Living in the Spirit
May 16, 2016

Scripture Reading: Luke 14:1, 7-14

He said also to the one who had invited him, ‘When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.’ –Luke 14:12-14

There is no question that my family, friends, and various church families have had an enormous impact on me making me stronger and wiser. There is also no question that the strangers I have encountered throughout my life journey have too. Even the most limited contact can make a life-changing difference.

My dad and my Uncle Harvey were both veterans of World War II, so I have a special place in my heart for vets. While serving the hungry homeless as a volunteer, I was tasked with handing out fried pies with pictures of green ninja turtles on the front. Well over six-foot-tall, a bronze-skinned broad-shouldered Native American proudly wearing his dog tags advanced in the slow moving line to my station. I guessed he was a Korean War vet. He picked up one of the fried pie packets and asked, “What kind of pie is green?” He could not read. I told him it was filled with vanilla pudding that the pictures were characters from a movie. He smiled and took one. I guess he liked vanilla pudding. My empathy for homeless vets grew mightily that day. While we do need to welcome the stranger for their benefit, we get at least as much in return in opening our hearts and minds to a fuller understanding of the world in which we live making us better conduits of God’s love.

Prayer: God of Mercy and Justice, open our hearts to see what we need to see, hear what we need to hear to serve you more nearly. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.