"The spirit of the Lord God is upon me ... he has sent me to bring good news
to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release
to the prisoners."
Isaiah 61:1
Father Richard says, " .... Jesus describes his work as moving outside of polite
and proper limits and boundaries to reunite things that have been marginalized
or excluded by society: the poor, the imprisoned, the blind, the downtrodden.
His ministry is not to gather the so-called good into a private country club
but to reach out to those on the edge and on the bottom, those who are "last"
to tell them they are, in fact, first! That is almost the very job description
of the Holy Spirit and therefore of Jesus."
In the Spring of 1993, Joe was pastoring The First United Methodist Church in Leonard,
Texas. The population of Leonard was about 1800 at the time and our church, and
parsonage, were two blocks from the downtown square. We had a child in each of
the three schools and we were heavily invested in the community. The years we
were there hold some of our fondest memories of ministry and family.
One day, I was standing in the small den in the parsonage with my back to the glass
doors that led out to the yard we shared with the church, when a man we didn't
know knocked on the door. Joe had come home for lunch and he was still in the
kitchen so I called to him to answer the door. He did and the gentleman introduced
himself, although he already knew Joe and knew that Joe had a beautiful singing
voice.
He said, "Pastor Joe, I am under the unction of the Holy Spirit and I'm headed
down to the square to preach on the corner near the drug store. I thought it
might add to the chance of getting people's attention if you would come along,
bring your guitar, and sing."
I was still folding clothes, with my back to the conversation when Joe introduced
me to our visitor as he invited him in and closed the door. My thoughts were
loud and consistent .... "surely Joe is not going to join this man on the street corner ...... what is unction?
...... the children would be unbelievably embarrassed if Joe did something like
this ..... I would be embarrassed .... what would our parishioners say?"
Joe was gracious as always. He said he would pray about whether or not he too was
called to the corner, and if so he would walk to the square. The man who was
sure about his calling said, "Well I sure hope you come. I've never done
anything like this before and I'm a bit afraid, but I know it is what God wants
from me today." Joe responded with a promise to pray for him.
I must confess that I am too often one who participates in ministry that gathers
the "so-called good into a private country club" and leaves reaching
out to those on the edge and on the bottom to others who might be under the unction
of the Holy Spirit. For almost seventeen years now, whenever I hear this reading
from Isaiah, I remember the day our visitor stood on the corner of the square
to preach the good news of Jesus Christ.
The Question: What divisions exist in your life? How can you let the Spirit mend
those divisions?
Of course, the divisions are many. There is the separation I experience from the
people in my everyday life. And then there is the great divide between the rich
and the poor, the insiders and the outsiders, those we engage and those we avoid.
I don't know quite how to address allowing "the Spirit to mend those divisions."
But I am working to try to prevent them. It is quite simple to express and very
hard to live. But the teaching is this:
All comparison leads to competition and all competition divides. So one practice
would be to avoid comparison, measuring one thing against another, or myself
against someone else. It is harder than I would have expected.
Joe didn't go to the square. I hope the reason is that he was not called. I pray
the reason is not that my opinions about the idea were loud enough to prevent
his hearing a deeper, more personal voice.