Month: June 2018

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We will only settle for Encounters

Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, ‘Who touched me?’” He looked all around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”- Mark 5:30-34

The most anticipated word blared out from the obnoxious speakers: “Goaaal!”. It unleashed joyous dancing and screaming among the crowd and we were in the heart of it. There wasn’t much room to dance so everyone just jumped up and down. We were doing it as well, rather involuntarily. All our bodies were so pressed together that we had to follow the rhythm of everyone just to avoid falling to the ground and being trampled. Mary looked a little concerned, maybe even afraid. To think that all this was our idea. Wanderson stood behind us. He was the only teen that was willing to watch the game with us. I thought that it would be good for the children and teens to experience something different. They are always outsiders to all the public events in the city. I thought that they should not miss watching the public screening of the Brazilian team playing in the World Cup. It only happens once every four years. We invited all of the children but only Wanderson was willing to come. Now, I have my doubts. Vulgarities were heard all around. People were saying obscene things about the opponents. Sportsmanship was absent. Our homeless children look like model citizens compared to this lot. Maybe it is better for their souls to be outsiders to all these events.

Mary was not thinking about any of this. She was afraid that any moment now there would be a stampede. Half-time came and we decided that it is best for us to leave. Then came the tough part, navigating our way through bodies pressed together. It required lots of gentle pushing and burrowing through a mass of bodies. As I tried to make my way through the crowd, Wanderson grabbed hold of my hand and held it tightly. He was holding Mary’s hand in the same way. It took us a while but we finally made it through to the exit. Wanderson smiled and told us that he wasn’t that interested in the game anyway. However, he just wanted to come because we invited him.

Being in the middle of a rowdy crowd, just like in the gospel text. It is almost like I planned this event so that I could write about it. I did start the week thinking about the healing of the old woman. I wasn’t think about the crowd or being in a situation as such. My mind was on the woman. She pushed her way through the crowd to have the experience of healing. She wasn’t interested in the person of Jesus per se. He was just a means to an end. All she wanted was to be healed. She had a strong faith in the power of Jesus. So much so that she believed that anything close to His body was permeating with His healing power. This is quite an incredible faith. Unfortunately, it was still immature. It was childlike and childish at the same time. She only wanted to experience healing. Jesus was just a thing to her until Jesus opened the door for her to encounter Him.

There was another episode in the gospel of Luke where ten lepers were healed and only one came back to thank Jesus (Luke 17:11-19). To the one that came back Jesus said, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.” They were all healed from leprosy but only one was truly healed. All of them sought Jesus for healing but for the nine, Jesus was merely a means to an end. Only one saw Jesus as a Person. He was the only one who had a genuinely mature faith. The old woman was blessed in a way. Jesus did not allow her to follow the footsteps of the other nine. He wasn’t going to allow her to leave with a mere experience of healing. He wanted her faith to mature.

Perhaps we can wonder why Jesus made exception for this woman. There was a large crowd following Him, everyone searching for some sort of experience with Jesus. We will never know for sure what makes this woman stand out. Maybe it is because she was a woman. In His society and in present times as well, women are often treated a means to an end. She saw Jesus in the same way because it was the only way she was conditioned to deal with people. The old woman also lost everything including her dignity. It is possible that she thought that all she was worthy of was a mere experience and not a genuine encounter with Jesus.

Experience and encounter are not interchangeable. The former is limited. It is just a more like an emotional event in the sense that it doesn’t change who we are. In the religious environment, there has been a lot of talk about experiences. We are left with a spirituality that reeks with sentimentalism. The nine lepers experienced healing and they still remained ungrateful people. People can have a wonderful experience in a spiritual retreat and not necessarily change anything in their personal lives. People can have a wonderful missionary experience and still not change their outlook of life or treatment of others. This is where it gets interesting for me. I have been spiritually imprisoned in an experience-oriented missionary idea for a long time. Now I am learning to understand what it means to have an encounter. I find that these moments are always transforming how I see life in general.
We brought Wanderson to watch the game because we wanted him to have an experience. At the end of the day we had an encounter instead.

Encounters are not sensational. The soccer event that we attended had huge screens with large speakers. There were decorated stands selling food and drinks. Brazilian flags were flown everywhere and everything was geared towards creating a wonderful soccer experience. However, Wanderson held our hands tightly. This is a seventeen year old boy and he wanted to hold our hands because he felt secure. After we got out of the crowd, he asked me to bring a game of checkers the next day. He wanted to play a quiet game with us. Nothing spectacular here except that we were like parents to a boy who was abandoned in an orphanage at a very young age. All his life, he created a fantasy family. He often told us unbelievable stories about his family which were a poignant reminder to us about the loneliness that these children sense in their hearts. Recently, he has stopped with these stories. He has began to spend more time with us too.

God gives us encounters when we least expect them. It is easy to miss them if our focus is just on accumulating experiences. Albeit, these are easy to fabricate whereas encounters requires us to wait. They don’t come to us by our efforts but are graciously given to us. The woman was happy to be healed but God’s grace made Jesus stop and ask who touched him. She could have left the scene and been happy with her healed body. However, her encounter with Jesus transformed her. Jesus called her daughter. She was God’s daughter, not an abandoned old woman cursed with an illness. She belonged to God. Jesus pointed out that she had the faith to believe this but social conditioning had made her to think otherwise.

I believe that every encounter is a step towards understanding that we are truly God’s daughters and sons. Wanderson’s desire to hold our hands tightly is a response to God’s prompting in his heart that he belongs to someone. He is not alone or lost in this world. He held our hands. We are part of this physically. We are connected to him. It is a privilege God has given us. Not only us, we know that there are people praying for him too. They are also part of being a symbol of acceptance and love for Wanderson. Our experience at the soccer event will be forgotten in weeks to come but our encounter with Wanderson holding our hands like a little child will be remembered for eternity because it is a gracious gift from God.

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As God Slumbers

But Jesus was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”-Mark 4:38-40

It has always been there but I never paid any attention to it. I was too distracted by the storm. The miracle overshadowed my reflection. I thought I understood what Jesus meant by lack of faith. Now, everything seems little different; I listened to the story instead. I did not try to impose my ideas on it. Just listened to it and heard the plea of the disciples, “Do you not care that we are perishing?” Then I looked around and realized that the same plea was once uttered by our children and teens.

Our ministry is with children and teens whose world came tumbling down. Most of them found to be God to be silent or “sleeping” while they felt desperate and lost. In their hearts, they believed that God must not care if they perished. Their passage to the streets is a symbol of resignation. They got tired of waiting for God to wake up. They believe that they are on their own in this life. However, none of them would ever verbalize it. It would have been better if they followed the examples of the disciples and cried out to God, “Do you care that we are perishing?” Instead they carry in their souls this poignant thought that they are alone and rejected even by the only One they hope could save them. Perhaps, this is our task here. Perhaps it is our responsibility to help and encourage them to say the words of the disciples. It was these words that woke Jesus from His slumber.

For years, I have heard and even preached a few sermons myself about the lack of faith in the disciples. However, I did not really understand what was exactly missing in their faith. I used to think that they lacked the faith to believe that Jesus could calm the storm. If this was the case, then it would be unfair of Jesus to rebuke them. No one in their right mind could have imagined this from a religious leader. Whenever there is a hurricane approaching in a given place, no one in their right mind is going to heed a religious leader asking people to stay put and pray the storm away. We expect to evacuate to a safer place because it is the wise and right to do. God has given us the wisdom to act accordingly. Besides, Faith is always in accordance with wisdom but not human reasoning. The latter is limited but wisdom is open and universal. This is where the disciples failed. They used their reasoning. They judged Jesus by the circumstances, not allowing their faith to inform them. Faith produces wisdom. They were companions of Jesus. They had seen Him heal and teach and interact with the people. Yet they doubted whether He cared for them. A simple storm doesn’t change His nature or character. We cannot allow one circumstance or incident to define who God is.

Jesus slept peacefully.

In most situations in our lives, instead of sleeping, we could say God was silent. What the disciples failed to understand is that silence doesn’t mean absence. Jesus was in the boat with them. Perhaps, for many, this does not suffice. Many don’t want a God who suffers with them but One who resolves all their problems. Some churches promote this false ”God”. They claim that our faith can make everything calm and tranquil in our lives. This is a god doesn’t exist. The atheists and agnostics have come to disbelieve in this conjecture. This false teaching also reduces faith into some kind of special and magical tool to get what we want. Whereas the gospel teaches that faith reveals to us the nature of God. It reveals to us a God who chooses to suffer rather than resolve all our problems. It is a God who looks at life from the perspective of the one who is rejected and suffers. Why suffer and not solve the problems and end suffering? Well, God truly has the choice in this matter and He makes an option to suffer. I can’t say any more than this. God is God and He has made His choice. Jesus would rather be sleeping in the boat on brink of destruction than to be safe on shore. If we want to discover this Jesus, then we need to be on the boat amidst the storms of life. We need to be with those whose world is tumbling down. Then we discover some wonderful things about our God.

“Do you care that we are perishing?”

It is not wrong to ask God this question. I think that it would be wrong for me to try to answer it. It is a question only God can answer. However, we cannot know God intimately if we have not asked this question. I am sure that most of us felt moments when we thought that God is either sleeping or not interested. It is not a question that goes unanswered. The answer comes from faith and faith comes from God; not forgetting that it is also part of wisdom.

Those who have received the answer know where their place is in the world. It is not in safe shores but in the boat in the midst of the storm where people feel abandoned and hopeless. While we cannot say why God is silent but we can testify to the fact that He is always present, perhaps even through our presence. This is our hope and prayer for our children and teens living in the streets.

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Unexpected Encounters in Uninteresting Places

Jesus also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth;  yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”-Mark 4:30-32

Things overlooked and perhaps even ignored. These are the things that Jesus used to reveal the nature of the Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom of God is like…someone sowing seeds…a night lamp…a plant that grows in silence…tiny black seeds. It is like everything that doesn’t sound remotely exciting. The squeaky wheel gets the grease but not so with the Kingdom of God. It is quiet and subtle. It is a challenge for us who are impressed with the loud and ostentatious things. Jesus invites us to look at unassuming things and see the Kingdom of God striving and bearing much fruit.

I chose to focus on the parable of the mustard seed. I don’t really know why, after all, it occupies a minute role in His teachings on the Kingdom of God. Perhaps, it is because I am familiar with the spice. I am familiar with its smallness. I am always attracted to small things. Maybe it reveals my lack of ambition. I have always been a pastor to small churches. There are more of them than large ones. When we think about it, the world is made of small uninteresting things. The big and the spectacular are a rarity. Small and mundane things abound in everyday life. People try to escape these boring things. Jesus points us to them. He says that they can teach us about the Kingdom of God.

I spent the first part of the week looking for something to relate our ministry to this parable. I found nothing despite the fact that it was quite an exceptional week. There were many moments when we stopped playing games or any activities and just talked. Nothing of great interest. For a regular person, our topics of conversation might seem dull and pointless. I won’t write anything about them. I want to keep your interest. However, for us, treasures are often found in uninteresting places.

These conversations are a sign that we are growing as a family. The children feel free to talk about whatever comes to their minds just like in a regular household except that we are in the streets. Sandro made a comment a while ago that he feels like he can share his dreams and thoughts with us without being judged or ridiculed.
Unfortunately, with all these good conversations, I still could not find anything to connect us the parable of the mustard seed. I realized that I was looking for something special to occur so that the parable of the mustard seed would shed light on the situation. I was looking for something contrary to the mood of the parables on the Kingdom of God. I neglected the simple and obvious things in life.

I missed the point of Jesus’ teachings. It is such a dangerous place to be; trying to reason out a biblical text while missing out on its essential meaning. I was looking for something spectacular and inspirational to write about God’s kingdom. I was waiting for it to happen, not realizing that it was already there. The Kingdom of God is real and present in the common and everyday things of life. I saw it and yet I did not perceive. I heard it but I did not listen. So I will start again…this time I will be more attentive to the Holy Spirit

This was an exceptional week. Nothing new or spectacular happened. We just played games and talked with the children and teens. We had great conversations. Then I noticed a young woman walked by and she saw our little group sitting on the floor of a square. We were a strange lot but I could see in her eyes that she understood that it was a family. She smiled. It wasn’t an ordinary smile. It was a smile of recognition that goodness and love prevailed in this world. She transmitted her love and happiness to us without saying a word. On the same day, a man walked by with bags of vegetables. His demeanor informs us that he is what we consider in this city as the extremely poor. Most likely he lives in one of the abandoned buildings in the center. He stopped where we were and started fixing his bags of vegetables. He was evenly distributing the vegetables in his many bags. Then he approached us and gave us one of the bags. My initial reaction was to refuse. He needed it more than me. It was strange that he offered it to us. Maybe he thought that we were a homeless family. This is not a bad thing. Then again, maybe we need to start dressing better. Danyel was with us and accepted the bag of vegetables. The man happily gave it to him. He just wanted to share the little he had received. I was a little surprised that Danyel wanted a bag of shredded cabbage and lettuce. To my surprise, within a few minutes, some of the children got salt and vinegar from the restaurants and ate all the vegetables. They actually liked it. Then another man approached us. He is a lawyer. The children and teens knew him. He helps them whenever they have a problem with the Law. He wanted to introduce himself to us. He told us that he has seen us often. We had never seen him before. He gave me his card and said that he was willing to help any time the children or teens needed help. Then, more people walked by and smiled. They were genuinely happy to see our little gathering in the streets.

It was strange because this was really the first time that I noticed the number of people who took notice of our little group. They communicated their love through smiles and sometimes they would stop and talk with us for a few minutes. They would ask about the game and if there is a pet in the midst, they would talk about it. They want to connect with us. We feel blessed when we sense their love. Nothing spectacular, nothing that would be newsworthy in the eyes of the world. However, it is enough to reveal to us that the Holy Spirit is in our midst. The Kingdom of God is not a place or an institution. His Kingdom is made of regular and common people. They are people caught up with the demands of everyday life. Sometimes they can’t find the time or energy to give and share their love as much as they would like. However, they are still able to plant a seed of love here and there. Time is not a gift that they have. These people walked by without realizing their smiles and kind gestures are registered in the hearts and minds of the little family in the street.

Loud and ostentatious things brag about the chaos. Jesus calls us to pay attention to the subtle and eternal Kingdom of God growing in the hearts and minds of His children.

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Inevitable Changes

…and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.” And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.”- Mark 3:20-22

Everyone thought that Jesus was out of control. His relatives wanted the old Jesus back, their simple carpenter relative. It seems like even the virgin Mother wasn’t sure what was going on with Jesus. Maybe she did not like things to change too fast. The spiritual authorities wanted things to remain as they were. For them, any change was perceived as diabolical especially when it didn’t benefit them. Many obviously were happy for these new things. New doors were opened to them. They were no longer outsiders. They were considered part of a greater family as long as they kept their eyes focused on God. The presence of Jesus divided the people. There were two groups.

Nothing has really changed.

“The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of Conservatives is to prevent mistakes from being corrected.”- G.K. Chesterton

This is not a post on politics but it is about changes.

Changes, especially genuine ones, require us to modify how we relate to each other and the authorities. I believe that this is the essence of the gospel text above. It starts off by showing us that the changes that Jesus brought about were incompatible with the ideas of his own family. Total strangers were invading His household seeking healing and comfort. He was upsetting the natural order of families. He did not destroy the traditional family. He expanded the concept to include anyone who wants to do God’s will. His own family did not like the new idea. The religious authorities were completely outside of these new developments. The people did not need them anymore. This was not acceptable. Therefore, they believed that Jesus was the devil. After all, they were God’s chosen ones and since none of these changes were beneficial for them, they concluded that they must be from the devil.

We tend to think that we are living in a time of radical changes. The reality is that it has always been like this. Every age has to deal with changes, good or bad. It is a common practice for people to stand for or against changes on a personal basis. However, this is not an option for us as Christians.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, that the living God is active and present in this world through His Holy Spirit. Therefore we need to listen to the Spirit’s voice. However, we won’t be able to hear the still silent voice of God if we inundate our lives with noises blaring all out differing opinions about these changes. These are ideas based on human wisdom and are incompatible with our vocation. Changes should not be the focus of our meditation but instead we should reflect on what the Spirit is doing in our midst. However, many act as if God is completely absent or mute. As Christians, if we deliberately choose to ignore God’s voice or worse, put our thoughts and opinions in His mouth, then we might be blaspheming against the Spirit.

Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin— for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.” – Mark 3:28-29

These are harsh words. Most importantly, they are directed to Christians because we are the only ones aware that God’s Spirit is present in our midst. The world does not understand the presence of the Holy Spirit whereas we cannot be Christians unless we sense the Spirit working in our hearts. Consequently, we are the only ones who can truly reject or blaspheme against the Holy Spirt by consciously ignoring Him. It is blasphemous to act as if God does not exist or is even powerless to act in this whirlpool of changes that is happening around us. It is incumbent on us to listen to what the Holy Spirit is doing. If not, we might confuse our opinions as divine mandate and this only leads us to a dangerous path of despair.

Everyday we start our time with the children and teens with a prayer. We pray in the same spot. It takes us a good twenty minutes to walk from our home to this place. Our journey there is filled with conversations about the current political situations and problems of the world. Just like anyone else, we have opinions and political convictions. However, once we pray and engage the children and teens, the real world takes control. It is the world that the Holy Spirit is constructing in our midst. All the latest political debates become irrelevant. We forget their existence completely because they have no bearing on what the Holy Spirit is doing.

We saw Danyel by himself. We asked him if he wanted to visit a museum nearby. He smiled and quickly changed his shirt. Unfortunately he changed into one that was worse than the one he wore. However, in his mind, this was his best t-shirt. It was a museum about the history of the city. It did not take us long to go through it. We decided to have a cup of coffee and hot chocolate for Danyel. I asked him if he liked his beverage. He said, “I liked everything. Everything was wonderful.” He asked if we could take him to a library one day. He has never been to a library. The next day, he ran up to us and gave us a big hug. We were a family when we went to the museum that day and Danyel loved it. In many ways, we loved it as well. This is the change God is doing in our midst. He is bringing love into our souls, the kind of love that we never knew that was possible. In a world where changes are tainted with hatred and violence, God is constructing a family founded on the love that heals and restores. God is building a family within our souls. Danyel is our son and we are his parents. However, the world will never understand this. However, those who listen to the Holy Spirit will understand. The change that God is bringing into this world is one that builds and reconciles. It is an eternal change. Those who want to hold on to the methods and values of this world have to, by default, reject what God is doing.

Changes come and go but the things God is doing in our midst are for eternity.

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