My friend Tim is a store manager for a huge, multi-national company.
He’s bright, energetic, and will never, ever get promoted.
Tim has always made it a practice to hire single moms, who desperately
need the job, but whose low pay makes arranging reliable childcare
nearly impossible. That means, at the end of each year, when Tim goes
in for his evaluation, his bosses point out the high tardiness and
absenteeism rates of his employees. They tell Tim he has to improve
or he won’t move up. Tim always promises to do better, though he
knows next year will be the same thing.
In this Sunday’s gospel you and I will hear some of Jesus’ most famous
sayings: the Beatitudes. These describe God’s World. And what living
in God’s World is like. In God’s world, there are a lot of people
like Tim – who would rather help single moms, than use them as
stepping-stones on a career path. There are a lot of people who
choose to take the nondescript, unexceptional, and often unrewarded
path of backing down from arguments, letting the guy in a hurry go
first, and giving the neediest person – who might not be the best
qualified – a break.
When we follow Jesus, we know we’re headed to God’s world. We find,
like Tim, that it’s a world where making names for ourselves,
increasing our social stature, climbing the ladder, padding the bank
account, and putting ourselves ahead of others, all seem to fall short
of the much more fulfilling activities of forgiving, accepting,
reconciling, and deeply connecting with a God and a world that were
meant for each other.
How might you and I live with more intention, into God’s world? How
might we re-evaluate some of our goals and see how they might, more
closely align with God’s? How might we begin to show others that
God’s world is our true home?
Reading:
Made in Detroit – Paul Clemens
The Liturgical Year – Joan Chittister
This is Not Your Parents’ Offering Plate – Clif Christopher
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