One can live so often, so close to Mean Street, both the miracle and the misery of it, that it is unnerving. The only way to reconcile miracle with misery is to seek out the One who will walk those streets with us, O’ Emmanuel!
This Monday, we have so much bread, there is enough to throw around and play. And yet, today just minutes after our joy on the streets in the parking lot; at the Apartments, an African American man restrained from grabbing a loaf of bread from an overflowing box, turns away, sullen, slighted and angry. The Minister who restrained his eager hands had not intended to hurt him, but this man, dressed in a hood and jeans felt deeply the pain and shame of rejection. He dropped the loaf back in the box quickly and backed away.
“I was hungry, man, I thought it was free”, he said, murmuring an apology, eyes downcast, his face darkening with shame. Our brother refused to receive bread from our hands even after we recognized our folly and took the whole box back to him to choose from. “It is free, brother,” the Minister insisted but the wound had been inflicted.
Antiphon for the Holy Spirit
“The Spirit of God
Is a life that bestows life,
root of world-tree
And wind in its boughs-Hildegard Of Bingen (1098-1179), one of the most famous Western women mystics “tithed “ to God at the age of eight and sent to live in Benedictine community. (tr. By Barbara Newman)
Scrubbing out sin
She rubs oil into wounds
She is glistening life
Alluring all praise,
all-awakening,
all-resurrecting.”
It is a distressing experience that nevertheless brings us back to Jesus Christ. It is a powerful reminder that walking the road, the imitation of Christ, is no easy task. All this sounds like I know what I am talking about. I don’t. Our eyes are daily pried open when we go out on Mean Street. Like the African American man, when I encounter slights and rejection, real and imagined, I want to turn away, melt away into the shadows with my anger and my pride, my poverty and my shame, my undeniable rage at ‘injustice’ but God gently draws the beggar, the ragamuffin in me with love and kisses my eyes open. Kisses. God never kicks the door open: He knocks gently.
East Side Director, Dwayne Johnson in his talk about Mean Street at the Church of the Hills, Presbyterian Church on November 18th, told us that in the New Testament, from Matthew to Revelation, 122 conversations take place between Jesus and the people. Only 8 of these conversations took place in a religious setting like a synagogue or temple. 114 conversations between Jesus and the people took place on the streets or in someone’s home.
Whether we are in church or outside, there are ample opportunities for us to help or hinder Our Lord’s cause. And what exactly is that? The answers must be different for everyone…to ‘become like Him’, to ‘stop sinning’, to feed the poor and clothe the naked, ‘to allow our hearts to be broken’….
For me, (and perhaps you) like that young African American man, the challenge is to stop turning away, sullen, slighted and angry, to stop counting the injustices and to receive the broken body of Our Lord and the wine of His blood poured out for me.
West Side Director, James Fry, emphasizes prayer in Mean Street. “Mean Street could never happen without prayer,” he says often. And indeed, James’s mother and others behind the scenes are in constant prayer for God’s people, all of them. What follows is another poem prayerfully written by James’s mother.
Help Me See The Glory.
“Oh God help me see the glory beyond the vessel you use. I know man is fallible, though he is your messenger. The Spirit is the truth, the true messenger. We lend our self to the Spirit to exalt your word to spread your word to all the earth. We will stumble if we take our eyes off the cause, forgive us if we fail, please help those that are hurt by the fall of one of your messengers, let them know and see that flesh cannot destroy the credibility of the word of God. Let them realize man is only flesh and the lust of flesh wars at all times against the Spirit. If we let down our relation with the Spirit temptation of flesh enters our souls and we fall. Lord we are grateful for your upholding hand, we stand on the promise that if we fall we will not be utterly cast down, your hand will uphold and lift us up. We will keep the vision of the cross, the salvation of the blood before us. We will yield our spirit to your cause, lead us from temptation, deliver us from all evil, let us run and not be weary, drink from the fountain that never runs dry, keep us ever in your sight, Lord Christ of Calvary, thank you for the old rugged cross.”-Betty Fry.
