Friday, December 4, 2020                 (today’s lectionary)
Sleeping bag
The poor will ever find joy in the Lord and rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
Aki and Andi’s neighborhood enjoys an active “Buy Nothing” facebook page. They have given and received many things, and for us they found a bed frame, Ikea chair, Ethan Allen table with two chairs, and an Adirondack chair. They also gave us a queen-size box spring and mattress that Miles has “outgrown.”
So Aki picked up a U Haul cargo van for the day. We moved everything and in the evening I hung out with Miles and Jasper while they returned the van. At a gas station, a man approached Aki and asked for a job, thinking the van might still be full.
One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. I know that I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Take heart, and wait for the Lord.
The man was homeless. There are many homeless men and women in Austin. Aki didn’t have a job, but he did happen to have a sleeping bag, which he gave the grateful man. We keep $5 bills in our glove compartment, but a sleeping bag on a very cold Texas night? That’s fantastic! So many comfortable people are reluctant to help the homeless. I don’t know why. There but for fortune go you, or I.
Those who err in spirit shall acquire understanding, and those who find fault will receive instruction.
I think how vulnerable I was – how all of us were – as we drove 75 miles an hour, in the dark, down a highway in lanes not much wider than my Prius, surrounded by semis that ARE much wider than my Prius. I fingered my prayer beads, and prayed over and over the Jesus Prayer, which is just what the two blind men called out to Jesus:
Son of David, have mercy on us. “Jesus, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
That, along with whatever Christmas carols I could remember, got me through. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
(Isaiah 29, Psalm 27, Matthew 9)
#
