June 5, 2009 The Journey Continues...

If you've visited our website (www.wpaumc.org) in the last few weeks, you’ve noticed a picture of me in a red windbreaker talking to a Hispanic woman. Contrary to some comments, I am not posing as a Domino’s Pizza deliveryman. Sally and I were privileged to go with a group of bishops and spouses to a Day Workers’ Church/gathering place in Gaithersburg, MD. Casa de Maryland, a migrant worker’s ministry sponsored by the Baltimore-Washington Conference, provides meals, shelter,worship and a pastoral presence for day laborers as they wait for a chance to work. The ministry is staffed by an elder who is a former day laborer himself.We were there to share in conversation, provide breakfast and offer communion and words of hope.

When we arrived at the double-wide trailer converted into a gathering/worship space, Sally and I quickly noticed that of the 50 or so workers only two were women. I immediately made my way to an empty seat next to Alicia Galvez, the woman in the photo.With her broken English and my broken Spanish, Alicia and I pieced together a conversation.

This single parent left her three young children in Guatemala with her mother to come to the United States. Alicia wants to make money to support her children at home and hopefully someday soon be reunited with her family. She is alone, vulnerable and in need of a ense of hope and possibility.

We discovered that women are frequently the most neglected.They often sit in Casa de Maryland day after day and receive no work. All too often, they are not paid at the end of a day for their work. Men are commonly picked for hard labor, while the women are left to cleanhouses, help movers and do odd jobs at little or no pay. Alicia sat cowering against a pillar in the gathering place. The other woman sat across the room from Alicia andme. She had a black eye, though I do not know why.When the time to leave came, Sally and I reluctantly said goodbye to Alicia.We were not ready to leave our new friend.We wonder to this day how she is faring and when she might be reunited with her children.

Looking back on the experience, I have learned several things:

1. Pause each and every day to thank God for the blessings that are ours.We do not know the stories of struggle, hardship and injustice that many of our sisters and brothers experience across the world. Often, our concerns pale in comparison to the life and death issues that many face.
2. Commit to broaden your view of the world.Venture beyond the walls of your home and church. Sense the need that exists in people such as Alicia.They are not only from Guatemala, Haiti or Liberia.They live not only on the north side of Pittsburgh, but also in remote sections of rural Western Pennsylvania. People in need live in your community -- just down the street. An Alicia is within a stone’s throw of you right now. In the name of Jesus, we are called to reach out with words and actions of grace, hope and love.
3. Remember the bottom line -- the reason you are in ministry.The bottom line is why you said ‘yes’ when Jesus called you by name.This is the motivation that drives you to witness in the name of Christ. It is the driver that forms your theology and the booster that leads you into the streets to care for the loners, losers and lost ones.The bottom line is a daily reminder that Christianity is not all about us. It’s about going into ALL the world to spread the Good News with acts of grace and compassion. It’s intentionally thinking about how to leave fingerprint of God’s love.When life gets complicated, confusing or even mundane, it is the bottom line that pulls us back and reacquaints us with why we do what we do.

When Jesus was preparing to send the disciples on their missionary service, the Bible says that he gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and heal every disease and sickness. He empowered them to not only preach and teach.This was a ministry of presence and action.The disciples were sent out to demonstrate God’s grace with loving acts of healing and compassion. Jesus said to them,    

"He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me.Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward.And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward," Matthew 10:40-42.

Find an Alicia in your community. Bear to her the witness of the gospel. Back up that witness with loving acts of kindness. Pray for her.Then feed her, clothe her and bless her in the name of Christ.When you do, you might be the modern-day disciple she prayed for all along.