‘But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market-places and calling to one another, “We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.”
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “He has a demon”; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, “Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax-collectors and sinners!” Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.’ Matthew 11:16-19

I remember sitting at a dining table and listening to a group of older men talking about how the younger generation lacked good sense and values. They were talking about me. I was the younger generation then. I thought that their criticism was unjust and I was thinking about a few comebacks. However, I was brought up in an Asian culture where we were taught to be respectful to our elders. I decided to keep my thoughts to myself. Besides they were also paying for my dinner. If I had my chance, I would have said that the present generation was reaping the sins of the previous one. Now, I have switched sides. I did not know how but it just happened. Recently, I was talking with my friend about how the younger generation was lacking the values and virtues which our generation cherished so much. I guess that it is always easy to see the speck in someone’s eyes while ignoring the log sticking out of one’s own eyes. The reality is that no generation is virtuous nor depraved completely. However, in every generation the Eternal Light is present. Unfortunately, sometimes we can be so obsessed with our self-righteousness that we fail to recognize this Light altogether. As Christians, we are called to be different. Anyone can point out the ills of a generation but we need wisdom to recognize the presence of the Light of the World in all times and seasons.

Just this week I was challenged with an interesting question. It was from a friend who identifies himself as a non-Christian but is constantly haunted by his Christian upbringing. These are his words. I have to say that it is a very original way of describing oneself. He elaborated that he found his religious upbringing to be one which was oppressive and which he gladly rejected. However, he finds himself drawn to Christians who lived their lives radically in their evangelical vocation. His personal heroes are John Wesley and the Christian philosopher, Soren Kierkegaard. His question was how and why the person of Jesus was universally relevant for all times and peoples. It was a sincere enquiry and he was really asking this in relation to our ministry. He wanted to know why I thought Jesus was relevant to the lives of our homeless children and teens. In reality, the question is one that every Christian needs to consider before engaging any evangelistic endeavor.

Frankly speaking, I never heard a question framed this way before. I needed time to construct an appropriate answer when one of my friends who was listening blurted out the best possible answer. This particular friend had identified himself as agnostic until recently. He struggled for a long time with the doctrines and practices of the church of his upbringing. For a long period, he confused God with the doctrinal image of his particular religious denomination. During his wanderings in his own spiritual desert, he reencountered Jesus. He responded that the person of Jesus is the one who helps him understand God’s living presence in this world. There was a time when he just understood the doctrines about Jesus but his rereading of the gospels helped him encounter there the person of Jesus in the lives of people living according to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. I have to admit that his answer was better than any I could have offered. Mainly because when I met him ten years ago, he was bordering on becoming a full fledged atheist but now he is defending the universal relevance of Jesus. I just had one thing to add, “This is why I am in the streets with the homeless children and teens. I want to see Jesus in a real and personal way.”

Every ministry whether it is serving food at the soup kitchen or visiting a homebound friend or neighbor or a ministry like ours among the homeless is an opportunity for us to meet the living Christ. More than an opportunity, this is the primary motivation for us to engage in these ministries. This is perhaps what separates Christian ministry and good works. There is nothing wrong with people who do good works. We need them and we should laud them for their dedication. However, there is something more sacramental in Christian ministry. It flows out of our liturgical experience at the Lord’s table. Since I am an Anglican priest, I will write as one. In our tradition, we refrain from defining how He manifests Himself in our worship. The central focus is our assurance in His words that when two or three are gathered, He is present. This faith-induced confidence compels us to go out into the world and identify Jesus in our midst. It is the source of our wisdom. The world can see problems and despair clearly. However, we have the Light of Christ in us and He helps us to identify and testify His presence in this world. I, very much like the older people in my past, acted like the rest of the world. I was impressed with the darkness. However, my faith compels me to seek the One who is present and alive in all periods of history. There is no generation void of His living presence despite all the problems and difficulties they bear. Unfortunately, we have eyes but sometimes we don’t see and ears but sometimes we don’t hear. Thankfully, every Sunday, at His table, the Healer of our souls can and will open our eyes and ears to see His everlasting Grace living and active in this world.

We had a slow week in the streets. There is lots of police action. The local governor wants to clean up the center so that the tourists can return. We have seen this movie before. There is active police presence and then it slowly diminishes and the center is abandoned. It sounds cynical on my part. Unfortunately, this has been happening for the past thirty years. As Albert Einstein once wisely stated,

“We can’t expect things to change, if we continue doing the same things.”

There were moments where it seemed like there were more police than civilians in the streets. In Brazil, we have wide array of police; municipal guards, military police, special forces police…they were all there. Consequently, all our children and teens have disappeared. They are not gone but in hiding. We saw one or two who were brave enough to venture out. We stayed where we always meet them. We don’t know where they are but it is important that they know where they can find us. We had a slow day yesterday where we hardly saw anyone. On our way home, a man called out to us. At first we thought perhaps he was going to ask for directions. Instead, he just wanted to talk. He worked in the local district attorney office. He commented that he had seen us for years working with the children and teens and always wanted to get to know us. He asked if we were part of some social agency. I said that we were with the Anglican Church and our purpose is to be a spiritual presence among the children. Before I could elaborate further, he interrupted and said that he was not a Christian but he always admired the things we did with the homeless youth. He is also an artist and hoped that maybe one day he could share with us his artistic work in relation with the homeless children. He kept repeating that he has seen us for years and always desired to have contact with us.

We thought that our day was uneventful but in the least expected way, Jesus showed Himself to us through this man. Even when nothing apparently happens, something also occurs when our actions spring forth from a desire to meet the living Christ.