you know!

Read 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12

I know what I am called to do as a believer in God. I am invited to live within the boundaries of the kingdom where God's people dwell - where they love and where they hate, where they hurt others as well as where they are damaged by those who love them, where they live in hope and wonder, and where they die, some in pain and some with thanksgiving. I know that I am invited to pray for them, for their healing as well as their peace, with thanksgiving, searching to do good for them always.

I know this, so why don't I?

You know what journey Jesus is taking you on, when he turns and says, 'follow me.' You are the ones who hear his challenging stories, comforting love, his disturbing grace. You are the ones who can't ignore his defiance of the status quo, as he gives his place at the Table to the poor, as he invites the illegal immigrant into the circle, as he kisses the child with AIDs. You are the ones he pushes out the door of our inner sanctums of piety and dogma. You are the ones he asks to bear witness to the good news that has broken into a damaged world.

You know this, so why are you so reluctant to be called to the witness stand?

We remember that great day when the Spirit came dancing down upon us, filling us with peace, with power, with possibilities spilling out of our hearts. We know that we can become like that nurse who, after his shift is over, goes and sits in the room of the child with cancer, so that her parents can get a good night's sleep. We know that we can be like that mother, bone-weary from standing on her feet for 12 hours, who teachs her 16-year-old how to slow dance, so he won't be embarassed at the winter prom. We know that the life we lead can provide a path for others who seem to have lost their way.

We know all this, yet all too often act as if we all have become amnesiacs, don't we?

Prayer: We no longer have any excuses to give, Loving God, in this time of great worry and calamity. We must show that we do know how to live as your people. Help us not to forget all that you have taught us. Amen.

(c) 2008 Thom M. Shuman