Daily Lesson for August 5, 2014

Today's daily lesson comes from Acts chapter 3 verses 

 4 And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” 5 And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. 6 But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” 

"You was the onlyest person that looked past my skin and past my meanness and saw that there was somebody on the inside worth savin...We all has more in common than we think. You stood up with courage and faced me when I was dangerous, and it changed my life. You loved me for who I was on the inside, the person God meant for me to be, the one that had just gotten lost for a while on some ugly roads in life." Denver Moore, Same Kind of Different as Me

A hundred faces packed outside the doors, beneath the awning where the sign says "St. Benedict's Chapel - Feeding Body and Soul". Some faces are dirty and sunburnt, looking tired and empty beneath a canopy of matted hair - these are unmistakably the faces of the least of the least of these.  Other faces are young, some still tender and smooth-skinned.  Some children.  Some child-like.  

A toothless, black man edges his face close to the window and rattles the door.  "When you gonna pray for us preacher?  I'm hungry."  Another face rides in on his bike, his pantleg tied up with a rubber band so as not to get caught in the chain.  His hair is silver and course.  He cannot hear; but there is life in his eyes.   Is he 80?  85?  How far has he ridden?  A mile?  Five miles?  An eternity?  In the corner is the face of one who makes me uneasy.  Shaded in glasses and talking gibberish to himself - a schizophrenic?  Then there is the face of the prostitute. And the pimp. And the pusher. And the four Saliz girls - all eight and under - living in the shelter not far from here. Their father is at work. Their mother is going back for her GED. They will get extra dessert tonight - along with a secret prayer.  

These are the faces waiting at the door. Waiting to be seen. Waiting to be known. Waiting to be welcomed and served as the sign behind the counter says, "As Jesus."

We serve the meal. My daughter serves along with me plus a dozen others from our church. It's Thursday - meatloaf night.  Everyone loves meatloaf night.

Well, almost everyone. Words break out between a man and a woman. I walk toward my daughter. De Stotts steps in between the man and woman. They each outweigh her by 150lbs.  But she is bigger than life. "Do ya'll not like the meatloaf?" she asks.  "Do you want more dessert?" 

After breaking up the fight De says, "Let's sing," and she hops onto the piano and plays "I've Gotta River of Life".  Everyone sings - including the two who had almost come to blows. A man gets up with a mandolin and joins De at the piano.  I stand near he door and look back. Everyone keeps singing and now laughing - except the schizophrenic man who does not smile behind his glasses but does thank me as he leaves. A pleasant surprise. I look back again. De is still at the piano. A prostitute has now joined her and the man with the mandolin.  She claps her hands and knees and smiles down at the Saliz girls.  They smile back. Jesus' words come to mind, "The kingdom of God is among us."

The night is over.  My daughter and I drive home toward a very different place.  I look back in the rearview mirror and see her face and behind that the Saint Benedict's sign. "What did you notice tonight," I ask. 

 "Well," she says, "I noticed we didn't get any money for waiting tables."

Not what I expected.

"But we were working for smiles. Everyone left with a smile on their face."

And everyone did - including me.