quiet time

by

A Band of Strangers

If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.-John 15:18-19

If I say that it has been a tough week, it would automatically set a precedence for this post. I have to explain what happened. I am not willing to commit to this. It would suffice to say that we experienced some unpleasant events. The details are irrelevant. They were disruptive but they did not steal anything from us. I am writing exactly what I wanted before these unfriendly interruptions. We had a special encounter with two older boys, Felipe and Wallace. It was so ordinary that it was special. I wanted to share it everyone.

Wallace wanted to know if I had some pictures. “Any picture will do,” he said. I took one of our coloring books and he chose a picture from it and took out a tattered notebook and started drawing. This was something new. Wallace never liked to draw before. His specialty was coloring and he did an excellent job of it. However, he wanted to do something new and different. Felipe took out his favorite Japanese comic book and started drawing a picture of the main character. He was drawing something for us to show to the people in the churches in Florida. Not too long ago, both these young men lacked the confidence to try anything new. Now they are challenging themselves. Mary and I decided to color. There we were, all four of us sitting in a church square doing our respective projects. Not a word was exchanged between us. Everyone who walked by was curious to see us sitting in silent harmony. It was peaceful. It was at this time that I thought about writing this post. It has been a long journey to get to this point where we can be silent with each other and yet at the same be challenged by each other’s presence to grow and develop our respective talents. Felipe felt confident in our presence and Wallace was beginning to nurture his self-esteem too. They both were doing very well in their drawings. Wallace chose a complex picture of a peacock and Felipe was having a conversation with himself on what to erase and how to make the perfect nose for his picture. Wallace completed his picture first and it was amazing. He was a natural, something he did not realize that he had in himself. Felipe was revealing his perfectionist side. Everything needed to be just right and mistakes were not allowed. Consequently, he took a longer time to complete his drawing and he divided it into sections. No one has ever taught him to anything of this sort. He did it naturally. We sat there in our quiet meditation for an hour at least and then we were briefly interrupted. This was a pleasant break. It was a homeless adult who came over with another teen from our group. She was carrying a cake. It was the adult’s birthday. We have seen him before but we do not know him. All the children and teens are friendly towards him. He wanted everyone to give him a hug. In the midst of all the hugging, I was overlooked. Felipe took a piece of cake and he wanted me to share his piece with him. He insisted and I took the piece that he broke off for me. Then he told the others that we shared the cake together. The birthday boy was obviously mentally challenged and behaved like a child even though he turned 36 on this day. I realized that our children and teens were looking out for him.

We returned to our quiet time. Unfortunately, it did not last long. There was an incident. There were verbal intimidation. It was teens from another area and they were being disrespectful and aggressive. Felipe decided to stop drawing. The moment was gone. We decided to leave the scene. As we were leaving, Felipe reminded that I owed the birthday boy a hug. I gave him a big hug and he was pleased.

Next day, we arrived and everyone was waiting for us. The group extended from two to eight. We decided to go to another place so that we wouldn’t be interrupted like the day before. We went to the steps of the cathedral. As incredible as it sounds, we had a repeat of the same quietness and peace we had the day before. Unfortunately, we also experienced the same interruption. This time it was people of authority with their guns in their hands. They surrounded us for no apparent reason and started uttering abusive words to our children and teens especially to a young 13 year old. Their crime was that a couple of them had paint thinner in a bottle. None of them were sniffing. They knew that they were not allowed to do so in our presence. These men of authority did not care. They wanted to show their power over us. Their abuse of authority continued until almost all the teens stood up and walked away except one who stayed with us. Before they left, they said that they would be back when these people were gone. We did not want to come back there. It was a horrible experience for us all. We went home a little sad. So many interruptions and verbal violence, all we wanted is to have a quiet time with these children and teens. There is always the next day.

There was no one around when we arrived on the following day. We waited for a while and then they started showing up one by one. We told them that all the hurtful words that were said yesterday were lies. They told us that they were used to it. They always heard these words hurled at them by people in authority. This wasn’t the point, we insisted. We wanted them to know that they were all lies. Words like worthless and trash should not be used in reference to people. They understood what we were saying. They know that we don’t approve of anyone talking about them in such manner. However, we were just as powerless as they were when it happened. Those with the guns have the protection of the authorities. We were nobody just like the kids in the eyes of society. However, we were someone to the only One that matters. We sat and played a game and it was peaceful once again. There were no interruptions this day. Before we left Felipe said, “It is wonderful when we can just have these peaceful times together without any interruptions.” I don’t think that I can say anything more after these thoughtful and sincere words.

 

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by

Wasteful Living

While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head. Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume?”-Mark 14:3-4

We were just sitting in the square waiting for the children and teens. It was too hot for us to walk around looking for them. There was no one around yet but we know that they always come to this particular square. We just decided to just wait. Today we did not bring much stuff with us. We just had some coloring books and we wanted to do a quiet activity. We figured that if we started coloring without them, maybe they might just come and join us without any prompting from us. Sure enough, our quiet activity attracted someone. It was a lanky teenager named Filipe who seemingly appeared out of nowhere. He has lived in the streets for a long time. He just turned 18 but he still acts and behaves like a child. I don’t mean that he is immature. He has been to maintain his innocence throughout this time. It is quite a miracle. Filipe always has a smile for us. He treats us with the uttermost respect but at the same time, he is one of the most closed teenagers. He hardly shares anything about his past and rarely participates in any activity with us. We were really surprised when he asked if he could color as well. We had a coloring book that was for older teens and adults and it was supposed to be a therapeutic coloring book. All I can say about it was that it was very relaxing for me to just sit there and color. Filipe sat down next to us and started coloring in silence. Then Dreyson appeared. He is another tough teenager. He always high on something and it is hard to engage him in any conversation. He watched us quietly for a while sniffing paint thinner in a plastic bottle. He decided to put away the paint thinner and asked if he could color as well. A few others came and did the same. We sat there in the square coloring different figures and pictures. It must have been strange for those who walked by us. Some must wonder why we are wasting our time coloring when we should be doing something more productive. Well, it was a good afternoon of holy waste. It was productive as well. We were very grateful for it.

A lot of things we do can be considered a waste of time. There are people who might consider missionary work as a waste of time and money. If these people saw us sitting around and coloring, they might even argue that we are proving their point. I won’t try to argue my way out of this one. Instead I will say that they are right. “Yes”, it is a waste of time and money. There are many things we do in life which are a waste of time and money. A church building is a waste of time and money. Why do we need to have a building to meet? For that matter, why do we even need to meet together for worship? In this age of internet and technology, wee can just transmit all that we need to hear and see through the computer or mass media. There is no need for buildings, no need for priests or ministers. In fact, is there really a need for religion? Many secular groups can do charitable works. We don’t need the church to do these, things. We have counselors who are better trained to help people than priests and ministers. If we were really pragmatic, we don’t need many of things we spend time and money on in this world. Even prayers can be considered a waste of time. Jesus Himself said that God knows what we need before we pray, so why bother praying? There are also other things we do on a daily basis that can be considered a waste of time and money, like reading, drinking coffee, and watching TV. There are a lot of things in life that do not appear to be necessary. If we did away with all these things Life would be colorless and empty. Perhaps, what appears to be a waste might be necessary to help us appreciate that which is precious and wonderful in Life.

Perhaps I could be doing something else with my life at this age than sitting on the filthy floor of a square and coloring with kids. This might appear to be a waste of talent. However, for us, it is one of the most enriching moments of our life. Filipe got done before the rest and he sat there with the rest of the children and took out a bible from his bag. He started reading from the Psalms. I never knew that he had a bible and he liked reading from it. When I asked him if he had a favorite Psalm, he smiled and said that he liked whatever he read. Another older teenager, Caio started sharing that he loves to listen to the street preachers just to hear something significant and then he shares it with the others. Filipe then took out a book about a drug addict who managed to kick his addiction through the strength of his faith. He gave the book to Mary and asked if she would read it and then talk about it with them. Dreyson also started opening up. He shared about his family. He told us that he has eight brothers and sisters. His younger brother, Daniel, also in the streets, has a twin sister living at home. He talked about his life at home and this was the first time he shared anything personal with us. He just did it without any prompting from us. I could go on and on but I won’t. All my years of seminary training has never really taught the lesson I think I am learning in the streets that intentionally ‘wasting time’ to be with people can be very productive. We felt such a strong bond being fostered between us and the children. They figured that if we were willing to waste our time by sitting around with them that they must be special to us. There is no other way to show how special someone is to us unless we are willing to put away so called important things and just waste time with them. What others perceive as waste is worth its price in gold in the language of Love.

The message of the gospel is a message of Holy Waste. God wasted His Son’s life for the very people who murdered Him. It was this willingness to throw His life away for a brood of ungrateful people that made the centurion say,“This man truly was the Son of God.” (Mark 15:39) If we never willing to waste our time and energy on people, we will never discover the meaning of the gospel. The Truth revealed in the words of Jesus are found in holy wasting. It is discovered when we give ourselves to doing things or maybe not doing anything for the sake of being with someone whom we love.

A Christian once asked me why he should be helping a missionary work in foreign land when it would not bring any benefit to his local community? I think such a question is revealing. It shows that perhaps we have not understood the depth of the gospel. This person is not ready for missionary work in any shape or form. He needed to understand the gospel first. Not just intellectually, but he has to allow the Truth of the gospel to penetrate into his being. Then he would understand that he wouldn’t be able to experience the depth of God’s love if someone hadn’t wasted their time and energy to bring the Truth of the gospel to him. I am here in Brazil because someone wasted their time to share the power of the gospel to me. The gospel compels us to waste our time for something greater and more powerful than what our physical eyes can perceive. It compels us to see a different set of values present in which there is no such thing as wasteful time when it helps to bring out the true value of one’s personhood.

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