|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Based on the Scripture readings: |
2005 July 10 |
|
[The Rev. Gretchen Elmendorf was one of the adult leaders accompanying the youth on their summer 2005 mission trip to Puerto Rico. For a reflection by one of the youth who went on the trip, click here.] On Open Doors and LiliesTwo weeks ago, on the eve of our departure for Puerto Rico, as I was busily packing an already overstuffed suitcase, I slipped 10 keys into my bag, one key for each youth, for me, and for Anna. The keys didn't actually work in any particular doorknob, but they were meant to symbolize something about our trip -- that God would be opening doors for us as we traveled, that God yearns to open doors for us as we evolve in life. Doors to new experiences, to new visions, to new encounters that lead us in a deepening way to God. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says: "Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you." (Lk. 11:9) I asked the youth as we sat around one night during our closing circle: "What doors are being opened for you with this trip?" As I held my own key in my hand, I began thinking quite literally about doors I had been walking through before our departure to Puerto Rico and doors I had entered once I got off our plane. Before Puerto Rico, I was walking through the doors of a lot of stores. In particular, you could say I was an avid consumer at Home Depot. I probably walked through those doors at least for 5 visits there during the week prior to our mission trip. As a new home owner, I have become quite dedicated, one might say even a little obsessed, with home improvements. My thoughts were consumed with things like what bathroom fixtures I should buy, what tools we should have on hand, what curtains are most fashionable. and what rods are the best fit for our windows, etc. My trips to Home Depot became further fueled when I went to a neighborhood party. Conversations very quickly turned amongst my neighbors to who was doing what to improve their landscaping, what kind of mulch was being used, what colors for home exteriors were best, even considerations about who had the nicest mailbox in the neighborhood. I very quickly determined that I had a lot of home improvement and landscaping to do if I was ever going to keep up with the Joneses. But Puerto Rico, thankfully, changed my mindset a bit. It was there that I realized how much I have bought into the consumerist way. It was in Puerto Rico that I asked myself, "Why be so busy trying to keep up with the Joneses? Could I be a little more focused on trying to keep up with God?" The first door we got to off the plane was that of the
home of Cesar Colomo. Cesar is the director of an organization called
Intercambio Culturale that supports schools and hospitals for kids with
developmental disabilities. As I entered Cesar's home, where we all
would be staying, I have to say I was stunned by the simplicity of it
all. There were a few rooms with bunk beds, a simple kitchen, a
bathroom with plumbing that worked sometimes, while other times the
faucets would just spit out air. There were lizards on the bedroom
window screens and little Caribbean frogs in our bathroom. No curtains
to speak of, I hardly noticed if there were any bathroom fixtures, and
definitely no mulch in the yard. God opened doors to the beauty of Puerto Rico and to the great divine glory of God's creation. Cesar's house was high in the mountains, bright green banana trees and ferns everywhere, coconut trees by our bedroom windows, frogs making the sweetest chirping sounds at night -- oft referred to as the golden music of the Caribbean forest. We saw waterfalls in the rainforest and a Caribbean beach of turquoise blue water dotted with palm trees. There were rich sunsets of maroon and orange above the mountain range in the evening. There was black sky and stars at night. One night was purely magical -- we went by boat to one of only a few of the bioluminescent bays in the world. The plankton there actually glow in the dark. As we swam in the water, our bodies glowed as if our skin was covered with bright white starlight. God opened doors to breathtaking, newfound vistas. But God also opened doors to the beauty of people in Puerto Rico. Cesar's son, Ricardo, played guitar in a concert for us and many others on a university stage with rave reviews from the local newspapers and TV stations. The concert was not just any old concert. Ricardo has Down's syndrome, and somehow he manages to hit all the right notes and smile all the way through his guitar ballads with such tenderness. At a school for kids with developmental disabilities, the Coteri School, we got to go to an end of the year talent show. The kids filled the hall with dancing, singing, gales of laughter, applause, and great appreciation and love for one another. Another day, we met the director of a shelter for battered women. She was a local Pentecostal minister who was so driven to help others and build this shelter high in the mountains that somehow she raised over $200,000 from the mere 57 members of her church in this low income community. It is written in scripture: "So I say to you, search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you." These words of Jesus kept rolling around in my head up there in the mountains. God was opening doors for us to natural wonders that never cease and also to people we had never encountered before -- joyous, sweet children with beautiful abilities stemming right out of their disabilities and strong people of faith working to help others live in peace and in safety and with justice on their side. We knock, God opens doors, our perspectives are broadened -- that's one image that can anchor us in our lives of faith. There's another image too. Consider the lilies of the field. On our mission trip, I found myself meditating upon these words from the gospel of Matthew over and over: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your
life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body,
what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than
clothing? ... Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they
neither toil nor spin. ... But if God so clothes the grass of the
field, ...will God not much more clothe you, you of little faith? …strive
first for the kingdom of You know, it was a long way up to those mountains in Guyama, Puerto Rico. When we left the airport in San Juan, our van went up mountain after mountaintop, up one windy, extremely curvy road to the next. And I have to admit, at times as we went farther and farther up, I was a little anxious. How far were we from a hospital, in case anything goes wrong? How far were we from a grocery store? Are the bugs going to be really bad? Cesar said we might need to wear bug spray even to bed. How many bottles of bug spray are enough? Did I bring enough Benadryl in case there's an allergic reaction to anything? Did I pack the first aid kit? Our suitcases are full of clothes, but still, will we have enough of the right things to wear? How will we handle each having only one towel for the week? Will we get lost without knowing how to speak any Spanish? What do we do with our valuables? There were plenty of things to worry about, but as we made our way up the windy roads of the mountain, further away from the city, I kept hearing Jesus' refrain, "Do not worry, can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?" It was as if I could feel the call of Christ beckoning me to let go of so many concerns over materialistic things, to let go of worrying about whether or not our needs would be met, to let go of things that distract us from truer purposes, and to trust that God would take care of us. As the days passed, what helped me lessen my anxieties was a change of focus. What work was there to be done? Who were we helping and why? What was our mission? As we got further and further into our work, I noticed we learned how to roll with some of the inconveniences better. The bug bites weren't so distracting, the lack of water was par for the course, the frogs -- they were in the kitchen too -- were actually cute. We were in Puerto Rico for a purpose, and we could feel it; we were making small but nevertheless tangible differences in people's lives. We painted walls -- inside and out -- of the Coteri school, pruned bushes and overgrown trees, mowed, weed-whacked, and tended to their landscape, all in the boiling heat. We painted an enormous dining room in the shelter for battered women. We hauled five truckloads of debris out of a neighbor's yard whose house had been damaged by a hurricane last year. We cleared land and laid down 50 bags worth of cement for a basketball court for kids with Down's syndrome. We were busy, and worries about material things didn't matter so much. The ways we were engaging with the people around us did. Worries about getting our own needs met somewhat faded as our focus on meeting other people's needs grew. And through it all, we were more than taken care of in the ways that truly mattered. Puerto Rico is behind us now, but as I pick up
newspapers and watch TV news again for the first time since before our
trip, I am reminded of how significant these images of God -- the key,
the open door, the lily in the field -- can be. Only days off the
plane, and I see yet again that there's a lot to worry about these days
to be sure. Just this week, the news outlets were saturated with
stories of a sexual predator in this country and scenarios of predators
lurking around in our neighborhoods. How can one not be worried about
our children being at risk? And how are we not to be worried when the
security alerts move from code yellow to code orange (high), when lives
are so horrifically destroyed, And what about these hurricanes? I think about our friends in Puerto Rico, and I worry for them. Cesar was already stocking up in June on supplies to help people in his community. He told me 12 hurricanes are predicted for this season and that Puerto Rico so often pays the price. We live in a worrying age. It is normal for us to be worried about important matters. But Jesus urges us against being so worried, to resist toiling and spinning so much that we lose our hope and our faith. He says, strive first for the kingdom of God and God's righteousness. Love God and love your neighbor as yourself. God will take care of the rest. Jesus promises us that God takes care of what we really need and that we need to trust God for this. We need to trust that God never stops opening doors for us too. I have seen just in this past week that God is opening doors to new possibilities of love and justice all over the world. On the fourth of July, freedom was advocated for once again by our denomination. At the United Church of Christ General Synod, 80% of our representatives nationwide voted in approval of gay marriage and vowed to be advocates for gay people and their civil rights. And also this week, as the leaders of the G-8 summit gathered in Scotland, in cities across the world, musicians and fans were gathering in the hundreds of thousands at concerts raising international consciousness, especially with our youth, about poverty, world debt, epidemic disease and death in Africa, urging political leaders and all of us to come to the aid of the impoverished and the sick. VH1, AOL, and MTV have been broadcasting these concerts, called Live-8, nonstop all week. The G-8 leaders have since pledged to double aid to Africa. I heard U2 yesterday. If any of you know of Bono, you know he can really rouse a crowd and that he works with political leaders around the world and has raised millions for human rights in Africa. He was singing one of U2's most classic songs - "One Life but we're not the same, we've got to carry each other, and do it again, sisters and brothers." As he ended the song, this rock in roll star bellowed at the top of his voice as the crowds roared, "Hear us coming Lord, Hear us knocking at your door." So I ask you, sometime over the summer, when you hold a key in your hands or when you see an open door or when you spot a lily in the field, will you take a moment to remember how God is at work in your lives and in this world and give thanks? With God's help, may we all try to worry less, come to the aid of others more, and get busy knocking. Copyright © 200 5 Gretchen L. Elmendorf. Used by permission.http://www.nhcc.net/sermons/Sermon20050710.htm
|
|
|
| |
