#crackedpotsleak

[parables-proverbs-pericopes]

Don’t get me wrong.

It has been really nice these last few months when the seats were all taken (except the front row…even Jesus hasn’t walked on that water yet) and the tip bucket has been full.

It makes me nervous though.

I am so very worldly that I could easily forget why The Gatherings came to be and become a “bean counter.”

You know…counting how many “human beans” are in the building and letting that be the measure of our faithfulness…or at least our popularity.

So I try to regularly remind myself that we aren’t an accounting firm.

We are a living, breathing, loving, praying Body.

Our job isn’t to garner a market share.

Our Call is to be a conduit of grace.

So we don’t take roll.

We don’t even have a roll to take.

And we have no budget.

What is freely given is freely forwarded to a hurting world.

100%.

We don’t have a finance committee.

We remind ourselves that the God we love and worship and serve isn’t short on resources and seems quite capable of directing our love to where it most glorifies Him.

Our need isn’t to notice who isn’t in the building. We trust the people to be where they need to be.

Our need is to rejoice over those who are.

And to tenderly embrace them as children of God.

Wherever they came from.

And whatever they bring.

Our joy peaks when we live into the call we felt when we started Gathering.

And that mountaintop is the only “high” our spirits need.

I am reminding myself.

I would be remiss if I didn’t remind you too.

You know what I mean?

Padre

#crackedpotsleak

[parables-proverbs-pericopes]

What if he is hiding in plain sight?

All my life, a life lived in the church with all its traditions and theologies, I have seen depictions of our Friend Jesus. He is on the wall of most every Sunday School classroom I ever entered. He is on stained glass windows. He is in movies and music videos.

He is the focus of debate, division, and diverse images - all of which seem to reflect the debater.

I am inclined to think the debated has little of the concerns we have.

Color of hair.

Color of clothes.

Color of skin.

Complexion.

Shape of eyes.

You know, the superficial stuff that diverts us from any semblance of depth and prevents any kind of change in the debates. The stuff that keeps us divided and distressed instead of united and restored. The stuff that hurts instead of heals.

not one word of any of this has been revealed to us.

NOT ONE WORD.

Interesting, what Jesus says about his appearance.

It seems that he isn’t very quick to point to his hair, eyes, skin, or clothes but to the…

Contents of his belly.

The thirst in his mouth.

The exposed skin that can’t heal.

The loneliness that the stranger endures.

The hopelessness in the prisons of our bodies and souls.

and makes it clear that he “resembles that condition.”

(Matthew 25:31-46)

Lately I’ve been telling of a face to face I had with Jesus. I was walking on a dusty (there is no other kind) road in Haiti when I saw a man approaching. He was probably 20 years younger than me but was very aged. He maybe weighed 110 pounds. His belt was cinched so tightly that the tongue of it was hanging halfway to his knees. When we came close his eyes lit up. He said “Blancs” (white man) and patted his belly.

I had gone on my walk with no money in my pocket. I don’t speak Kreyol well enough to communicate but I tried my best to tell him to wait for me. The light in his eyes turned to a river of tears.

I hurried as fast as my 70 years old body would go, grabbed a 10 from my wallet, and hurried back…but when I returned he was gone.

I will see him again before too long.

And my hope is that in addition to the contents of his belly I will find a depth of grace and forgiveness that makes it right.

Because wherever grace and redemption and love show up so does he, growling tummy and all.

Revealing himself.

In plain sight.

Maybe you saw him today.

Right. Over. There.

You know what I mean?

Padre

#crackedpotsleak