Inspirations by Chava Redonnet, Chaplain |
Oscar Romero Inclusive Catholic Church Friends, We had a rather blessed experience at St Romero¹s last week. There was a miscommunication about use of the dining room at St Joe¹s, and we had to move our service over to the hospitality room. Not a big deal, but a bit of a blessing nonetheless, because it gave us a chance to taste a little of the reality of poverty: of being in the way, and having to move out of our borrowed space to another place nobody else needed. I can tell you, it didn¹t feel very good. But I¹m glad I got to feel it, because as an educated, white, straight middle-class North American, I¹m one of the most privileged people on the planet. I¹m one of the people with a US passport that gets a polite greeting from the border patrol folks at the airport, passing through with no trouble. I¹m one of the people who can go almost anywhere on the planet and find there¹s somebody who speaks at least a little of my language, who can climb a remote hill in El Salvador and find advertisements from my culture on the wall in a house made out of sticks and plastic. The good news in the gospel this week is that being on top of the world like that isn¹t actually the great place it seems to be. Being on top of the world insulates us from not only pain, but joy. I don¹t know why that is. This is a red-letter week for readings, because we also have Paul telling the Corinthians that God uses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and the weak to shame the strong. I don¹t know why it is but I know it¹s all true. Some of the greatest joy I¹ve ever felt has been sitting in the dining room at St Joe¹s with some of the folks that have come to us. This past Sunday, too, a couple of people came in off the street to join us for Mass, and as we were sitting in silence after communion, I could feel the presence of God --- just like I used to feel God¹s presence up in the library at St Joe¹s when we used to celebrate our little communion services up there. It¹s a mystery but somehow God is present with us in littleness and humbleness and foolishness in a way that we just get insulated from when we¹ve got it all together. Somehow the brokenness lets God in. Personally, I¹m quite happy to be God¹s little fool, and have this tiny little church squatting in borrowed space and not knowing what the future holds. So come and be broken and little and humble with us, sometime. Come celebrate the mystery of the God who enters human history as a helpless infant, child of poor parents in an oppressed backwater of the empire, and grows up to die like a criminal, and triumphs over death. I don¹t get it but I know it¹s wonderful. Come and be blessed. Love to all,
http://files.me.com/romorgan/lif7ev Oscar Romero Church Previous Inspirations by Chava Redonnet: Inspirations-November-2009 Inspirations-November-18-2009 =============
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