Thank you so much for taking the time to open this note! The challenge is to read it all the way to the end including Steve's thoughts about believing, knowing, and the Balmville Road. Just in case you don't, let us tell you some important stuff right up front:
- We continue to host 50 to 60 folks each day at Our House offering the kind of radical hospitality we are all called to offer even when guests make it hard for us to see God in them. At night the center becomes a guest house where we host about 15 folks who have no where else to go.
 | | Ishmael gets a hair cut and beard trimming . . . |
- Our friend Ko stops by on Tuesdays to offer hair cuts to anyone who wants one. It's a simple thing - a haircut - but it makes such a difference to a friend who's been without one for a while. "Ahhh . . . I feel human again," one of Ko's "customers" told her the other day. May we all give thanks for the little things that make us feel human again.
- About 80 folks have signed up thus far for the Dorothy Day Dinner we're hosting on the 17th at the Ritz Theater here in the Burgh. Yes, it's a fundraiser for Our House, the drop-in center that makes a big difference in the lives of dozens of folks each day. But, more than that - the dinner is a celebration of the commitment of ordinary people who do extraordinary and selfless service among the least of these. We hope you can make it. Click here for more details!
- We still have some seats left for the one-day workshop with Br. Don Bisson - What does it mean to be holy today? Br. Don has done his homework as usual and has put together a great program that is not to be missed. . . Click here for more info.
- More people sign up for this Gram every week . . . maybe you know someone who'd be interested. There's a button over there to the left where you can forward this epistle to a friend, like us on Facebook . . . and, hey - you can even make a donation to the cause [every dime goes into ministry; none of it is spent on junkets, poofy hair, gold chains, or . . . ] and get Amazon to send some dough our way the next time you buy another book or car on line . . .
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Meeting God on the Balmville Road
I was walking up Balmville Road this morning on my way to a meeting with a couple of clergy types when it happened. I had an insight. I was a bit taken aback. As you can imagine, I don't often have them.
Here's what happened . . . I was walking a section of road where it skinnies up as crosses over Interstate 84. Some guy in a black car came barreling along and passed not six feet from me doing about 40. Of course, that happens all the time to those among us who walk along roads where there are no sidewalks. You get used to it. You take it on faith that the driver sees you, you believe she'll steer clear.
"Wouldn't it be nicer to know that I've been seen by a  prudent driver who is guaranteed to steer clear?" I asked myself. That led to a rather protracted discussion with me about how that could happen, about how I'd have to be the driver or at least know the driver's mind in some kind of experiential way.
Moving from talk about motorists to talk about God felt natural to me since so many motorists seem to think they are God . . . So, speaking of God, it's really great to believe and have faith and all, but we are called to know God from experience. Paul - that appealing and appalling apostle - said as much in a couple of our recent lectionary readings. You, know, that part where he talks about "putting on the mind of Christ." It's what can make us authentic - real deal - people.
And, authentic is what we're called to be. You can see/hear that in Sunday's gospel reading about Jesus' parable about a wedding banquet - Matthew 22:1-14. In the parable, there's another rather disturbing parable about one of the guest who wasn't dressed appropriately. The host had him tied up and tossed into a rather unpleasant place. The parable wasn't - isn't - about proper attire. It's about being who we are, about being authentic people.
That brings me back to insights. The shrink Carl Jung talked about lots of stuff including three stages - insight, struggle, and action. He said psychology can help with insights. After that, it's up to us. About the insight we can say, "Oh, that's interesting," and go about our business of pretending everything is okay. Or we can struggle with the insight, knowing that we need to change in some way . . . success in our struggle opens the door to action, to changing behavior, to letting go of whatever is in the way . . . so, for example, we can find God's car stopped on the road, open the door, hop in and get to know the driver.
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