We are God's Creation!

“While I know myself as a creation of God, I am also obligated to realize and remember that everyone else and everything else are also God's creation.” --Maya Angelou

It's been a great weekend of fun, worship, and challenges to move beyond our own hopes and to engage in God's hopes for the world.  In worship we talked about what it means to follow Jesus.  (Check out the text for the day from the Gospel of Matthew 4:12-23)  

Following isn't always how our world suggests we learn.  Although it does seem to be one of the best ways to learn.  As children we learn most things by watching and following the lead of our parents and caregivers.  Haven't you ever talked to parents who began to watch their language or realize some of their own habits when their children start to mirror their actions back to them?  When we watch others and are in relationship with them we take on some of their way of being.  So it makes sense that as we grow in relationship with Jesus we will take on his way of being.  But in many ways that is a scary prospect...how can we begin to follow one who was willing to give up his whole life for the sake of those who cried out for his Crucifixion?  What does it mean for us that Jesus was homeless?  How do we reconcile our desire for comfort and stability with the always moving ministry of Jesus as he traveled through all of Judea and sometimes even Samaria?  

I wish I had the answers...but as i read the quote from Maya Angelou I began to see that in following it isn't just a change in our walking but also in our seeing.  And while we may need to imagine what it was like for Jesus to see the people around him, I believe that he always saw first that we are all God's creations!  It does change things when we begin to see the world through eyes of love.  So maybe for me today, I can work on seeing God's creation with the love that I see when I look at those I hold most dear.  That would change a lot for me and while I am sure that I will always have to work, sometimes harder than others, to see the world through Jesus' eyes I want to try.  What might it be like for you?  

At Zacchaeus' Tree we are working to use these new eyes as we join in what God is doing to create a community where people are safe to participate and learn about God surrounded by love.  There are so many questions...let's not ask them alone!  

Sitting Is Powerful!

Yesterday I had the pleasure of sitting-in with almost 100 other community supporters of the Indianapolis Hospitality Workers!  As workers ask for fair process in their desire to unionize, I am invited to lift my voice to support the dignity of humanity for all of God's children.  It made me think more about the tremendous work of Dr. King and his faith to keep on even in the face of huge odds.  He was a man who saw that the world was choosing to ignore some realities in favor of an "easier" way.  So through his work and non-violent civil disobedience he made us see that "Truth does not cease to be truth according to our ability to stomach it"--a paraphrase from Gandhi.  Because of King's courage, faith and witness we sat yesterday in a restaurant in support of workers who want to be able to do their job with dignity and without making their families suffer because of inadequate funds, time with parents, chronic pain and intimidation at the workplace.  It was amazing to get just a little taste of what it might have been like to sit at the counters, ride in the front of the bus, march in Montgomery, or to hear for the first time that their is a dream for us all!

But King was not the first to offer us a vision of a different world...nor will his voice be the last.  The belief that this world was created for a purpose and on purpose has been around forever and I believe has been true since then too.  So if we were created for a purpose how do we choose to live into it?  How might we engage our world, employers, friends and families in the often difficult conversations about things we may be choosing to overlook in order to live an "easier" way but not necessarily a better way?

I wish I had the answer but the best I have is to follow the Way of Jesus Christ in the 21st century.  In Matthew 25: 31-46, Jesus tells a story about the final judgement.  The judgement isn't based on the things often shared in the media or by the loudest among us.  People are separated based on these particular consistent actions in their living: feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty, inviting the stranger into your home, clothing the naked, caring for the sick, and visiting the imprisoned.  Maybe this isn't the whole answer but I have chosen to start here.  It isn't easy and it takes practice but much like sitting at a counter or in a restaurant, one action can start a movement over time that engulfs us all!  May the peace that brings wholeness and eyes for God's vision come into our lives and world!