Weekend Words

 This week many of my readings seemed to be about giving.  Not just financially, but 'of ourselves', to help others.  I couldn't choose, so if there is too much reading for one sitting, you might like to come back to this over the next week.  Much to think about...

From the Bruderhof Blog...

A Sidewalk Messenger

August 3, 2021 by Chris Zimmerman

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash.

It was at least a dozen years ago, but I can remember it like it was yesterday: the oppressive heat and humidity of a summer night in New York; the heavy beat of R&B pulsing from cars parked along the avenue; the thwack of a basketball from a nearby playground; and the darkness on West 140th, where the street lights always seemed to be broken.

I was just nearing Edgecombe when I tripped on a shoe. It belonged to a man on the sidewalk. His head was propped on a balled-up hoodie, and his legs were splayed, with two or three bulky shopping bags – his worldly possessions? – safely wedged between them. I apologized. No response. Maybe he was just a passed-out drunk. Then he grunted something. I crouched to see if he was okay. He assured me everything was good. “Just weary,” he sighed. “I’m so tired of walking. Only thing keeping me goin’ right now is this.” He straightened himself and pointed to a short motto stitched on the camouflage jacket he was wearing. I bent closer. It read “Hebrews 13:5.”

We exchanged names – his was Kent, and I asked him again if he was really all right. He insisted he was. I asked where he lived, and he nodded toward St. Nicholas Park, a block up the street. “My peoples threw me out again last week,” he added. He didn’t offer why, except to say that Satan was after him and proving hard to shake. Drugs, I guessed, or alcohol. Not that it mattered.

I asked about work. “Delta Force,” he said, “Airborne. Been in the army since 1980. You’re in the services, too, right?” I shook my head, but he immediately corrected me. “Sure you are. Ain’t no such thing as a civilian. Everybody fighting for something. If you ain’t, you oughtta be.”

We chatted for another minute or two. No, he didn’t need food, and he had a bottle of water. Everything was good. I wished him a safe night. As I rose to go, he stopped me. “Let’s pray for that right now.” I sat down on the concrete next to him, and he took my hands in his. He prayed loudly and forcefully, calling on Brother Jesus to guide us on the right path, and to be with everyone in the city through the night. Two women coming up the block made a careful arc around us.

Later that night, at home, I looked up Hebrews 13:5 (and 6): “Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have, because God has said: Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you. Then you can say with confidence: The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”

That was Kent’s verse. I saw mine above it – Hebrews 13:1: “Do not neglect to show kindness to strangers, for by so doing one may unwittingly entertain angels.”

From Our Daily Bread...

Extending Grace to Others - read Acts 4:32-35

"God's grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them."

Our son spent the early years of his life in a children's home prior to our adopting him.  Before leaving the cinder-block building together to go home, we asked to collect his belongings.  Sadly, he had none.  We exchanged the clothes he was wearing for the new items we'd brought for him and also left some clothing for the other children.  Even though I was grieved by how little he had, I rejoiced that we could now help meet his physical and emotional needs.

A few years later, we saw a person asking for donations for families in need.  My son was eager to donate his stuffed animals and a few coins to help them.  Given his background, he might have (understandably) been more inclined to hold tightly to his belongings.

I'd like to think the reason for his generous response was the same as that of the early church.  "God's grace was so powerfully at work in them all" that nobody in their midst had need (Acts 4:33-34).  The people willingly sold their own possessions to provide for one another's needs.

When we become aware of the needs of others, whether material or intangible, may God's grace be so powerfully at work in us that we respond as they did, willingly giving from our hearts to those in need.  This makes us vessels of God's grace as fellow believers in Jesus, "one in heart and mind" (v32).

- Kirsten Holmberg

"But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?" - 1 John 3:17

From Amish Peace...

When I am Weak, Then Strength Comes

"Those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.  They will soar high on wings like eagles.  They will run and not grow weary.  They will walk and not faint." - Isaiah 40:31

When do you feel the strongest?  For me it's not when I have someone giving me a helping hand, but when I am offering help or hope to others.  Sometimes I've been completely weary, and then someone - a child, a friend, a neighbor - asked for help.  My first inclination has been to decline, but I've discovered that when God's strength flows through me to help another person, I benefit.  This is true in the Amish community, too:

Intrigued.  That's the word to describe how Dr Bryan Cloyd, Professor of Accounting at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, felt when he learned that a busload of Amish from Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, was coming to honor the victims of the April 2007 school shooting.  Dr Cloyd's only daughter, Austin, age eighteen, was one of thirty-two victims who lost their lives in the rampage...

The purpose of the Amish visit was to bring the Comfort Quilt to Virginia Tech.  After the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City, a school in Ohio created a simple patchwork quilt for children whose parents had been killed in the attacks.  A school in New Jersey hung the quilt, and there it stayed - until four years later, when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans.  The Comfort Quilt was sent to a school in Mississippi that had taken in many displaced New Orleans students.  When the Nickel Mines school shooting occurred, the Comfort Quilt moved again... this time to bring comfort to the Amish families of Nickel Mines.  After the Virginia Tech tragedy, the Amish made the decision that the quilt should be moved again.

Those who delivered the quilt were the very ones who had lost their daughters in the Nickel Mines shooting.  Instead of allowing their weary grief to burden them, they spread hope to others who had recently faced tragedy.

You can find the same to be true.  When you give out of your weariness, not only will you help others, but also God will strengthen you in the process.

"Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing." - 1 Peter 3:8-9

All photos (except 'the hands' in the first article) are from Another Life is Possible - a beautiful book!