Two men come to mind today from my formative years as a young clergyman. Both were gentlemen, in the full sense of that word. Both were successful businessmen, one in banking, one in insurance. Both were highly principled. One knew it not so much because they talked about it as because they daily wore it in how they spoke and were in all aspects of their lives.
The parish I served in the 70's-80's was inner city. It was a changing parish with an aging white congregation with some socially well placed members, the usual middle class, mostly families, but a good number of singles. The racial mix was strengthening. People came from the inner city and others traveled from suburbs because of the rich worship and music and sense of belonging.
Here is what I observed. Mr. Chandler attended the early simple, said service so he might get home to his aging wife. The parish treasurer, he was quiet, deep, an exacting banker, immaculate in dress. Also at this mass was a woman whose mind was in another reality and if you pierced it, she was attending the Queen. She wore a green knit cap in winter and summer and smelt of homelessness. Sunday by Sunday she invariably knelt next to Mr. Chandler at the communion rail. I observed his manners with her. He never objected to her proximity nor to the smell that left me relieved as I finished her communion. I watched him once offer her a hand though he was 40 years her senior, at least. I felt the reign of God in the gentle space between them.
Robert attended the later service. Like Mr Chandler, he worked in the city and weekends were times to restore. The two shared a deep commitment to the governance of the parish and its material needs. Robert was so often the warm presence with new-comers and all children. Children seemed to look forward to his being by the door, his greeting, his ability to ask after their young lives. If you watch children, you notice they can spot a fraud from any distance. This was never the case with Robert. Trust and warmth was the shared energy.
When the men had come to Jesus, they said, "John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, 'Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?' " Luke 7:20
When John the Baptist's disciples come to Jesus to ask this question they are asking it for you and me as well. This is the core question of faith. Have we found in Jesus the intervention of God in life and history and our culture? There is a weight to the question because its answer will shape our lives, our character, our daily interactions, our route to the forgiveness we often need as we live in this world. If he is the one and Christianity thus the faith that claims us, we will live by his teachings and being. John and his disciples know this. Jesus' way was beyond John's repentance. His teachings, his healing presence, left others more gently in their world, more whole.
This is well defined in today's epistle.
As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. Colossians 3:12-15
The qualities described here can seem weak ones to the business or social world perhaps. Yet when you have been instructed or reprimanded or even fired by someone who embodies "compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience" you know it. There is both clarity to their view and speech. There is a patience as they wait for your response. While you might be brought low, you do not cease to exist as a person who can learn and grow. Except perhaps in the firing, there is a way back, a forgiveness awaiting effort to change what needs changing.
In Luke's gospel we hear in response to John's question, "Are you the one..."
Jesus had just then cured many people of diseases, plagues, and evil spirits, and had given sight to many who were blind. And he answered them, "Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me." Luke 7:21-23
The point here is that the words and the deeds match. What the Prophets had foretold would now follow in the wake of the Messiah. Life is made more whole. Wisdom for living is in the words. We are blessed as we listen and rather than simply feeling judged or resistant, we willingly change, become, "take no offense."
As a young priest, as a growing believer, both Mr. Chandler and Robert instructed me. In them I saw the tracks of Jesus. Even the homeless lady who knelt at the altar showed me. We are changed when we listen to our question, "Are you the one?" We are changed when we let Jesus' answer stand in our lives. We are changed because as we listen to Christ, "compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience" grow in the space within and outside of us.
Perhaps I am most indebted to the children and the lady in the green cap. How else would I have seen the depth of Mr Chandler and Robert but by the living space between them.
No comments:
Post a Comment