It's The Little Things

"...from one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded."~ Jesus, Luke 12:48

It was 7:00 a.m. and the streets of Capitol Hill were quieter than Christmas morning.  I was out for an early morning walk/jog on Memorial Day and walking up 8th Street SE, the section known as Barracks Row. The usually bustling street, even at 7:00 a.m., was empty.  At the intersection of 8th and D a police cruiser pulled in front of the only car on D St. that was parked in the last space before the "no parking" sign.  The police car was on the no parking side of the sign, partially blocking the crosswalk.  A lone officer put on his cap, got out of the car and strolled toward the Dunkin Donuts across the street. 

A simple question that I wish I had stopped and asked him began to turn in my craw and began to ask more questions like: "How many times have I seen the exact or similar thing happen in our neighborhood?  On another morning I saw an officer turn on the blue lights of his car, stop traffic while another police car u-turned, then followed the u-turning car to park (illegally) in front of a popular breakfast spot.  

So, here I am the epitome of priviledge (a comfortable, middle class, white guy) peeved at the arrogance of this and other police officers and I muse - no wonder in many places respect for those who are supposed to "serve and protect" has disintergrated into suspicion, fear, and in some cases violence.   

I know the disconnect and discord between law enforcememt and some communities is far more serious than little things like parking places and u-turns, but it had to start somewhere and most likely it was with little things.  Maybe this is where some rebuilding of trust and re-earning of respect might begin.

I wish I had asked that officer on Memorial Day morning,  "Why didn't you park in one of the many "legal" available parking spaces?"  I wish I had asked, not to confront him, show him up, or dress him down, but to simply let him know that someone noticed, and it didn't look or feel very good.

In Between

"Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans."
~ John Lennon

Last night at the baseball game between the Washington Nationals and the New York Yankees the game ended on a dramatic bottom of the tenth inning home run that hit the foul pole by Nationals' home town favorite Ryan Zimmerman.  The Nats won 8-6.

On the way home I commented that the Nats had taken a 2 run lead in the first inning  on two homers and then eventually won by 2, so why all the fuss in between?  The obvious answer, quickly supplied by my wife Peg, "But we would have missed all the fun and excitement."

We would have missed what has become one of Nats pitcher Gio Gonzalez's all too predictable melt-downs in the 4th inning when the Yankees when ahead 4-2.  We would have missed a 2 run homer by the Yanks' first baseman Mark Teixeira.  We would have missed the Nats scratching back with 3 runs in the fifth inning and "Wilson!'s" towering homer in the sixth to tie the game.  We would have missed two bullpens battling it out for three innings and a spectacular (and possibly game-saving) catch by Denard Span in center field in the top of the 10th to keep the score tied.  We would have missed hero-of-late Bryce Harper's strike out to give way to Zimmerman who showed us why he is still, "Mr. Walk-off!"

So, again, baseball reflects life.  How much of our lives do we miss by rushing from one event to another without paying attention to the in between?   Do we remember our past from mile post to mile post, or do we also remember the paths in between?  How about all of those little decisions and actions that lead us to the big ones?

The truth is we are each born and we will all eventually die, so why all the fuss in between?  You got it - because we would miss all the fun and excitement!"   We would miss the fullness of life with all of it sorrow, all of its joy, and all that's in between.  

The "in between" is where our lives happen and make a difference - savor it!  

Just Imagination?

“If you can imagine it, you can create it. If you can dream it, you can become it.”
~William Arthur Ward

Come with me on an adventure into imagination.  

Wherever you are right now take a moment to look around at your immediate environment, noticing the people and things around you.  Stop reading now and observe.  

Now, take one person or one object you have observed and imagine.  

If an object, ask these questions: What is it made of? Metal? Wood? Plastic? Imagine the material(s) of the object all the way back through its process of becoming.  Where did the materials come from?  How were they obtained, shaped, formed, manufactured, bought, sold, delivered?

If a person, ask similar questions:  Who is this person?  How were the cells, substances, and systems of their body formed and developed? Where are they from?  Who are their parents, siblings, ancestors?  What are they thinking?  What are their hope, dreams, fears, failures, successes?  

Eventually,whether object or person, if we imagine long enough, it all goes back into the earth, and the earth goes back into cosmic dust, the dust of imagination. 

Now, reverse the process and bring your object or person back into present existence.  Notice along the way how often thought and imagination are the catalysts of their coming into being.  There would be nothing around you nor would you "be" were it not for imagination. Whatever or whoever you can see, feel, touch, taste, smell or sense in any way was once imagined. 

Imagination infuses everything.  The world we see today is the one that has been imagined.  The world of tomorrow is the one we imagine now. 

And we say,  "It's just imagination."

Imagine that. 

Eunuchs, Foreigners, and Angels

Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, ‘Get up and go towards the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.’ (This is a wilderness road.) So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah.

~ Acts 8:26ff

The Ethiopian eunuch in this story has two strikes against him.  His sexuality has been altered, and he is a foreigner, both of which make him unclean and unworthy in the cultic worship of Jerusalem of his time. But as he reads the prophet Isaiah, in what we now know as chapters 53 through 56, he finds these words:

For thus says the Lord:

To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths…

I will give, in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name

   better than sons and daughters;

I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.

And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord…

  will be accepted on my altar;

for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.

The Ethiopian eunuch’s response is a simple question:  “What is to prevent me from being baptized?”

Sometimes messengers, or angels as they are called in the Bible, come into our lives and lead us to wilderness places, to people outside the church or the cultural power structure, challenging our prejudice and privilege, and pointing us to our own scriptures which proclaim peace, mercy, equality, and justice.

Biblical angels come in numerous forms and fashions. Perhaps the angels of our day are in the streets, marching, chanting, and even throwing stones in order to get our attention, shouting, “What is to prevent us from being baptized, from participating in the full goodness of God’s creation?”

Often times the affluent and comfortable middle and upper classes of the world experience this dynamic  in shelters, soup kitchens, and service centers across the country, when as the volunteer we are the ones who walk away with “good news” by having had our narrow worlds stretched, strained, and expanded.

Perhaps all of this is what Jesus means when he says the Kingdom of God is already among us – if we are willing and vulnerable enough to open our eyes, ears, hearts, and hands to the angels around us.

(Today's blog is an exerpt from last Sunday's sermon which can be heard in its entirety by following this link.)