Invisible ones

Invisible ones

Invisible ones,   Wallflowers,

Untouchables,   Foreigners,

Outcasts,   Aliens,

Odd folks

Weird ones

Different

These are words we use for people. People who aren’t in “our Group”.   What does Jesus call them?

  MY Child, (Psa 2:7)  "I will announce," says the king, "what the LORD has declared. He said to me: 'You are my son; today I have become your father.

(Psa 8:4)  what are human beings, that you think of them; mere mortals, that you care for them?

Heb 12:5  Have you forgotten the encouraging words which God speaks to you as his children? "My child, pay attention when the Lord corrects you, and do not be discouraged when he rebukes you.

 My  beloved,      Rom 9:25  This is what he says in the book of Hosea: "The people who were not mine I will call 'My People.' The nation that I did not love I will call 'My Beloved.'

My chosen,  Exo 19:5  Now, if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own people. The whole earth is mine, but you will be my chosen people,

Deu 10:15  But the LORD's love for your ancestors was so strong that he chose you instead of any other people, and you are still his chosen people.

Deu 14:2  You belong to the LORD your God; he has chosen you to be his own people from among all the peoples who live on earth.

My Bride,  Son 4:10  Your love delights me, my sweetheart and bride. Your love is better than wine; your perfume more fragrant than any spice.

 my brother, My sister, Mat 12:50  Whoever does what my Father in heaven wants is my brother, my sister, and my mother."

Mar 3:35  Whoever does what God wants is my brother, my sister, my mother."

,

 my sheep,  Joh 10:27  My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

Psalm 23

Luke 10

Luk 10:30  And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.

Luk 10:31  And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

Luk 10:32  And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.

Luk 10:33  But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,

Luk 10:34  And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

Luk 10:35  And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.

Luk 10:36  Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?

Luk 10:37  And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.

 We have all heard this parable many times but think about it for a minute

 The Samaritan was not of this ‘mans’ crowd, not of his church, in fact he was of the untouchables group of that time.

He was the one they would “never” associate with. He was the sinner, evil, wrong,    pick any word you like. He was the wrong side of the tracks, the “nothing”. In fact he was anything you would consider not right.

 Whichever group or groups of folks you would least like to spend time with or are afraid to spend time with, this is the Samaritan to you.

 Who's your neighbor? Anyone who's not you!

 An example would be, we were down in Galveston and had my mom with in a wheelchair. We were trying to negotiate one of the side roads near the cruise terminal. You know the ones with stairs that are odd heights and slopes to them. When suddenly a group of young men arrived. Probably skaters I would say and about 4 of them. They had the usual baggy pants and chains and odd hairstyles, tattoos, piercings. You know pretty much the opposite of these old fuddy duddie folks with the mom in a wheelchair. Well they quickly surrounded us and said, “here let us help you” and as we were still gathering our whit’s, they gently lifted moms chair and took it down the few steps and set it down carefully and were almost gone before we could say thank you. We never even had time to be nervous, afraid, horrified at their dress, or any of the “usual” reactions we so often could  give.

Jesus wants each of us to pray  “Lord let me see everyone through your eyes” Everyone is someone special to God.

 Many years ago I invited someone to church and they said “oh no I don’t have anything to wear” God immediately nudged me to say “hey it’s fine to come in jeans, and I will wear jeans too” I was immediately sad to think folks would feel they couldn’t come to church because they didn’t have “church clothes”. From then on I made a point of going in casual clothes, mostly jeans. That way any of my neighbors whom I might invite would know I usually went in jeans and not feel odd or singled out. I  don’t think it is wrong to wear smart clothes, or pretty clothes. I just think we need to think why we wear the clothes we do. I know many do it from respect for God. This is a lovely thing to do, but as long as we are not then judging others by our standards and saying they are disrespecting God by not wearing smart clothes. WE do not know their story even when we think we do. Only God knows the heart.

God sees hearts and souls not clothes and hair and anything about the outside of the body. In fact God gave me an idea and I am trying to paint it of what His view of a church looks like on any given worship day.

In His view there are not separate bodies all dressed beautifully or not as the case may be. Each person is but merely a glow with a heart inside it, a dimmed room full of lovely spots of colour.

Some are bright, some are soft, some are intense and some mellow

Each heart may be healthy and pink or dark and almost dead. Some are sort of half and half, some are surrounded by thorns, or wire like barbed wire, some are completely free.

The dark ones were the ones who were only in church because it was what you should do. Not because they loved God or wanted to be there, but who were just there out of duty or habit. The bright ones were the ones who had accepted Christ as their savior. The ones who were half and half were the ones struggling and fighting with themselves and God would show them a taste of His love and it would linger.

 The brightest clearest ones are I believe the ones who really, really trust God every day for everything. You know the ones I mean, the little old lady who smiles, not because she has everything like big houses or cars, but because she actually has peace. Real peace, peace to know that nothing she does today will change her Lord’s love for her and even if she doesn’t have food or shelter God does love her. She doesn’t gauge His love by her health and happiness but by just Knowing Him. Or the young person who just loves God and doesn’t even think about next year or maybe the year after, they just know that right now they need to be doing this job for the Lord right here whether it is in the civilized world or the boondocks. They realize there are just as many lost folks in our big cities as there are in the jungles. All they want to do is serve the Lord and they are doing just that.

Who is our neighbor?  Interesting Question from Jesus to us.            Physically, right now, on my street, For me, that includes Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, Asian, Indian, Arabian/Middle eastern. Those are some of the folks I know on my street and no I don’t know them all yet. Let’s go a bit further. Their beliefs are, Baptist, Full Gospel, Methodist, Hindu, Buddhist, atheist, Presbyterian and those again, are just the ones I know of. By the way I counted the other night and feel very blessed. I counted at least 7 houses or families I would feel comfortable going and knocking on their door at 2am in the morning if I was actually in trouble or need, just on my street.

The Samaritan was the example Jesus used.  The man from another country, not any country but The other country, another  belief system. The man who looked “strange, weird, odd, different”.  Kind of like me. The man they would see as the one who didn’t belong, who was “wrong”.

  Also the man known as being unclean. Perhaps in this day and age it might be,  the person with the dirty clothes  from coming from the gym, work, or living on the street. Perhaps they are the person who dresses differently to you, Perhaps the one with the odd ornamentations like striped hair, pierced ears, pierced whatever, tattoos, painted nails, make-up.  Yes you laugh, yet to some folks the things we see as normal, are as offensive as whatever you would consider weird or odd or ugly. The sinner, evil,   like me?

 We all think we are normal. Let that sink in for a minute. Yes each of us sees our way, our culture, our likes, or dislikes as Normal. Let me explain

I think painted nails are fun in fact painted nails make doing yucky jobs like dishes way more fun. My best friend ‘s Brother Thomas Tapping used this example in his sermon at her wedding, but used the engagement ring as his example. I mean here you are washing these yucky pots and pans and suddenly there is this little sparkle of colour. Suddenly you think you know there is always a sparkle even in the depth of yuck, a splash of colour, a bling of light. Maybe that’s it just a flash of colour to keep you from going crazy while doing the dishes, a small reminder of the love and the gratefulness of having dishes to wash.

 Well to my friends mom the painted nails meant I was a loose or painted woman and oh my,  the  colours ( I liked denim blue to match my evil denims, yes Denims were considered evil then too).  Obviously I was just trying to get a man’s attention. Well I was 14 and had not any idea of getting a man’s attention. I had fun things to do with my friend and was going back to school in a few days and wasn’t allowed such frivolous stuff as nail polish.  Back then  we wore uniforms with no adornments like make up or jewelry. So it was just plain fun.

You see it was paint and nails but there were two very different view points. Both of us thought we were the normal one. Well folks it is, at the basest form, just nails and paint. Nothing evil in and of themselves,  just nails and paint. How we use them is what makes the difference. Where our heart is. That is what really counts.

 Hence we cannot judge, we don’t have all the facts, God on the other hand does have all the facts, He alone can judge the heart. We look through our glasses (an in our viewpoint)and see what we see. God looks through His eyes and sees a whole different world.

The point is we judge people.  We shouldn’t but we do.

I wonder ,

We don’t judge like God does though do we? We judge by what we can see and God judges by what He can see. Big difference. We see what sits outside and a bit of what we are shown of the inside. Sort of like looking at a box with a cracked open lid. God sees from inside the box.

 Therefore we mess up big time every time. Why do we judge people.

Usually to see if we measure up. Am I as good, hopefully better, perhaps?

I mean if I am better that’s good, but if I am the best well.

 What do we all want in life? To be valued accepted and loved.

 After that we substitute stuff.

Take a small child all they want is to know you think they are special and important and loved.

 Then we learn if we can get them to spend time on us we must be important, if we can get them to spend money on us we must be important. Right? So we watch and see, wait they spent time/money on ….. so I need to be like that right the  ….. to be important, or special. In fact, if I can be better than ….. that is even better. I might get more time or money. I mean time and money are the two things that seem to equate to value.  Rich people are obviously more important people than poor people, right? Funny when you say it out loud we all go NO but that is how we act. We also think famous people are more important, Not sure why but we do. We even try be like them.

AM I good enough, nice enough, cool enough whatever. The answer is actually yes no matter what anyone else thinks

I am important

Not because of what I have done, seen, been etc

 But because God loves me. Not because I am a Christian, no God loved me before that. He loved me before I was born.

 Jer 1:5  Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

You see we have worth from before conception and yet we push others down and pull on some to try and grow to the top of the heap.

Who are the invisible ones

Waiters who fill your water glass.

Person in the deli who sells you cheese or cold cuts each week

Person who fills the shelves in the grocery store

Mailman/woman

Lady/guy  at the checkout anywhere.

 Person fetching carts in the parking lot

Valet

Homeless people

Person walking around your block

Trash man

Recycle guy

Yard guy

Guy sweeping the floor of the store you are in

Lady in your bible study class who hasn’t said anything and you don’t quite know her name

Lady who sits in that same seat in church each week with the same sweater.

The lady who only came to the bible study that once.

The teachers helper

The kid in your Sunday school class who never said a word

The person playing the piano in the middle of……the mall, hospital etc

The person sitting in the corner of the office just doing the job

The volunteer who just does and never says much

The nurse who weighs you at the doctors office or checks you out on the way out.

 The untouchables

 Usually the people who makes us afraid.

The homeless guy at the traffic light or in the parking lot.

The woman sitting on the side of the road just sitting

The gay folks

Those folks with the Tattoos and weird clothing and things.

Kids with those baggy pants and chains hanging from their pocket

Women who dresses a lot too revealing

The weird folks from other countries who still wear their traditional dress or customs

 The “different folks”

Downs folks

Disabled as in wheel chairs

Disabled as in having mental disabilities like so many diseases we know Bi-Polar, Epilepsy etc.

Yes they are disabilities My friend with epilepsy could not drive for many years and another young man I knew never got to drive ever.

Folks who never mature completely in the usual sense of the word.

Folks who have bodies that did not grow as we expect when in the womb so who look very different.

 Why do we treat these folks differently often we are afraid.

 Fearful they might need our help or they might rub off on us.

WE might be seen to be like them or endorsing their views.

 Afraid they might hurt us.

“ The best way to destroy an enemy is to make them your friend” is what Abraham Lincoln said and it is very true. Usually we are angry or afraid because we don’t know enough about the other person. Maybe they are angry and grouchy or fierce or mean. But what if that is because they were abused, neglected, or hurt in some other way. Maybe they are carrying a burden too heavy for them?

Perhaps they are sick you know one of those, not bleeding all over, so no one knows, type of sicknesses.  Once you get to know them you may find they are just like you, a human who wants what you want. You know love, attention, health, happiness for their children?

Response

How do we respond to this. What are we going to do with this knowledge. If nothing it is worth nothing.
If we want to grow closer to God surely we need to internalize it and do something with it.

 Maybe break out of our comfort zone in some way.

 Perhaps we should start small.

 A good story is about way back in the day when I was a nurse. We had this really grumpy argumentative guy in our ward.  We had 20 bed wards and had ten beds each side so no real privacy. He was the rude crude etc. type. Well one day the nurses decided to pretty much ignore him and were just speaking to each other and the nurse aide asked the nurse how it was going with her boyfriend. Well she just burst into tears as he had just broken up with her and was already going out with some other young lady. They were making beds all the way down the ward and were doing the beds around his bed at that point. The nurse aide tried to cheer her up and off they went.

Well I noticed he was just really quiet after that and finally started being really nice to all of us. So being nosy I said um what’s up? Suddenly you are mr. Nice guy. Well he stopped and said I heard her telling about the jerk and suddenly realized you folks are just humans too. You see he had seen us as the enemy who were poking and prodding not as humans who hurt and had feelings.

So as I say lets start small and find the human in the other person.

 Pick someone whom you would not normally involve in conversation and ask them how they are doing? But not in those words as we are mostly trained to throw out a fine or great to that query.

How about How is your day going? Or maybe to the person checking you out in a store, saying something like, has it been a long day or is it nearly time to go home? Yes they will be amazed but try it. You will find they are amazed at being treated like a human instead of a robot.  How about just making a point of looking at your wait staff and saying thanks like you really mean it. Try asking to speak to the manager and then compliment the server preferably in their hearing and say something nice about the food. Yes you will be amazed at the sudden look of relief on their faces. Both of their faces. You see that was not so hard. You might find you have actually brightened their whole day. How about the person who walks around your block. Imagine their face if you were out watering your yard and said hi how are you. No the nod doesn’t count.

 Then we can move onto the next step the really scary one.

If you shop at the same place all the time perhaps you could take the time to learn the name of one or two of the checkers especially if you shop there often and see them a lot. Perhaps you could take cookies or Chocolates or even a soda or two to the folks in the Pharmacy, or coffee shop (bet they are sick of their stuff  they sell), or doctors office.

 If you are really feeling brave how about volunteering to help with special Olympics, or to help at a school in the special education area, ( you will have to be screened so don’t freak out this is normal) or at an Alzheimer’s unit, or teaching folks how to read at the library. Maybe doing a free math class at the community center or YMCA. But remember please do it with an open heart.