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Description of time, space, Project Hospitality
and the continued unknowns
o
3 months exactly I began my life in NYC
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Staten Island is a trip all in itself – follow
the blog? You know I can’t leave the
island (due to tolls) – not at ALL like anything you see in the movies or on TV
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Project Hospitality is like a giant machine –
with all its separate parts, functioning and continuing as separate but united
entities
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3 months and I don’t know if I’ve still adjusted
– the other day, I found out all about getting my car licensed, insured and
inspected per NYS regulations. I also
found out that Project Hospitality has a mobile food pantry ministry. It’s amazing to know that I’m a part of
something so big that I may never know or understand every part of it.
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Description of what I’ve experienced in my time
here: food pantry, furniture delivery, El Centro, FIA groups
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Tshirt – salt, light, NYC skyline
During His famous Sermon On the Mount, Jesus not only
delivered the Beatitudes but also these words.
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Matthew 5:13-16
From here on out, keep in mind that when I say “you,” I am
also including myself. As well, this is
not going to be a full-on sermon… perhaps just more of a devotion… or a
challenge, if you will. I know that last
week, Pastor Darrell spoke about being the light and not remaining hidden. It is my prayer that God’s words and my voice
this week reflect and complement the voice and words of last week.
You are the salt of the earth.
An interesting thing about salt is that it is not used for
its own sake. Salt doesn’t really do
much for the world on its own. It is
only good when it is applied to something.
I know there are a few youth ministry games that involve eating strange
things, but USUALLY people don’t think of just eating salt. You put it in water to season your pasta, you
shake it onto corn on the cob, you bake a small amount of it (unless you
mistake it for sugar) into cookies for some reason, you pour it onto ice to
melt so that we don’t slip and fall, we gargle salt water for a sore throat. Did you know that salt can also be used to
clean artificial flowers? Or to remove
red wine from your white carpet? Or to
deodorize your sneakers? It has a lot of
uses when it is applied to something else, but on its own does nothing. When you mix salt with more salt, nothing
happens.
When Jesus tells us that we are
salt, He is telling us not to just sit on our butts and do nothing.
An interesting way of words happens here that many often
miss. Jesus says “you are the salt of
the earth.”
Yeah, yeah, we’ve heard this
a hundred times… maybe more… but Jesus isn’t saying “you are the salt of your
family” or “you are the salt of your friends.”
No. The earth. The earth is in a miserable state. My Facebook and Twitter feed blew UP about
Miley Cyrus last Sunday. You all know
what happened, so I don’t need to expound.
However, did you know that innocent Syrians are getting gassed to
death? Did you know that children are
being trained as soldiers in the Congo?
Did you know that there are STILL bombs going off in Baghdad? We know the news around Grand Rapids, but
have you thought about the fact that a man was just recently convicting of
human trafficking… not in the Ukraine, not in Africa, but RIGHT HERE? Did you know that 50 years after the famous
“I Have a Dream” speech, in a world that many of us want to believe is free of
racism, young black and brown men are being stopped and frisked on a daily
basis in New York City – simply because of their skin tone? The earth is in a miserable state.
And perhaps we can view the fact that if we lose our salt,
we are going to just be thrown and trampled as a bit, well… harsh. But honestly, if we lose our ability to
affect the world and change it, what good are we? We delight in the fact that in the gospel of
John, chapter 15, we are told that we are NOT of this world --- and if we’re
not of this world and we can no longer have an effect on the misery of the
world, let’s ask the tough question: why are we still taking up space?
Perhaps this hit you like “girl, I’m trying – I’m doing what
I can and I don’t know what else to do.”
Keep going. Keep on keepin’
on. Maybe this hit you like “who are you
to tell me that I should be doing something?”
Maybe this is not me you’re angry at, but yourself. Maybe you have no idea why you’re still here
and the thought of it depresses you.
Trust me, I understand. The world
is a miserable place and overwhelmingly so.
Let me share a story.
Teo is a day worker in Staten Island.
He’s one of many. He’s from
Mexico, or Honduras, or Colombia. He
came here illegal and remains here without documents. He stands on a street corner each and every
day, waiting for someone to hire him to haul steel, or to clean their yard, or
to paint their home – whatever they are willing to pay him for, he is willing
to do. He has family back home in the
Dominican, in Ecuador, in Guatemala and one day he wants them to join him
here. He has to lay low because one
wrong move could send him back to his home country and all the dangers, all the
struggles, all the hopes and dreams that brought him to the USA would be in
vain. And yet, every morning he stops in
at a place called El Centro. At 7a every
morning, someone is always there with a smile, a warm cup of coffee and a
simple breakfast roll. For him, I was
salt. I was salt so much so that one
morning, he shared his meager breakfast with me: a red tamale, my favorite
kind! He shared his breakfast, his
nourishment for the day, with me as a thank you for being there. It’s the little things.
So, how can we be salt?
Let’s look to one of the prophets.
Micah 6:8 tells us simply that the Lord requires us to “act justly, love
mercy and to walk humbly with our God.”
One of our lectionary passages, which are the “suggested
sermon passages” that are preselected years in advance, is Hebrews 13. Let’s turn there, but keep your fingers in
the salt and light passage. We’ll go
back there.
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Hebrews 13:1-3, 15-16
When was the last time you invited strangers into your
house? I know for many of you who
invited CHAOS into your home last year did it with some hesitation – how many?
What do they eat? Do they know how to use forks? I joke, but I know that
inviting strangers into our homes is something we don’t always do well. Do you think Abraham and Sarah regretted
inviting the three strangers, who later turned out to be God, into their
home?
Or what about suffering with those who suffer? Let’s get political here. Did any of you march with undocumented youth
at the recent rally here in Grand Rapids?
Did any of you who don’t receive food stamps write your congressperson
and tell them that you don’t want food stamp benefits cut? Have any of you ever put money into someone’s
commissary in prison when you think they’ve been wrongly imprisoned? Have you struggled with someone and suffered
with someone as if you yourself were struggling?
My heart broke when my friend Stuart visited me one day and
had told me his wife had passed. You
see, Stuart and Kim were married three weeks ago. They were going to wait to get married in a
church go through all of the counseling required by the pastor who wanted to
marry them… and with a swift change of heart, Stuart decided they wanted to get
married quicker and so they went to the borough hall and had a small ceremony
there. He didn’t want to wait. And a short three weeks later, she was
gone. There were a lot of sad points of
her death – from drug use to hospital oversights, the blame game was played –
but for Stuart, all that mattered was the fact that the love of his life would
no longer sleep by his side, would no longer be there to make him smile, would
no longer listen to his complaining about the world… I never met Kim. The only visual I have of her is the open
coffin viewing and the way Stuart broke down at her funeral. To struggle with someone struggling is one of
the greatest ways to do good and sacrifice our own desires for another. For these times, God is pleased.
Let’s go back to Matthew.
Jesus continues. You are the
light of the world. Jewish people
believe that each person has a bit of God-Light in each of them and when they
pass, that light continues in the world around us. Thus, this exalted comparison comes more
alive – you are the God-Light of the WORLD.
Not one nation or one city, but of the whole world. This God-light is even superior to the rays
of the sun that we can see just as the salt of the earth is even superior to
the strongest of salts you’ve ever used.
And, so, what do we do?
The world relies on both of these elements. And guess what? It’s a charge to all of us. It doesn’t say “your pastors are the salt of
the earth” or “your missionaries are the light of the world.” NO. It
also doesn’t say “you are the salt, but if you choose to not accept it, you can
give money to those who do and that will exonerate you of all guilt.” This is your charge. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not be
thrown out and trampled. Let’s change
this miserable world.
Last Saturday, I had the honor of being a part of the
celebration ceremony for Sea To Sea – you know, those bicyclists who rode
BICYCLES across the entire freakin’ country.
From LA to NYC – 3, 900 miles. I
can’t hardly ride a bike for 10 miles without wanting God to send His angels to
carry me away. They rode through desert,
through rain, through hail, through mountains, through Manhattan… for what? To
raise over $5 million to end poverty.
When I posted this on my facebook page, I asked the question – what are
YOU doing to end poverty. Excuse me
while I boast on my mommy for a minute.
She responded with this: “working to start a new kids feeding program in
Ionia/Montcalm Counties called "I'M KIds Food"!!!!!” And it had 5 exclamation points. My mom – who is… well, 30 years older than me
has retired from teaching so that she can feed kids. That is being salt. That is being light. Let’s change this miserable world.
*****
Oh of course, as I re-read this, not everything came out exactly as written. Hallelujah, the Holy Spirit moved!!!
