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Temptation comes calling
I must admit that I have fun when I walk. I pick up aluminum cans and plastic bottles that have found a home in the gutters. Whenever I should pass someone - most likely a mom with a baby carriage - I smile and say in a somewhat British accent, "Morning". It is my little game, a way that keeps me anonymous along the path I have chosen for that day. This morning while out I stumbled across a wad of money. It was in the middle of the street. There was not a soul around. I stopped briefly, wondering what to do, then I continued on my walk, detouring slightly south. I aimed my sights for the Episcopal Church where I once served as curate (assistant). I was too early to find anyone there, so I ventured a short distance to the nearby Lutheran Church. The chimes were just clocking half past eight when I saw the pastor heading for the side door of the building from his car. "Hey Padre", I shouted and broke the stillness of the grounds. "Hey...do you want some outreach help?" He probably thought I was a bit wacko, yelling and running toward him in bright green shorts and a maroon t-shirt with no sleeves. "Can I help you?" he said. "No, but I think I can be of help to someone by way of you." I told him the story of the $23 that I had just found. We laughed when we both realized that for six years while I served at the corner of Government and Ann he had been at this church. We never even said hello until this moment. "What do you want me to do with this, Rob?" I suggested that we follow a Jewish custom that had been shared with me years ago. Since it is very close to Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) it seemed fitting to honor our God by way of God's Chosen People. The Jews have a custom that when someone they know is going to be on a trip an individual will give the traveler some money that the traveler may give alms to the poor. I told him I considered myself a traveler, not just in my daily walking, but as a pilgrim in the way of Christ. He put his arm on my shoulder and with a smile said, "me too". We agreed that the money would go to his fund to help the transient poor that knocked on his door from time to time. And so it goes..... In the world that says we need to watch out and be wary of the stranger; or that we need to worry about our needs only; or that says who gives a hoot about the numberless, faceless passerbys... two pilgrims took a bit of the ancient traditions of honoring God and honored God's people. A number of years ago a guy by the name of Robert Fulghum wrote a masterpiece called EVERYTHING I NEEDED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN. It was so popular he wrote five or six more books very similar. Fulghum's thesis was well stated. He learned long ago what to do--be nice, pick up, drink your milk, flush, enjoy wonder in life and hold hands when you cross the street. We tend to forget the simple things that mean so much to us as we get older and "adult". Yet in these basic texts of the soul are found the bedrock of what our Lord tells us is a good way. I remember that it is Jesus in the Gospel who tells people that unless they are willing to be as little children they cannot be a part of the Kingdom of God. Without the basics of being fair, kind, honest, helpful and giving where are we and who are we to be? One cannot serve two masters, the Holy and $23 found in the street. I suppose that I am trying to become more like that child within me that always wanted to be good. There is a good chance that with open and honest prayer I can admit to myself and to God that if that $23 had been $123 this column may not hve been written. Temptation comes calling, sounding more like sirens on the shore than the howl of wolves. This is why the people of God need to see in the tradition the childlike goodness of giving as a way of serving God.
One Lutheran; one Episcopalian; two Christians and a Jewish custom. Not a bad start on the pilgrim's road to become a child of God.
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