Terry Paul Choyce
Dec. 23, 2007, Brunswick Street United Church
I was recently lent a powerful book called Drops of Nectar, and I'd like to read a story from it this morning. It is called "God's Wife."
"A small, impoverished boy was standing barefoot on the NYCity streets, looking wistfully in the window of a shoe store. A well-dressed woman saw him and asked him, ""Why are you looking so solemnly in this window?" The small boy looked up at her and replied, "I am asking God to please give me a pair of shoes."
The woman took the boy's small hand and led him into the shoe store, where she immediately asked the clerk for a basin of warm water and ten pairs of socks. Then, placing the boy's dirty feet into the water, she tenderly washed them and then put a pair of warm socks on him. Then, she told the clerk to bring shoes for the boy.
As they left the store, the boy's small feet now snugly in a pair of new shoes, he clenched the woman's hand and looked up into her eyes. "Are you God's wife?" he asked.
How easy it is to pass by those less fortunate with a simple sigh of sympathy or a token coin or two tossed in their direction. These small gestures of empathy and charity make us feel like we are compassionate people who just live in an unjust world. However, is the homeless man helped by our sigh of pity? Does the coin we hand him really make a difference? Are we really compassionate, or are we just soothing our own consciences?
How much more difficult it is to really stop, take a moment out of our hectic lives and see what is needed. Yet, how much more divine that is. There are always places to be and things to do. If we wait until we are "free" in order to take care of others, the time will never come. Real divinity, real selflessness is giving when it is not necessarily convenient to give. It is giving according to the other's needs, not according to our own agenda and convenience.
We tend to give decadently to ourselves and to our own families. We will pile gifts under the Christmas trees until there is not room left... We love each other and so we give gifts. This is fine. However, let us also remember to extend that compassion and that love to others who really need it. Let us vow never to turn a blind eye on someone in need. Let us vow to use what God has given to us. Let us live our lives as though we, too, are "God's wife."
The other day I went shopping with a friend. She spent about $500 on gifts for her family, carefully picking out what she thought they would like. Over lunch she said, "I bet almost everything I bought today will be returned, because I can never please my family." Isn't that a sad commentary on society today, and it is true for many of us. At Christmas we buy things hoping they will make someone happy, and show them that we love them. But so often, our gifts are unappreciated. The generosity may be acknowledged, but so much money and resources are wasted on useless gifts that sit in closets.
These days many people have decided to give money to charities in the name of their loved ones. You can do this through World Vision, and even the United Church Mission and Service fund. My daughter Sunyata has a nonprofit organisation called Project Colors which helps children all over the world. This year she sold Christmas donation cards, and made over $2500 from people who gave her $25 to send a card like this to friends and relatives. (Hold up card). For those of us who basically have everything we need, it feels good to know we are helping someone in the world. I do not need another blouse. A child in Africa will be fed for a month with the $25 that would have been spent on a blouse I would wear only occasionally. I hope this practice of giving gift cards will grow. And I hope people will be thankful that they are helping to make the world a healthier, more loving place.
Mary Robinson wrote this in her website:
This holiday season, simply try putting compassion first. No matter what the situation find the compassion. Whether it's about money, relationship or job dissatisfaction, health, weight ... any and all situations in your life where a solution has not been found, simply be compassionate with yourself first, compassionate with those involved second and you will feel the world light up with new inspired solutions.
Research about the brain reveals that compassionate thoughts literally light up the frontal lobe of a person's brain. (The frontal lobe is where the mind can access solutions.) When we are resentful or angry, there is no light in that part of the brain, and so we shut down and fail to function well. As soon as we deliberately think compassionate thoughts, this part of the brain lights up, and we can literally go from impossible to possible in an instant.
If we all were more loving and compassionate every day, we would feel happier and so many of the world's problems would be resolved. If the Earth's resources were equally shared, there would be enough food and water for everyone. Wars would cease, conflicts resolved peacefully. As my daughter said in her speech to the Red Cross in November:
" Each of us can make the world a better place, one step at a time. Do you believe even the most basic assistance can make a difference to a child? We do, and we are achieving it... NOW."
So you can help a child in Africa, or you can reach out to a child or a person in your own neighborhood who needs a bit of help or encouragement. Often just a kind word, a smile, a helpful act like shovelling someone's steps can make a huge difference to a person. Like "God's wife" do a random act of kindness. Jesus helped so many people, and you can too.
Praise be the Lord
