As I conclude a Thanksgiving weekend full of the joys of family and friends, it is a time for me to process how much I have to be thankful for. Every year, this weekend is a bitter-sweet paradox for me. On Thursday, I embrace the clear sky of family, gratitude and a celebration feast. On Friday, the thick fog of consumption roles in and Wal Mart workers get stopped to death by Black Friday mobs. What is up with this paradox? A post from earlier this year served has a healthy reminder for me, so I thought I would re-post.
I recently listened to a great sermon on finances from Nathan George, founder of Trade as One. He began by asking how many of us had had a shower in the last week. He said that those of us who had are rich and that 4 of the 6 billion people on earth hadn’t been so fortunate. I got up late for work yesterday and didn’t get my DAILY shower. I felt gross all day and my hair was kinda sticking up like Alfalfa…
Last semester I took a class @ Fuller Seminary titled, Jesus and the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. My professor, Daniel Kirk(who wrote this book)had us read PLENTY of commentary on the Synoptic Gospels(Matt., Mark, Luke)outside of class, but in his lectures he never picked one up. He read straight out of the Greek Bible and translated to us as naturally as I read the english versions. The humanity of Jesus came alive and the Kingdom He inaugurated took a hauntingly (maybe I’ll explain why I use that word later) tangible form. So much of the WORDS and DEEDS of Jesus centered around His interaction and justice for the “least of these (Matt. 25).” Jesus’ face was illumined in the face of the stranger, the hungry, the prisoner and the homeless. Yes, Jesus spent alot of time preaching this Kingdom to the wealthy and highly religious, but He embodied this Kingdom through His deeds and interactions with those who inhabited it…the poor(Luke 6).
I can live a life with multiple degrees of separation from these inhabitants of the Kingdom of God. I sleep in a warm bed with a heating blanket, they sleep under a tarp with a newspaper. I eat fresh produce, they eat my leftovers. My possessions rest in cabinets and closets, theirs rests on their backs. It’s a strange tension…should I feel bad for having what I do. No, I think I should feel thankful, but in order to be fully thankful, I am finding I must have an understanding and heart for those who don’t. Not just a “oh that sucks for them” kind of understanding, but a “how can I learn from your story and be part of its healing” understanding. It is often my “blessings” in the form of material excess that sometimes keep me from full participation in the Kingdom of God(Matt.19:24)…
So by serving, learning from and hanging out with these Kingdom Inhabitants, does the Gospel Jesus came to proclaim through WORD and DEED come to life?
Jesus, in order for us to fully be grateful for what/who we have in our lives this Thanksgiving, we must not forget the stories of those who have so little. May we stand in solidarity with your Kingdom inhabitants this season and for the rest of our lives.