never missed it. It’s easy to imagine that was his
fare home.

You never know when you’ll be in the presence of greatness or of
grace. To the world my fellow passenger looked like a man in
need of solutions. I had looked at him and saw only what he
lacked.

By the time he stepped off the bus that morning, it was obvious
that he was a richer man then the rest of us. He had enough to
open his eyes and his heart to a stranger, enough to give of
what he had and trust life for the rest.

I haven’t seen him since that day. Some people believe angels
occasionally drop down and move among us. All I know is that I
have a new respect for the simple act of kindness. It keeps the
bus rolling, it speeds us along the way.”

~Krista Ramsey; Cincinnati Enquirer; Nov 26, 2010; pg. A.150~

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The Rev. jim Winkler, General Secretary of the Board on Church and Society of the United Methodist Church, along with ten others, was arrested last night in our nation’s capital. They were arrested because they staged a faith-based protest over the farce going on between Republicans, Democrats, and Tea Partyers over raising the debt ceiling.

“They were trying to send the message to Congress that the budget cannot be balanced on the backs of the poor, the middle class, or the neediest in society,” said Common Cause spokeswoman, Mary
Boyle.

In a statement, they said, “Our elected officials are protecting corporations and wealthy individuals while shredding the safety net for millions of the most vulnerable people in our nation and abroad.
Our faith won’t allow us to passively watch this travesty unfold. … Today, we ‘offer our bodies as a living sacrifice’ to say to congress ‘Raise revenue, protect the vulnerable and those living in poverty.”

In a day when most people’s faith will allow them to do practically anything, this kind of courage is a rarity. My only regret is that I didn’t know about the demonstration in advance. I would gladly have spent the night in jail with such amazing comrades.

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Two weeks ago, Judy and I, along with two couples from our church, visited Salt Lake City, where we toured Temple Square. The grounds were lush with gorgeous flowers, immaculately maintained, and the buildings were breath-taking, filling us all with a sense of awe. All around the Square were Mormon volunteers in groups of two, who would ask if they could guide us around and show us the sights. The two young ladies who guided us were attractive, friendly, and helpful…answering our questions, but in no way trying to proselytize. We were all impressed by their demeanor…which seemed to be true of all the guides we saw.

Today I read that the Mormon Church, since it has two members running for President of the United States, has issued a statement which prohibits full-time church leaders (pastors and administrators) from engaging in politics. I think how different this is from what happens in so many conservative churches…where candidates are endorsed, blessed, and even allowed to campaign from the pulpits. Maybe we could learn something from our friends the Mormons.

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“What Christians name as conversion is not a decision that we make regarding a set of beliefs or a staus that we have as validated by a subjective experience. Conversion is waking up to the discovery that we are now living in a different place than we had supposed. Our primary citizenship has been changed. There is a new creation.” Will Willimon, Bishop of Alabama

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Salvation takes time….

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“None of us has all the truth. But, if we deny or conceal what we believe to be true because it is inconvenient or in conflict with our ‘faith,’ that evidences the weakness, not the strength, of our faith.” Phillip Wogaman

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“The life of Jesus and his death — the inevitable consequence of total dedication to the way of God — and his total aliveness through and beyond death, all point in this direction, and exhibit the justice of God at its deepest level: ‘God in Christ was reconciling the world to himself’ (2 Cor.. 5:19). No hangover of retributive systems still showing itself in the New Testament can negate this.”
C.F. D Moule, Forgiveness and Reconciliation.
Tomorrow night at Wonderful Wednesday we will be “Razing Hell,” eliminating from our minds non-biblical ideas about hell. Come join us for a great discussion. You might just learn something!

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“An unfailingly renewable resource for the work of ministry is the continuing astonishment that Christ died for the very ones whom I find to be such a pain in the neck.” from Who Will Be Saved? by Will Willimon, Bishop of Alabama

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